Small balanced monoblocks

I never thought I would say this, but I would suggest you listen to the Classe CAM-350 Monoblocks. New they are $7k, but I'm sure with either dealer discounting or perhaps a demo/used pair would fit your budget.

They are the perfect size, not too big. I just recently heard them with a Classe Preamp (not sure which model), and the Musical Fidelity Nu-vista 3D CD Player. They were driving a pair of Audio Physic Virgo III's.

They were quite dynamic. There was just a tad bit of smoothness/warmth which could be attributed from the Musical Fidelity CD player, but nonetheless I really liked the sound. There was nothing dry or unenvolving about the setup - extremely musical (I'm sure that's why they made the Stereophile's Class A recommended components list.) I have been also considering to buy them.

The CAM-350 monoblocks sound nothing like Classe's older stereo amplifiers which were too bland for my taste.

Good luck.

I've used a pair of Pass Aleph 3's (obtainable for around $1000 each, with patience) very successfully as monoblocks, paralleling both input and output, as per Nelson Pass's recommendation. My only knock on these amps is that they take an hour or so to reach their top performance. But their top is pretty high, if you like solid state at all, IMHO. I think you could do a lot worse.

You should add the Bryston 7B-ST monoblocks to your short list. They are of reasonable size, offer a combination of excellent power and sound quality (rated "Class A" by Stereophile mag), and have a 20-year transferrable warranty backed by probably the best service in the high-end industry. A new pair sells for $5000, and can often be bought used for around $3000-3500.