Should I buy a Class A Amp.

I've had my Levinson 20.6's for almost 25 years and would never even consider selling. Have heard a lot of other amplifiers but none of them would make me retire the 20.6's. So I would be the last to tell you to steer away from Class A amps. 

However, older amplifiers can cost a lot of money to service. Caps, diodes, trim pots and transistors can go bad after 20 plus years and it's not uncommon to get estimates in the $1000 to $2500 range to diagnose and repair vintage Krell, Levinson, Threshold, etc. 

Is Class A the best design? Look at it this way: no preamplifier designer would ever build anything other than Class A. The only reason that power amplifiers aren't all Class A is because the dollar to watt ratio is too high and the maximum power is usually limited to around 100 wpc. 

Listen for yourself.

My personal opinion - if you like silky mellifluous middles, do it. And get some Harbeths while you’re at it. :-)

If you like an analytical, sharper delivery - don’t. And IMHO the new Hypex modules beat everything else when it comes to resolving details - finetune it to your preference with speakers. Done.

Is Class A the best design? Look at it this way: no preamplifier designer would ever build anything other than Class A.

This statement says it all, if a preamp was a/b it wouldn’t sound very good, all decent preamps are class A.

It’s the same for Class A amps even more so, but you have to cop the negatives, heat, powersupply ability, size, weight, and power consumption.
All these negatives have nothing to do with poor sound quality, if fact it’s the opposite, Class A done "right" is superior to any a/b, b, d, h etc etc

Cheers George

I have an A/B amp that is biased pretty high into Class A, and my speakers are a real easy load. With this setup, I’m in Class A much of the time, and when I’m not, I honestly can’t hear it.

 From my perspective, it all depends on the amp implementation, listener preferences, and choice of speakers. I’ve had pure Class A amps cycle through the system, and I haven’t heard anything that would convince me to give up a *well-designed* A/B amplifier. BUT that’s on MY system. If the speakers were a lot harder to drive, and I listened a lot louder, then I probably would have gone with a Class A behemoth like a big Pass or Boulder.

 To answer Don’s original question: Though I think he need an amp with some serious cajones to drive his Eminents, I would probably stay away from that Krell. Only problem is, most pure Class A designs are gonna cost a good deal more than 2k, even used.