Just to be clear, my Spectrons were great amps and a major upgrade over my various tube amp iterations, but class A (for me) seems to have the upper hand if you are looking for that emotional connection - but as someone said in the thread it is system dependent and always synergy trumps individual components.
One thing though I want to emphasize; several folks came and listened to my system in its room, including an impartial experienced dealer, and for all the overriding agreement was not in favor of the Spectrons, so it is not personal, for the record, or inconsistent with anything I have said previously! As always life is a journey.
If you can listen to equipment at home, this is always the definitive evaluation; the only problem is that a a quick "weekend of home demo, does not do justice and extended listening is required. 30 day home demos are more effective in evaluation. In general I never compare and contrast between one piece and another. That is like trying to say cabernet is better than pinot - they are different and if you have to make a choice, make a personal connection for your own taste - audio or vinous!
I would be happy to have Spectron amps again, its just that I prefer the Plinius sound, nothing more complex than that. Oh, and by the way, before he became a Spectron consultant, Simon's preferred and owned amps were Plinius - go figure.
Steve