Well, we have a better handle on the amp runoff. The first round will feature the mid powered Monarchy Audio Pro 70 vs the Marantz 8B, both 35 wpc. The high powered contest will be the Mark Levinson No. 27 vs the Audio Research D115 MKII tube amp, both weighing in at 100 wpc and too much weight. The third matchup will be a Sonic Impact Super T amp with stand alone PSU vs a pair of custom 45 SET amps, at 10 and 3 wpc, respectively.
Following the first round, one lucky person will choose which group winner will get a pass into the final round, and the other two group winners will go head to head, with that winner progressing to the final shootout.
Outside of me and one other person selected for either great technical ability, or brutish, hairy arms with knotted cords of gigenormous muscles and little brain, no one will know which set of amps is playing, has played or will play. Due to the relative identical power outputs within each group, the first complete round will be set for a comfortable level within each group, and be consistent for those two amps only.
In the second and third rounds, levels will be matched using a fluke and a 1kHz test tone to ensure identical volume levels from that point forward.
Speaker wires will be Radio Shack 12 gauge, with banana terminations. Other cables will be custom Canare RCAs made by Jeffrey Jackson, a neat tech/friend and owner of Computronics here in St. Louis.
I was hoping to get comments from the peanut gallery(hence my posting first here in Thinking Out Loud,) so I am disappointed a minimal number of the regulars have jumped in at all. Come on guys, lets have some fun with this!