Are the KEF Blade/Blade 2 Metas a Significant Upgrade from Blade?

Hi yyzsantabarbara:

I have been using VAC preamplifiers for 20 years and my Signature IIa mates  beautifully with the Coda 16.0, making a great amplifier even better! I truly have no interest in trying other preamplifiers as all my VACs have mated great with SS and tube amplifiers. Highly recommend any and all models from the Renaissance V on up. All the best!

The following mono amp was one that I wanted to demo last week.

Michi M8 Monoblock Power Amplifier - The Music Room (tmraudio.com)

The Los Angeles dealer I was close by to only had the integrated amp and not the monos. The integrated amp had a Class AB sound to it and was very good. The CODA #16 and KRELL 175XD are (mostly) Class A and sound smoother. However, I am intrigued by the idea of using really massive power on the Blades.

The Mitchi monos are likely similar sounding to the Hegel H30 mono with the Mitchi 1/2 the price. I have heard the H30 with Blade 1 in an excellent room. It was rather exciting though not the most refined sound, which sometimes is not a bad thing.

I’m afraid I haven’t heard the Michi amplifiers live but I’ve heard and read many accolades. I will say that I’ve found the Coda 16 to be a very special match for my Blade 2s, refined, musical, authoritative, with as much power as my Blades will ever desire in my room. All the best!

Well, that Rotel Michi mono amp must be quite an impressive design and engineering effort. While its power consumption is rated at 1,200 watts it somehow manages to output 1,800 watts into 4 ohms. A Class A/B amp cannot output more power than it consumes so I suspect its ratings are somewhat "optimistic".

... the measured output power at clipping was 1322W @ 8Ω and 2250W @ 4Ω.
They also made instantaneous peak power measurements which resulted in outputs of 1640W @ 8Ω, 3130W @ 4Ω, 1790W @ 2Ω, 960W @ 1Ω.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/rotel-michi-m8-mono-power-ampiifier-lab-report

These are slightly lower than the specified powers, but it isn't possible to hold the wall voltage constant during the tests. Rotel warns in the M8's manual that 4 ohms is the recommended minimum load impedance. I did think about examining how much power was available into 2 ohms once I had finished the testing, but when I reexamined how much power could be delivered into 4 ohms before doing so, I tripped the circuit breaker. Hint taken.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rotel-michi-m8-monoblock-power-amplifier-measurements