Small balanced monoblocks


I have Meadowlark Heron i speakers, with a Wadia 830 front end, BAT 3i pre, and SS amps. I have a small, lively room the system is set up in, and am looking for suggestions for monoblock amps that would likely fit in. Any suggestions are appreciated, with $6000 tops new/used my ballpark for now.

Matt
mattattnet
With your BAT preamp, consider BAT VK60's mono. Used for around 5k. Not exactly small...but great match with the wadia, 3i and speakers...
Have you considered the BAT VK-500? It's a single unit with two monoblocks in the enclosure. Two power cords, two power switches...
I would add Clayton M100 monoblocks to your audition list. Output is rated at 100 watts / ch. class-A. It has both RCA and XLR inputs, and its relatively small size would fit your living room as well. Check out www.claytonaudio.com for more info.

Happy Listening!
I second the opinion on the Classe CAM-350s, my present amps. But if your speakers don't need that much power, before the Classes I had Pass Aleph 2s, and they were wonderful. There is usually a pair or two used on Audiogon.
Not sure if you want to keep with SS amps or not, but bear in mind that your speakers were likely voiced w/ tubes. Pat McGinty seems to like the 6550-based 100 wpc Music Reference RM-200 a lot (has his own, demoed the Nightingales at CES w/ them a couple of years ago, plugs it at the Meadowlark web site). It doesn't fit your bill as it's stereo but gives you an indication of your speakers' designer's thinking. Also remember that all Meadowlarks are designed to be tube- and modest power-friendly. Some of the above recommendations, while great amps, are overkill for your birds, which should sing sweetly around 100 wpc, assuming high quality power.

There seems to be some degree of consensus among Heron owners at Audio Asylum that the Herons prefer EL-34 based amps. The whole-hog answer to this would be a pair of the new Cary V-12s (though most of these are stereo amps, Cary does wire them in mono as well). 100 watts each in triode mode, 12 EL-34s per side. Unfortunately, they are not at all small and go for $8K (per pair) new, though, so probably not the best answer - just the best LOOKING answer.

Another option is the VTL MB-125 monos. 4 EL-34s, 55 watts triode, 100 tetrode, compact; only drawback is no balanced inputs. VTL's 6550-based MB-185 Signatures have balanced inputs and more power (105 triode, 165 tetrode) but are definitely bigger (std 19" width, 9" high).

I've gotta second the VK-60 suggestion as well given the rest of your components. This is another amp that Meadowlark has used at CES and gotten (claimed to, at least!) great results with their speakers.