Contemplating other amps

If what you said here is true, "I like to play it loud and listen more for clean delivery, soundstage and headroom than details and nuance", you've given up on the amp that was best suited for your needs. That is, the Sunfire Signature series.

Out of all of the amps that i've owned ( i currently have 20+ at this point in time ), the Sunfire's play the loudest with the least amount of "strain" or compression. I don't think that they are as refined or detailed as some other amps, but in terms of being able to deliver power on a dynamic basis, they are QUITE capable of doing so. The fact that they can do that AND present the information in a pleasant manner is even more of a bonus if high spl's are a concern. Many high powered amps will play loud, but they sound "grainy" and cause listening fatigue when doing so.

As far as Pass amps go, they typically produce excellent sonics but are not of the "brute force" variety ( in my opinion ). Bryston's are good utilitarian amps, are quite rugged and reliable but i don't think that they are well suited to driving speakers with reactive loads or impedances that drop down low.

Between the Pass and the Bryston keeping your above comments in mind, i would think that a big Bryston would work out better for you than the Pass would. Sean
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Arthur: The Sunfire offers added versatility in the fact that it allows you to bi-wire your speakers and select the type of sound for each section of the speaker individually. In most installations, especially those with bright speakers ( metal domes ) or speakers that come across as being somewhat lean, i've found that using the current outputs for the tweeter and the voltage outputs for the woofers works best. While one might think that the "current" taps would work best for the woofers, just as i had previously thought, the names of each tap have more to do with how Mr Carver labeled them than what they are really doing. In this respect, they operate in what is somewhat of a backward fashion from what one would think.

If you do end up purchasing the Sunfire, i would encourage you to do some further experimentation and see what taps work best for your specific speakers and personal tastes.

Either way, i'm glad that you have found something that you like and actually did so trusting your own ears in a "side by side" comparison. Many people "dis" the Sunfire products due to associating them with earlier Carver and Phase Linear products, but they really are quite different in design and implimentation. Sean
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PS... The Sunfire's work best in balanced mode and benefit from elevating them up off the support structure. They radiate the little bit of heat that they do generate from the bottom, so increasing the air-flow underneath them by any means possible is recommended. You might also want to call Sunfire and find out if the design revisions and upgrades that were initially only available on the 17" architectural series have been implimented into the full sized versions also. I was told by Robert at Sunfire tech support that the Architectural series originally had some new design innovations in them but i forgot to ask if these were carried over to the "full sized" versions. Prior to laying down the cash, you might also want to measure the space available in rack as the full sized versions have a hard time or simply won't fit in some racks at all due to their 19" width. Not only are the faceplates 19", the entire chassis of the amp is too. The Architectural series, which have all of the updated design revisions, are only 17" across. That does offer less heat sinking though, so if you've got the room and the full size models have been updated to the same level of performance, you might want to go that route.