Sead, Thanks for your thoughts regarding the Gaincard powering the Coincident, Super Eclipses. The reason I auditioned the "S" (50 watt) version is that I have a room (16' X 25' carpeted) that seems to damp things down, and I end up requiring more power. My experience with lower-powered amps and the "Supers" has been somewhat different than many others'--including the speaker manufacturer's.
The music needs to have a physical presence. I don't mean increased SPL's and thunderous bass, per se, but a kind of tactile there-ness that does not come through with small amps even on the Supers. Too often, lesser-powered amps seem to accentuate the visual, the shell of the thing in the recording that makes the music rather than the kinesthetic, lending a feeling of solidity to the thing. Sort of like shimmering ghosts on the stage instead of flesh and blood.
The recommended Manley Reference, 300B Retro mono amps were woefully underpowered for my room and music taste (large orchestral) IMO. I did not mention this in my original post to this thread, but the Gaincard-S clipped something terrible. Somehow, I doubt the 25-watt version would be the right approach given my experience so far.
I have settled on the Cary SLAM-100's with their 95 watts in triode mode. (They can be switched to 165 watts in ultralinear, but they don't sound as complete in that mode.) I heard the Atma-Sphere M-60's on the Supers and could not live with their lightweight presentation. I even found the A-S MA-1 MkII's to require some room reinforcement to bring out the same kind of weight in the bass that the Cary SLAM-100's bring. While the MA-1's are indeed fabulously transparent, extended, life-like, etc., they too seem to struggle a bit in my room. Perhaps with tube- and cabling adjustments, I could have drawn more from the MA-1's. For now, the Cary SLAM-100's are just about right.
Either I was shipped the 4-Ohm version instead of the 14-Ohm version of the Supers or my room, music- and listening-mode tastes just don't allow for the kind of amps most people pair with them.
In case you were wondering, I had my hearing tested. It's quite good. I did not go to lots of loud concerts in my youth. Some other audio-nerds have found my comments about their systems to be mostly valid. Who knows, maybe I AM wired incorrectly.
