Oh how I wish Class D amps ...

"On the other hand it would be hard to find 2x1000W class A amplifier to compete with BC Ref 1000 not only for monetary reasons but also for power requirements (10kW@110V=91A)"

Not to mention size and weight.

I pay no attention to this sounds better than that discussions. There are many viable high quality options. You just have to pick and chose. Everyone has different wants/needs/requirements.

The undeniable advantages of Class D is size, weight and power consumption. Also frequently, but not always, cost. That matters to some (like me) and not others.

I do not expect any new amp technology to sound radically better than older technologies categorically these days. There is a limit to how good any system can sound, usually determined most by source material and listening room characteristics.

I will say that the clear benefits of Class D are of the most significance when compared to similar high powered monster amps.

In cases where smaller, lowered powered Class A or Class A/B amps suffice, Class D amps may still suffice as well but they tend to lose their distinct advantages.

Any of the class D users driving a pair of soundlab speakers;if so whats your opinion?

First off, the Ref 1000 is not a 1000 WPC amp, it is a 500 WPC amp (but that is really only for peak/short periods, not continuous). My experience has been that my BC1000 does not have sufficient power for my Thiel CS6 speakers, whereas, my 125 WPC all class A Mark Levinson has much better control over these speakers. I also feel that the 125 wpc Levinson amp holds together better than the BC Ref 1000 when driving my Watt/Puppies (a sign of running out of power?) at high volume levels.

My prior Krell FPB 300-C was rated at 300 WPC, continuous, at 8 ohms (in reality it was closer to 380-400+ WPC, continuous at 8 ohms from 20-20K htz.) and that amp had a lot more power than my current Levinson amp.

From my limited experience with non-cone drivers combined with the class D amps is that they seem to shine a bit more with these speakers than with box speakers - that being preliminary as my listening has been brief to date with this set-up.

I love the idea of what the class D amps bring to the table, size, weight, heat, power consumption. But as a believer in class A over A/B, these issues are all secondary to sound for me. And so far, it has been the sound performance that has been lacking in my system, in my experience, with my sound goals with the class D amps.

I replaced a 120 w/ch Musical Fidelity A3CR with the 500w/ch BelCanto ref1000m monoblocks.

This was primarily for the benefit of my big OHM F5 series 3 speakers, the largest and most power hungry I own also in teh largest room.

In my case, the difference in performance I can hear is clearly in line with the difference in specs, so my findings in my case differ from Ckoffend's case.

The BC ref1000m monoblocks also seemed to benefit my smaller OHM 100S3s and my Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkII monitors as well, although to a lesser degree with the smaller speakers.

I also run a pair of little Realistic Minimus 7's off the Bel Canto amps on my deck. The sound here is top notch for those little speakers as well compared to prior amps, but the practical difference with such small speakers in that application is practically nill.

I also used to own a 1970's vintage Class G Hitachi sr803 receiver for many years. Class G is an older similar but much different relative of Class D.

The Class G amp there clearly exhibited its advertised ability to deliver double its rated 50w/ch for only brief periods. THough it had some guts for a smaller 50w receiver, it did not perform as well as its true 100w/ch brethren of the time. That sound was quite meh, nothing even close to the modern bar set by the better modern amps.