[PopsCanFix]

I have an opportunity to pick up a Clayton Audio M70 that is apparently recapped and new boards.  I'd really like to get into full Class A for a new system I'm building in a new listening room.  Anyone have an impression of Clayton Audio, specifically the M70, that they'd like to share?  I'm a little concerned with stepping down to 70 watts, but it's not a huge room but could be considered large.  13'X21'x9' and open on the side.  The room will be an area of a finished basement that is not closed off by a wall so the opening will be 10' on the 21' wall.  Any advice would be appreciated.

[JLM]

Close off that opening with an insulated fiberglass exterior door (with weather seal) and insulated staggered stud wall.  That's what I did in my basement, can listen when I want to what I want and the background noise is extremely low so can play at lower levels.  Also used lined/insulated flexible ductwork (can't hear the furnace).  My mistake was using recessed light can fixtures (even with 12 inches of insulation above can hear sounds from above but initially it seemed spooky quiet).

What loudspeakers are you running?  How loud do you listen?  What genres do you enjoy?  I run 70 watt mono-blocks into 90 dB/w/m, 8 ohm loudspeakers in an 8ft x 13ft x 21ft room with no power concerns, but I'm an old fart so my listening style is mellow.  Remember that doubling the power only adds 3 dB of sound pressure. 

[PopsCanFix]

My initial thought was to close off the room to the rest of the basement but that was another one of my ideas that was vetoed by my better half.  I'm sure she's probably right as it allows a much more open and inviting atmosphere for others to invade my space. LOL.  I decided to close off the basement to the 1st floor with a solid door, mineral wool insulated walls and ceilings, RC channel on walls, clips and hat channel on the ceilings with double drywall and green glue.  I also double drywalled and glued the subfloor from below to get rid of the footfall in the basement.  This also tremendously improved the sound in my Living Room and Dining Room above.  Tomorrow, I will be building backboxes for my recessed cans in the ceiling and I've doped all my outlet and switch boxes.  I also removed all my rigid duct and replaced with insulated flex duct as well as built duct mufflers for all my supplies and returns in the basement.  I don't anticipate studio quality sound control and dampening, but I'm trying to get it to a point that I can enjoy an immersive theatre experience and can listen to 2 channel at 80-85db late at night without the usual TurnItDown.
The speakers for that space will either be Acoustic Zen Adagio's, VonSchweikert VR3, or Canton M80's  Most likely the Adagio's as I'm pretty sure that I'm going to get the Clayton Audio M70's and I think the Adagio's will play well with the M70's.  80-85db is my reference level.  Rarely, if ever, do I hit mid 90's but I'm currently running the Cantons in a very open 30x40 room so SPL is not a high priority.  I listen mostly to Jazz and Blues.  Currently listening to Colter Wall, just switched from Dire Straits and before that was Charlie Hunter.  Sort of tough to slide all those into a genre.  I agree and thanks for the reminder about 3db at 2x.  My reason for the concern is that my bigger amps drive my speakers so much better than my smaller amps, but then again my bigger amps with more watts are also better than most of my smaller amps.  The last lower powered amp I bought was a Rega Brio at 60wpc and I use that in my bedroom.  Everything else in 200-350 or so.  I know that the first couple watts are the ones that really matter, but I don't like to be limited to how loud I can turn it up when I want to. 

[JLM]

It is important that the amp provides a commanding grip on the loudspeakers, probably more a function of the power supply and size of capacitor bank (torque) than rated wattage (horsepower).  I ran my 90 dB/w/m 8 ohm loudspeakers off a 7 wpc battery powered integrated and it did remarkably well, but bumping up to 40 wpc turned the loudspeakers from polite dinner guests into NFL linebackers wearing tuxes.  Better control/resolution/dynamics/imaging.  Bumping again to 100 wpc made a much smaller improvement. 

[jtwrace]

Years ago I had the big Clayton amps.  One of the biggest issues with them is the weight and the heat they put out as Class A amps.  It's awful quite frankly.  In the end, when I had built the Hypex NCore DIY amps and had my wife swap them blind I couldn't tell the difference so I decided using the Hypex amps and NEVER looked back. 

[PopsCanFix]

That's quite the testament to the Hypex amps.  I've heard good things about the new Class D amps and have considered switching my A/B's to D as they come available.  I have 8 amps, plus pre's, DACs, streamers, etc. all running inside my A/V closet 24/7 and it gets pretty warm in there.  I don't want to know what it costs per year to run these.  I'm sure it's less than the cost of replacing one A/B with a nice Class D.  What do you think?

[poseidonsvoice]

Years ago I had the big Clayton amps.  One of the biggest issues with them is the weight and the heat they put out as Class A amps.  It's awful quite frankly.  In the end, when I had built the Hypex NCore DIY amps and had my wife swap them blind I couldn't tell the difference so I decided using the Hypex amps and NEVER looked back.

I remember being there for that comparison, the good old days! That and the Atmasphere M-60’s lol! 

Best,
Anand.

[jtwrace]

That's quite the testament to the Hypex amps.  I've heard good things about the new Class D amps and have considered switching my A/B's to D as they come available.  I have 8 amps, plus pre's, DACs, streamers, etc. all running inside my A/V closet 24/7 and it gets pretty warm in there.  I don't want to know what it costs per year to run these.  I'm sure it's less than the cost of replacing one A/B with a nice Class D.  What do you think?

8 amps?  You can have Buckeye build you a multichannel Hypex setup and have one box.  It will put off some heat obviously but nothing like Class A.  If you want virtually no heat, Orchard Audio can build you a MCH amp too.  The cost you could calculate which probably isn't as high as you might think since you likely don't keep your amps on 24/7. 

I remember being there for that comparison, the good old days! That and the Atmasphere M-60’s lol! 

Best,
Anand.