Interesting, how many children is the dealer trying to put through grad school? On the serious side, I blew out a 10 inch ESS AMT4 driver with a 50 wpc Acoustic Research integrated in 1974. As most others have stated already, an underpowered amp can lead to serious speaker issues. OTH I have blown up several amps in my later 20's due to volume and alcohol ingestion, the speakers were ESS towers and did not suffer damage.
I bought a Digital Amp Co 4800a last year, 200 wpc. Was so impressed that recently a DAC Maraschino on ebay, that was purchased,is even better. Tried a lot of US amps in the 200 watt league. The JBL Synthesis was nice, the Acurus was a slight improvement. DAC amps let everything come thru, much better than the above. Clarity, soundstage, detail, image, depth, soundstage were much better. Yes it is a class D, if you have not heard them, give them a try. Their max amp is priced at $6900. The 4800a developed a loud hum, it was the toroidal transformer, tightened it down but still loud enough to hear. DAC owner Tommy O'Brien offered a fix, that would upgrade it to Mega Maraschino with a linear power supply, at an affordable price. Any of high power cherries will give your 75k amps a run.
I run Magnepan speakers, none of the previous amps I used had the absolute silent background, nor detail that the DAC amps have brought out, especially on classical music. All of the above is in my opinion. Good luck in your search for sonic happiness. Jerry
I bought a Digital Amp Co 4800a last year, 200 wpc. Was so impressed that recently a DAC Maraschino on ebay, that was purchased,is even better. Tried a lot of US amps in the 200 watt league. The JBL Synthesis was nice, the Acurus was a slight improvement. DAC amps let everything come thru, much better than the above. Clarity, soundstage, detail, image, depth, soundstage were much better. Yes it is a class D, if you have not heard them, give them a try. Their max amp is priced at $6900. The 4800a developed a loud hum, it was the toroidal transformer, tightened it down but still loud enough to hear. DAC owner Tommy O'Brien offered a fix, that would upgrade it to Mega Maraschino with a linear power supply, at an affordable price. Any of high power cherries will give your 75k amps a run.
I run Magnepan speakers, none of the previous amps I used had the absolute silent background, nor detail that the DAC amps have brought out, especially on classical music. All of the above is in my opinion. Good luck in your search for sonic happiness. Jerry