Not sure if this is the correct place for this post, but I'll try to convey my idea here. I'd like to see the Monoprice Monolith amps tested...2/3/5/7 channel, not sure it would matter much. It seems to offer excellent value in terms of objective performance for the price, and would be interesting to see how it stacks up to some of the really good class D amps i.e. NC400/500 etc.
However, I think it would be very interesting to take this a step further.
Start with an average AVR...say....a Denon 3600/3700/4700 since they seem to be the value leaders in terms of excellent objective performance vs price.
Using a speaker with high power handling, say, a multi bass driver tower such as Revel F208, and do compression/distortion sweeps using said AVR. After letting the speaker cool thoroughly(voice coils, crossover components etc), do compression/distortion sweeps using the better, higher quality amplifier driven by the AVR's pre-outs.
Lets see where the rubber meets the road. How loud does the speaker need to be driven before one could realistically expect audible or even measurable improvements. And please, please, use standard dB/reference level notation for testing.
I feel like it would be very interesting to see at what levels things started to make any difference in the real world. Would the AVR prove adequate up to reference level? Above? Significantly below?
This is a test I will do myself if I ever purchase an aftermarket amp, but, honestly, my AVR provides more power than I need for my listening levels 99.99% of the time. The only situation it would matter at all would be a brief demo loud enough to cause tinnitus. So not realistically going to happen soon on my end.
Sorry for such a long drawn out way of saying this, but I would find the topic interesting.
Also, it would be interesting to compare measured THD of the speaker using the AVR with its 85ish dB SINAD and the higher SINAD of the aftermarket amp to see if the higher SINAD makes any real difference at normal, moderate listening levels an not just max output.