Anyone heard the marsh and odyssey amps?


I just wanted to know if anyone has had a chance to listen these amps and what you thought of them.
chipster

Showing 2 responses by garyl

To compair tube amps with the Marsh isn't really fair, and brings up the tube vs. SS debate once again. In spite of the common notion that an amp should sound warm, smooth, or liquid, the fact is, that a good power amp should have no sound at all. It should merely take a 2V signal, and boost it to 30V or so; that's it. There are those that will say that if an amp adds any smoothness or anything else, then I'm sorry, it's a peice of crap. Some people like the colorations that tubes add, and that's fine. I have nothing against tubes, and in fact plan to run my Marsh A400 through a Blue Circle BC21 tube preamp when it arrives next week. My decision to purchace the Marsh was largely based on the recent TAS review. I don't mind mail order, as long as I have the option to return it if not satisfied. I don't like to limit my options to only what's available locally, and neither should you. The Odyssey amps have been getting great feedback, and are definately worth consideration. I think either one will offer superb sound at a great price, but I would try the Marsh first.
Some designers will "voice" their amps to achieve thier vision of what reproduced music should sound like. The Marsh is voiced "neutral". I think the goal with the Marsh was to design a powerful, affordable amp that was as transparent as they could make it. Based on the way REG and a few of the other contributors at Absolute Sound have been raving about this amp, it seems like they've succeded. TAS asks the question; How do you describe the sound of an amplifier that has no sound of it's own? Yes, the BC21 preamp will add it's own personality or coloration into the mix, but based on what I've heard of this preamp, I'm guessing the end result will be a totally satisfyig musicial system. Lots of experienced audiophiles tout the virtues of hybrid systems like this, but this is my first shot at it. Ultimately, all that matters is the sound, but trying out different combonations of gear can be fun, and is all part of the hobby. I do have to respectfully disagree about your statement that implies that it's SS gear more than tubes that color the sound. There's a whole legion of tube heads out there that have made a hobby of "tube rolling." Why do they keep experimenting with different tubes? Because each time you swap tubes, it changes or "colors" the sound in a certin way. Granted, not all SS amps are uncolored, but to say that SS colors the sound more than tubes is not true IMHO. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox and close by saying that I just learned that the Marsh is on back order until the first or second week of January! I didn't find out until after I mailed in my check yesterday. The dealer does have the Blue Circle BC22 in stock right now, and I'm tempted go with this instead. It's a little more expensive, but the build quality is in a whole other league than the Marsh, and it's been very well reviewed in the press. It would also be an almost guarenteed synergistig match with the BC21. I really want to try the Marsh, but I'm sure not looking forward to going another month without sound. Good Listening, Gary L