Let me jump in again here. What are you really going to do with it? If you're just going to use it for music reproduction, the VERY best instrument YOU can use will be your own ears. It may measure incredibly in every possible test, but if it sounds liek crap, it won't really matter. Once it's built, just listen to it. Tubes always measure worse, but that soft clipping is what makes them sound so nice.
You might also throw these questions around at
http://www.bottlehead.com.
Finally, Nelson, I know what you're getting at with your description of adding at 10¢ resistor...but please tell me your use of the word "similar" was not real! If that were really the case, every ss amp manufacturer would be doing it...and we wouldn't be having this conversation! LOL! I'll agree that the first watt is the most critical. How about that, then? (!)