http://sound.westhost.com/class-a.htm
a quote that contradicts my post and susiwongs point about class being misunderstod that is in fact quite interesting
Another version of the Class-A amp looks exactly the same as a standard Class-AB (Class-B) power amp, except the quiescent current is increased to just over 1/2 of the peak speaker current. This is thought by some (including me up until I was shown the error of my ways) that this is not a "real" Class-A amplifier. It is real Class-A, and is best described as push-pull (as opposed to single ended) operation. If the bias current is not high enough for the actual reactive speaker load (not some quoted nominal resistive load), it is still possible that one transistor or the other will switch off at some part of the signal cycle. This will happen at a much higher power level than is normally the case, but if this happens, then the amplifier ceases to be true Class-A.

