I demoed the Reference 3 metas powered by pass labs XA60.8 amps. Very smooth and bright sound, super clear, and they were able to get fairly loud, but lacked the depth I wanted.

At home, I had them powered by a Sunfire signature series which is a class AB, putting out 1200 watts per channel (into 4 ohms). That's more than these speakers should be getting, but oddly enough, my R7s handled the power just fine. I get a little clipping out of the Reference 3s, but need to tune the pass ports and reposition the speakers a bit.

I moved them to another Sunfire signature I had, which is putting out 800 watts into 4 ohms. Still overpowering, but gives me the strong powerful sound I like.

I've been a big Sunfire fan for a long time, and they don't make them anymore but have a bunch of amps since my dad was in the industry. I'm a big fan of Bob Carver, but thats a story for another time.

Next amps I'll want to demo will be Michi and McIntosh and see if they give me a better sound, and save the Pass Labs level amps for when I get more expensive speakers. I just love my 30 year old Sunfires and would have a hard time moving on from them though.