Quote Originally Posted by Ajani
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Monarchy - I see a number of reviews talking about ground hum (and possibly noise floor If I'm remembering correctly), so I do have a few concerns there. Also, since I live in Jamaica, I don't need ANY additional heating... So I'm concerned that a Class A amp would be a bad choice in this heat...
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The Monarchy is a truly balanced design and due to its compact dimensions would look more like a visual match to my Benchmark.
The Monarchys run quite warm but at the volumes I listen the heatsinks never get too hot to touch or even close to that. (As mentioned, they are high-biased but not fully class A.). Yes, they are fully balanced and relatively compact. Being monoblocks, one has the option of placing them close to the speakers using longer interconnects; given balanced interconnects, this is good option vs. longer speaker cables.