Trying to find an amp that matches my tastes (aka death metal)

EQ is a great way to destroy sound quality. Tube buffer, etc. Kiss definition goodbye. You have been warned. 

For cleanest path I recommend going Integrated DAC direct to amp(s).  I use such a setup lots and it is stunning. 

I had a pair of Anthony Gallos Ref 3.1’s. When hooked up to both a class D W4S ST-500mkii and Gallo SA amp (dual amping dual voice coiled sealed 10" woofers), metal was amazing. Low volume pant leg movement from bass drum and bass guitar plucks were physical felt. Sharp imaging and drum/bass definition came from Dirac Live from the PC. Exodus sounded better in my home than at the Nokia show in L.A! So much cleaner with attack and accuracy - amazing. South of Heaven and Justice for All faster and tighter than ever before. Electric bass lines were so much easier to discern and follow popping hard at moderate volumes.

Eventually I moved on from the solid state/class D rock system and moved to a Line Magnetic 48W SET tube integrated with Tekton Double Impacts. Interesting find was how real the snare drum and cymbals became after cleaning up, re-clocking and galvanic isolating the usb signal feeding the dac. The drum kit definitely pops in metal as the only acoustic instrument. The system now plays metal no problem, 90% as good in the bass drum range and more realistic everywhere else, including all other genres of music (except rap). I laugh when I switch from Sara Vaughn to Exodus, that LM508 is insane.

Long story short, for metal, feed lots of power to full range towers with large quality woofers. Use the best calibration you can, (mine exits the pc digitally corrected) and feed a squeaky clean, clocked signal to a good dac. Watch out for cabinet resonances from the bass and get some after market footers to retain mid and high driver accuracy.

Given your set up, bass will sound better with more power, but your speakers are not the deepest reaching either. If you want to feel like your at the show, you need subs or well powered large woofers in your mains to get well defined bass down to 20Hz

I don’t know if your PL Prologue Classic accepts the KT150, but I put these in my PL Dialogue HP and was blown away by the significant increase in slam, power, detail, presence, and soundstage.   YMMV, but I found this to be a great upgrade.

Death metal, you say? So no SET then? 

I love all Metal types, check out the new Bell Witch album!
the recording is done really good and feel you will appreciate it.
Burzum Filosofem is a great recording out of a good setup as the distorted guitars sound super chilling.


As for setups Id go with anything that has some good power involved and not speakers that are on the analytical side as it will bring out too many flaws in the recordings. Dynaudio contour speakers are as transparent as Id go that still can remain neutrality. Parasound amps are pretty good for metal in my experience especially the Hint6 integrated.