Luxman M-800A - 3 Top Plate

So back to the power rating.

While Luxman does only rate it at 60x2 that rating is at extremely low distortion and given as doubling all the way to 1 ohm (60, 120, 240, 480). The real maximum numbers are much higher than that with Stereophile getting 160 at 8 ohms, 260 at 4 with both channels driven and 480 at 2 with one channel. Still not massive numbers compared to some of the big boy amps including the massive Krell monos I used to have but it at least begins to explain why all the reviews for the M-800A spent so much time commenting on how well it does even when driving fairly difficult speakers and even when compared to megawatt amps some of those reviewers had on hand for comparison. 

The class A numbers are worth commenting on. This is the only amp Luxman gave the "Pure Class A" designation. While John Atkinson speculated that it was transitioning to class B when driven past that first 60 watts .... 60 is a pretty good sized chunk of class A watts. Especially when you compare it to the current M-900u which replaced the 800, looks nearly identical in the stock photos with the top plate removed and only does its first 12 in class A. Even more impressive that the massive M-1000f monblocks only do their first 30 in class A. These are all Luxman numbers and based on the fact:

• That the power consumption at idle lines up as you would expect for those given numbers and ...
• That the amp has done a really nice job of heating up my normally cold basement while just sitting there looking pretty

I'm guessing they are accurate.