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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
 
psnyder149,
No, about 43% preferred my Rouge, which is not a minority.  After getting my amp back from Jay and listening further, that finding of 43% is actually a solid endorsement, since I estimate that the taste of this thread is 90% in favor of soft, pleasant amps with rolled off HF.  I am not claiming that Jay's mystery amps are soft and rolled off, because even I found that the differences between mine and his were fairly small, and my findings are only comparative.  Jay's mystery amp is still very revealing, much more than any tube amp, although we have to wait until Jay does the SS/tube A/B to be sure.  However, Jay has already said the VAC system is soft and offers the pleasing (to him) soulful sound he likes.  When something is less brilliant and more pleasant, the advocates of such euphony wax poetically how it is more soulful, with more finesse, refinement and the like.  

I posted a few pages back how the midhall listener correctly says that the softer sound of these euphonic amps is a closer imitation of the reality of that midhall sound.  However, this is fallacious, because most recordings, especially pop/jazz are upfront because the mikes are close. For the listener seeking high fidelity, the 1st row seat is closer to the sound of the recording, and the electronics with the more brilliant HF presentation is a closer imitation of that reality.
viber6
2,438 posts
 
speedbump6,
Your post is correct, assuming that subjective preferences divorced from the ideal of high fidelity are the objective goals for enjoyment.  Everyone has different preferences, sure.  But only a small % of a-philes are trying to imitate reality/high fidelity.  So I have a preference for the goal of high fidelity, and most people have a preference for just what pleases them without an objective standard.

Now let's assume that a group of listeners with the high fidelity standard get together and discuss how a system compares with the sound they just heard at a concert from the first row where the mikes are.  I think I remember that you have a nice collection of guitars, so you are knowledgeable about the different sounds of guitars.  Your like minded guitar connoisseurs hear a concert of guitars and other instruments from the first row.  If your friends are perceptive, they can agree that the bite and transients of the live guitar is best revealed by your system, but the body resonances of the live guitar are better revealed by your friend's system, although this system sacrifices the bite/transients.  This is where subjective preferences can be respected, because they are referenced to the real live music.  But without reference to live music, subjective preferences have less meaning, and are totally arbitrary.  Why spend time and money on arbitrary preferences?  This leads to burnout and abandonment of the wonderful audio hobby.  
speedbump6
760 posts
 
Viber, I’m going to have to disagree with some of your assumptions. The goal for each can be different, and that in no way makes it wrong. Not because you think your vision of the hobby is correct, nor anyone else’s thoughts. We each have to chase our on visions. Ive seen very disparate impression of equipment and sounds from people who I highly regard their knowledge of this hobby. It’s actually allowed me to open my thoughts to different things and learn to appreciate many ideas. There are always some that no matter what, I just cannot hear what they do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t feel that they are looking for some inferior sound, and I don’t feel that I am either. I don’t believe that most here can be pigeon holed into the spot you are placing them, or that your assessment of them is correct. It’s obviously not the sound you seem to be looking for I would agree. I find that you use the term euphonic to describe most  sounds outside your comfort zone, and that it’s not appropriately applied. You imply that they’re looking for a inferior sound since it’s not within the realm of your comfort level. It seems as if you say these things as a way to defend against what you see as attacks on you. Try less to convince others of your vision. Discuss, yes. But it seems you are always trying to get others to see some light that you see, that you believe they do not. And some here have struck back with comments like the educate one you mentioned. Give everyone else room to have their own thoughts which are just as valid and right as your own are for you. We should be able to discuss without judging others for what they believe they hear and experience. In a way it might be easier for me if I could find just one sound that I thought was the right one, no need to be chasing so much gear and spending so much doing it. But for me, and from talking with many others, that’s part of the fun and enjoyment. I enjoy more than just one signature sound. I can find something I like in many different ones. It’s the same issue I have with guitars. Each creates a different tone, adds something that another does not. Then add in the all the amp combos, and then you have all the effects possible. There are some that are just not worth listening to in my mind, that for others is the top,of their bucket list. Then I’ve gone back later and found that hey, there is something there after all. The amp didn’t change, the guitar didn’t. I did. For me, that’s a blast, and why I tend to go off the deep end in many hobbies I have. The journey never ends, there’s always new sights and sounds to explore, and I’m thankful for that. 
grey9hound
1,112 posts
 
Don’t forget a Very BIg One
"Didn’t believe in Cables"
or maybe in the beginning ,
"Didn’t want to believe in cables or Admit to it" .. because, it opened a Whole Other "Can of Worms"
grey9hound
1,112 posts
 
@Viber6
I must correct you on 1 thing ...your Math.
If we only have 2 groups
#1- people who preferred the Rogue Amp
OR
#2- people who preferred the Other Amp
Unless it was split 50% VS 50 %
The smaller number of the group is "The Minority"
If it was 51% for the Other Amp
49% for the Rogue.
The People who liked the Rogue would be in the minority


Also I hate to say it but
The reality is that most systems I have heard are dull and lacking top end.
That is not "Reality"
That is "Your Opinon"...as you see it , with your background and your experience .
It might be "Your Reality"
Problem is that you talk about everything as if it is fact, but IN FACT it is your opinion.
You really should use IMO or IMHO in your statements or opinions.
and Stop stating things as fact, when in reality, it is you opinion.
Am I wrong here ?


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