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My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!

So I have been in a long journey looking to find the best amplifiers for my martin logan montis. As you know, the match between an amplifier and speakers has to be a good "marriage" and needs to be blend exquisitely. Right now, I think I might have found the best sounding amplifier for martin logan. I have gone through approximately 34-36 amplifiers in the past 12 months. Some of these are:

Bryston ST, SST, SST2 series
NAD M25
PARASOUND HALO
PARASOUND CLASSIC
KRELL TAS
KRELL KAV 500
KRELL CHORUS
ROTEL RMB 1095
CLASSE CT 5300
CLASSE CA 2200
CLASSE CA 5200
MCINTOSH MC 205
CARY AUDIO CINEMA 7
OUTLAW AUDIO 755
LEXICON RX7
PASS LABS XA 30.8
BUTLER AUDIO 5150
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005

With all that said, the amplifiers I mentioned above are the ones that in my opinion are worth mentioning. To make a long story short, there is NO 5 CHANNEL POWER AMP that sounds as good as a 3ch and 2ch amplifier combination. i have done both experiments and the truth is that YOU DO lose details and more channel separation,etc when you select a 5 channel power amplifier of any manufacturer.
My recollection of what each amp sounded like is as follows:

ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005 (great power and amazing soundstage. Very low noise floor, BUT this amplifiers NEEDS TO BE cranked up in order to fully enjoy it. If you like listening at low volume levels or somewhat moderate, you are wasting your time here. This amp won’t sound any different than many other brands out there at this volume. The bass is great, good highs although they are a bit bright for my taste)

NAD M25 (very smooth, powerful, but somewhat thin sounding as far as bass goes)
Bryston sst2(detailed, good soundstage, good power, but can be a little forward with certain speakers which could make them ear fatiguing at loud volumes)

Krell (fast sounding, nice bass attack, nice highs, but some detail does get lost with certain speakers)

rotel (good amp for the money, but too bright in my opinion)

cary audio (good sound overall, very musical, but it didn’t have enough oomph)

parasound halo (good detail, great bass, but it still holds back some background detail that i can hear in others)

lexicon (very laid back and smooth. huge power, but if you like more detail or crisper highs, this amp will disappoint you)

McIntosh mc205 (probably the worst multichannel amp given its price point. it was too thin sounding, had detail but lacked bass.

butler audio (good amplifier. very warm and smooth sweet sounding. i think for the money, this is a better amp than the parasound a51)

pass labs (very VERY musical with excellent bass control. You can listen to this for hours and hours without getting ear fatigue. however, it DOES NOT do well in home theater applications if all you have is a 2 channel set up for movies. The midrange gets somewhat "muddy" or very weak sounding that you find yourself trying to turn it up.

classe audio (best amplifier for multi channel applications. i simply COULDNT FIND a better multi channel amplifier PERIOD. IT has amazing smoothness, amazing power and good bass control although i would say krell has much better bass control)

Update: The reviews above were done in January 2015. Below is my newest update as of October 2016:



PS AUDIO BHK 300 MONOBLOCKS: Amazing amps. Tons of detail and really amazing midrange. the bass is amazing too, but the one thing i will say is that those of you with speakers efficiency of 87db and below you will not have all the "loudness" that you may want from time to time. These amps go into protection mode when using a speaker such as the Salon, but only at very loud levels. Maybe 97db and above. If you don’t listen to extreme crazy levels, these amps will please you in every way.

Plinius Odeon 7 channel amp: This is THE BEST multichannel amp i have ever owned. Far , but FAR SUPERIOR to any other multichannel amp i have owned. In my opinion it destroyed all of the multichannel amps i mentioned above and below. The Odeon is an amp that is in a different tier group and it is in a league of its own. Amazing bass, treble and it made my center channel sound more articulate than ever before. The voices where never scrambled with the action scenes. It just separated everything very nicely.

Theta Dreadnaught D: Good detailed amp. Looks very elegant, has a pleasant sound, but i found it a tad too bright for my taste. I thought it was also somewhat "thin" sounding lacking body to the music. could be that it is because it is class d?

Krell Duo 300: Good amp. Nice and detailed with enough power to handle most speakers out there. I found that it does have a very nice "3d" sound through my electrostatics. Nothing to fault here on this amp.
Mark Levinson 532H: Great 2 channel amp. Lots of detail, amazing midrange which is what Mark Levinson is known for. It sounds very holographic and will please those of you looking for more detail and a better midrange. As far as bass, it is there, but it is not going to give you the slam of a pass labs 350.5 or JC1s for example. It is great for those that appreciate classical music, instrumental, etc, but not those of you who love tons of deep bass.

 It is articulate sounding too
Krell 7200: Plenty of detail and enough power for most people. i found that my rear speakers contained more information after installed this amp. One thing that i hated is that you must use xlr cables with this amp or else you lose most of its sound performance when using RCA’s.

Krell 402e: Great amp. Very powerful and will handle any speaker you wish. Power is incredible and with great detail. That said, i didn’t get all the bass that most reviewers mentioned. I thought it was "ok" in regards to bass. It was there, but it didn’t slam me to my listening chair.

Bryston 4B3: Good amp with a complete sound. I think this amp is more laid back than the SST2 version. I think those of you who found the SST2 version of this amp a little too forward with your speakers will definitely benefit from this amp’s warmth. Bryston has gone towards the "warm" side in my opinion with their new SST3 series. As always, they are built like tanks. I wouldn’t call this amp tube-like, but rather closer to what the classe audio delta 2 series sound like which is on the warm side of things.

Parasound JC1s: Good powerful amps. Amazing low end punch (far superior bass than the 402e). This amp is the amp that i consider complete from top to bottom in regards to sound. Nothing is lacking other than perhaps a nicer chassis. Parasound needs to rework their external appearance when they introduce new amps. This amp would sell much more if it had a revised external appearance because the sound is a great bang for the money. It made my 800 Nautilus scream and slam. Again, amazing low end punch.

Simaudio W7: Good detailed amp. This amp reminds me a lot of the Mark Levinson 532h. Great detail and very articulate. I think this amp will go well with bookshelves that are ported in order to compensate for what it lacks when it comes to the bass. That doesn’t mean it has no bass, but when it is no Parasound JC1 either.
Pass labs 350.5: Wow, where do i begin? maybe my first time around with the xa30.8 wasn’t as special as it was with this monster 350.5. It is just SPECTACULAR sounding with my electrostatics. The bass was THE BEST BASS i have ever heard from ANY amp period. The only amp that comes close would be the jC1s. It made me check my settings to make sure the bass was not boosted and kept making my jaw drop each time i heard it. It totally destroyed the krell 402e in every regard. The krell sounded too "flat" when compared to this amp. This amp had amazing mirange with great detail up top. In my opinion, this amp is the best bang for the money. i loved this amp so much that i ended up buying the amp that follows below.

Pass labs 250.8: What can i say here. This is THE BEST STEREO AMP i have ever heard. This amp destroys all the amps i have listed above today to include the pass labs 350.5. It is a refined 350.5 amp. It has more 3d sound which is something the 350.5 lacked. It has a level of detail that i really have never experienced before and the bass was amazing as well. I really thought it was the most complete power amplifier i have ever heard HANDS DOWN. To me, this is a benchmark of an amplifier. This is the amp that others should be judged by. NOTHING is lacking and right now it is the #1 amplifier that i have ever owned.

My current amps are Mcintosh MC601s: i decided to give these 601s a try and they don’t disappoint. They have great detail, HUGE soundstage, MASSIVE power and great midrange/highs. The bass is great, but it is no pass labs 250.8 or 350.5. As far as looks, these are the best looking amps i have ever owned. No contest there. i gotta be honest with you all, i never bought mcintosh monos before because i wasn’t really "wowed" by the mc452, but it could have been also because at that time i was using a processor as a preamp which i no longer do. Today, i own the Mcintosh C1100 2 chassis tube preamp which sounds unbelievable. All the amps i just described above have been amps that i auditioned with the C1100 as a preamp. The MC601s sound great without a doubt, but i will say that if you are looking for THE BEST sound for the money, these would not be it. However, Mcintosh remains UNMATCHED when it comes to looks and also resale value. Every other amp above depreciates much faster than Mcintosh.

That said, my future purchase (when i can find a steal of a deal) will be the Pass labs 350.8. I am tempted to make a preliminary statement which is that i feel this amp could be THE BEST stereo amp under 30k dollars. Again, i will be able to say more and confirm once i own it. I hope this update can help you all in your buying decisions!


128x128jays_audio_lab
viber6
2,438 posts
 
WC,
Many good points in favor of the Neo compared to Wilson and Magico.  The fact that vocals and instruments linger longer with the Neo means that low level sounds are better revealed with the Neo as the sound decays from higher volume to silence.  This is electrostatic accuracy which is superior to that of dynamic speakers.  But appreciation of any type of music is not about putting up a fight like between a croc and hippo.  I don't try to play as loudly as a trumpet player can, because the violin is not designed to do that.  A great stat like the CLX will produce the most lifelike sound at a fairly realistic SPL, but with better accuracy than almost anything else, for nearly all music.  I wish you could come up from Florida on Dec 16 to meet me, tjassoc and your buddy RIAA, to see what I mean.
viber6
2,438 posts
 
WC,
It is natural for you to seek to get all you can from the Neo because of the huge investment.  I try to do the same in my medical practice to help wherever I can, against many handicaps.  Just realize some basic laws of physics that should give you a realistic perspective.  You have seen dynamic woofers with excursions of many inches, and even the visual blur from significant excursions of midrange drivers.  These huge excursions enable tremendous dynamic range.  But electrostatic membranes are tightly sandwiched between the stators, with allowable excursions of fractions of millimeters.  This tight control prevents huge dynamics, but does enable accuracy with resolution.  Horn drivers are a superior form of dynamic driver, because the smaller excursions than regular dynamic drivers are naturally amplified by the horn.  This enables more accuracy at a given volume level, plus more dynamics with an equivalent excursion compared to a conventional dynamic driver.  Even though ML claims you may drive the Neo with 1000 watts, you still will not get the dynamics that mrdecibel has with his Klipsch La Scala's 104 dB efficiency using a mere 10-50 watts or so.  This is the laws of physics talking.  Just accept the Neo for the reasonable excellent compromise design that it is.

I have been to live concerts of big pieces with such power and spatial breadth that not even a horn system can match for either dynamics or accuracy.  That's what live concerts are for, so don't try to make your home system do everything, because it can't.  Just enjoy it for the nuanced and peaceful enjoyment it can offer.  I learned this a long time ago.  That is my heartfelt advice.
viber6
2,438 posts
 
FLASH ALERT.

Search Merrill Element in the forum, click on the 1st entry, Merrill Audio on tour 8/20/18. On 8/24/18 there is a post by Merrill himself, announcing that the Element 114 will be released about the end of the year. It will be a stereo amp, priced $9-12K. It will be of lower power--I am guessing 200 watts into 8 ohms. Since the more expensive 118 and 116 each double the power as the impedance is halved, it is possible that the 114 will be 400 into 4, 800 into 2. Even if not quite true, this is plenty of power for a sane person who wants musical enjoyment instead of blasting. He says that the 114 speed, detail, transparency are in a class of the 118 and 116, but you have to listen hard to realize that the 118 and 116 have a little more space. Yes, monos are better than stereos, but at what price? The 118 is $36K, and 116 is $22K for monos. MAYBE you can justify stretching it for the 116 rather than 114, but since this is a new technology ripe for new competition, I can’t see spending the additional $10K for the 116 or the additional $22K for the 118. It will take hard listening and financial soul searching to justify the additional big expense.

At this point, nobody should be spending serious money until these Merrill’s are available and broken in. Even the $22K 116 is extraordinary value if the sound lives up to the technical talk. I am sitting pretty with my superb $2K Mytek Brooklyn while I wait. Work with a dealer who has done thorough listening to all the models, and then visit and listen yourself, with a reasonable home trial. At retail, they are cheap enough for the sound value if confirmed. I will be reporting in due time on these potential giant killers. Call off the wedding of the big name amps with their dinosaur lipstick horse and shiny buggy creaky wheels.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Careful viber... monstrous amps hold a very special place in me. 
Im also thinking about the m400s which conversations have just gotten started between me a potential seller. I have been advised against the m400s/Neolith combo. 
I was told I need pure class a or tube power such as the arc 250se. 
viber6
2,438 posts
 
WC, 
I wish the best of care for you.  Do you really want the most powerful amp if another reasonably powerful amp has more clarity or even the tonal flavor you want?  Your advisors are steering you into false arbitrary directions based on the profits they will make from you.  These advisors are not qualified to shine my shoes musically.  Same goes for ML staff and most high end companies that go to shows and exhibit with other manufacturers not for valid technical reasons but for practical co-promotional business reasons.  I am suspicious and contemptuous of most of them, who are out to deceive and steal money in the process.  If you want power with control of the Neo woofers and panels, almost nothing will beat the Dag M400.  Pure class A is for sweetness and linearity, not dynamics.  Tubes will not control the woofer like the Dag.  In addition, the relative mellowness of tubes (although ARC has less of the typical tubey sound) is inappropriate for the Neo panel, which is more rolled off than that of the CLX.  It certainly is more rolled off compared to the Magico S5, according to your descriptions.  No, I haven't heard the Neo, but every large curved panel I have heard was rolled off compared to the smaller version, corroborated by the laws of physics.  When you realize that I am correct after spending over $100K more, I won't gloat and say I told you so, I will just feel sad.  But I am glad you listened to me and moved the Neo 5 feet from the wall.  Otherwise, you would have been lost and regretted your purchase.  Keep them on wheels so you can do more adjusting as you live with them.  Forget the comparatively minor effects of spikes, etc.  The Neos are too unwieldy to bother with them for now.
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