@neonknight wrote:
Out of curiosity: why did you get rid of the JBL 4365’s - i.e.: what did the 4367’s to your ears bring to the table by comparison?
The amplifiers I have been using are a pair of Classe Omega monoblocks. But the reality is they are massive, are way too much power for a pair of 94 db efficient speakers [...]
The first question that pops into my head here, looking past your rationale to let them loose, is how the Classé amps actually mated with the JBL’s from a sound perspective? With regard to power and its speculated excess, practically speaking I don’t believe you can have too much power with more modern JBL’s with larger voice coil woofers - despite their moderately high efficiency; on the contrary more power to such woofers can turn out to be a benefit. Indeed, it’s about how those JBL’s react to more powerful amps/PSU’s, even at lower volumes.
In the past JBL was known to mate well with tube amplification. But I imagine this is going to have to be push/pull.
I believe Greg Timbers had a notable fondness for Quicksilver amps over the horn-loaded mids/high compression drivers of his JBL designs and pairing them with solid state amps for the woofer section, albeit he seemed to find running them actively, initially with analogue, electronic crossovers was the preferred scenario, and so naturally gain matching between the driver sections had to take place anyway. This can be more tricky with passive bi-amping using different amps with different gain horizontally, a configuration that may otherwise have been a shoe-in in your case and trying to take advantage of different virtues of different amps topologies, while largely avoiding their weaknesses selectively.
From my chair though using different amp topologies when bi-, tri- or quad-amping (or more), while tempting at first with the incentive behind it, invites potential new issues that can impact overall coherency, and so my choice would be to look for a same amp solution covering the entire frequency spectrum of the JBL’s. Leading me to this paragraph of yours:
Finally in terms of solid state, the choices are huge. I know McIntosh was often a favored pairing, but I have never been a fan of the brand.
A friend of mine who’s a pro audio dealer while being a true nerd (and gear collector) of an audiophile incorporating pro segment speakers and amps into his private, home audio setups with high-end analogue and digital sources, initially used McIntosh MC2300 amps in numbers over his then large and actively configured JBL 5670-series cinema speakers among others, in addition to Crown Studio Reference I amps later on. Eventually though these all had to go (finding buyers wasn’t a problem, and they willingly paid large sums for these older amps), and instead he set his sights on the british MC² Audio amps from the individuals behind Klark Teknik and Turbosound to take over, and which they have done since.
As it so happens, with his influence I’ve been using MC² Audio in own setup for a few years now, and they are downright excellent amps - both professionally, I’m told, and in a home stereo environment, functionally as well and not least sonically. The catch to audiophiles? Mainly non-fancy pro looks and their built-in fans, which can be replaced with quiet versions. Another catch: low price (we should know what that’s about) and going below radar to most, coming from the pro audio segment not least.
Summing up: using MC² Audio amp myself I have solid experience with them, less so with the JBL 4367 speakers (haven’t owned the 4367’s, although I’ve heard them several times), and not with the combo of those. Still, the MC² Audio T and S-series amps I've heard are smooth, highly resolved and honest sounding with an abundance of power at their disposal, so I can easily imagine them being a very good match with the 4367’s, also from what I know of the characteristics of the latter that I wouldn’t pair with dry sounding amps.
Specifically I’d recommend the T1000 model as an outset, but the more expensive S800 and S1400 are excellent as well though sounding virtually similar to the T1000. The T1000 (depending on the measurement technique) is a 450W/8 ohm amp, class A/B topology, and I use two of them in my own setup actively for my main speakers + the larger T3500 sibling for the subs. The T1000 retails for about €1,700, but please: don’t let the low price scare you off.