need amplification help for sonus faber amati

Hallo Douglas,
thank you very much for the review. Those "Pathis" realy look nice and special and I believe thats what they sound like.I will try to find a place to listen to them in Paris, France (they are Italien).Here comes the BUT:
I don't think they work for the Amatis in a big room.
As you reported :
"Gianni made clear to me that the unit was not intended for driving 4-ohm speakers in bridged mode. The unit would handle 8 ohm speakers easily, but was not officially rated for 4 ohms. The concern was to not overwork the transformer. He warned me that pushing the amps too hard could result in damage."
Kusina informed us above here "While the Amatis have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms, they dip down to 2.6 ohms, so you want an amplifier that is stable down to 2 ohms and that has enough power to drive the Amatis."
Thank you any way.

Dacapobone, speakers dipping down to 2.6 Ohms is not unheard of.

Gianni was being cautious as the specs for selling them did not officially state their use for 4 Ohms bridged, but I have used them in that capacity and have never had an issue. No clipping, no distortion, etc.

Now, I do not try to listen at "live" levels for long periods. I do not want to stress the ears, but caress the ears.

What size room do you consider "big"? My room is 13'x23'x8', and the amps push the sound so easily that I believe the speakers could be put in a room twice the size and the level doubled.

If you are going to consider the Pathi you definitely should go with the MkIII version as the voltage seems to be higher than with the other two versions. I noticed a dramatic improvement in the power available with the MkIII version. I have driven large floorstanding speakers such as the Legacy Focus HD - note it's Impedance dips to 3.2 Ohms - with EASE. The amps do not even break a sweat. I listen often with the digital readout (which goes to 100) at less than 30. Push past 40 and the sound would drive me out of the room!

Just looked at the specs of the Amati Anniversary - sensitivity of 92 dB! PERFECT! You should not be scared at all by this speaker with these amps. Unless you are a maniac with the volume. If you listen at lower levels you will never have an issue; if you listen at moderate levels then you will almost certainly not have an issue. If you crank the sound to high heaven then... well, it's your issue as you'll likely go deaf as well!

I would not hesitate to put my Pathi on these speakers and I would run them at moderate levels easily. Note that the Legacy Audio Focus HD (I just upgraded to the SE version, and I believe the sensitivity is 93dB.) I used extensively is very similar specs to the Amati (4 Ohm nominal impedance and above 90 dB sensitivity.

I have run these speakers for hours at moderate levels without the slightest strain on the amps.

At the very least, tell the audio salon you will visit in France to set up the Pathi (mono block!) for you and put some speakers with similar characteristics on them. Judge for yourself. I'm guessing you will be impressed at how much ooomph these have.

How's that for good news for you? :)

Thank you Douglas,
I do not listen to music on a super loud level, but I do aprechead recordings with little compretion, true double or tripple pianissimos and real fortissimos (for example Mahlers 10th symph. Rattle / Berlin phil., great recording quality!!!). I will try to listen to the Pathos when I get a chance.

The person who is proposing me to by his ARC VT200 will propably have the possibility to bring them, so I can try them in situation saturday. If the result is convincing I will buy those. I can always look for better later.
Of cause I will spend all evening Friday to improve the placement of the speakers.

This does not mean I am not interested anymore in this forum! There are still some unanswered questions:
1.What I read is that they are indeed a very good choise for the Amatis, but in a big room I would need the VK-150SEs. Is this true? Are the VK-75SE to small to have real orchestral fortissimos at some points? Is there anyone in France reading this that can propose a listening with the BATs and any bigger speaker?
2.Does everybody agree with Gregm "The CJ 12s should outperform the AR200". This would be nice since they are cheaper.
3.I also never realy had a chance to listen to a good Acuphase or VAC. Can somebody discribe them a little? Somebody has a precise model in mind?

This is the first time I put a question on this Forum and I aprecheate very much the quality and diversity of the answers. Thank you all very much so far already.

Dacapobone, you won't go wrong with any of the brands you list. Enjoy the hunt for the amp! :)

I would consider Unison Research Mystery as a good match for SF