Plinius 250/Pass x-350/Gamut D200/Other ?

I was considering all the amps you mentioned(among many others- cello duet, rowland 8Ti, accuphase P series, Parasound JC-1, Clayton Audio S2000) and in the end I ended up with a BAT VK-500, it seemed to mate up the best with my speakers(maggies)- the only one I am still VERY interested in is the JC-1 seeing as they are suppose to be AMAZING and retail for 6k, I couldn't arrange for them to make it into my system, maybe they will be next years upgrade :o) But out of your choices I would go Pass-plinius-gamut, the gamut probably doesn't have enough juice to drive your speakers well, and the plinius can be a little lean with some systems, but so can the pass- which is why I choice the more laid back sound of the BAT. Bottom line is you gotta get them to your ears to make a decision

I don't know if the JC-1s are amazing, but they are the best we could do in a machine made very powerful amplifier....I have been circulating a demo set to our Blowtorch preamp customers and their friends and everyone has liked them and several have purchased sets....They break in nasty for those that try a new set and take a good thirty days to sing, but I voiced them for complete break-in....The amps are very unusual for a machine made unit as the parts quality is the best available....

Check out the Polyfusion 960. We continue to be impressed by the sound that is produced out of the 1.6's. I have had some pretty impressive tube amps driving these and I am not at all looking around the next corner at what is next. And that is saying alot since I have had over 20 amps that I have bought in the last 12 years. They are not well known but, check them out. You will be glad that you did. Just hit the Polyfusion web site.

I have heard and seen a number of opinions stating that the GamuT D-200 had trouble driving speakers. Does anyone have practical knowledge of this apparent shortcoming and can say just how efficient a speaker need be to be effectively driven by the GamuT?

The GamuT worked just fine driving my 88dB efficient 6 ohm Rockport Syzygy speakers....Wonderful focus and venue information. A really little bump in the upper bass is all I could find to criticize. It isn't the most dynamic amp I have heard, but there was enough PRAT to get your toes tapping.....I spent a week with the amp and replaced the worn binding posts and made up some better RCA adapters and enjoyed every minute.....I went with another brand of binding posts, Superior Electric, and the little bass bump virtually went away and the unit had better pace as well.......Great amp for around 3K on the used market......

I have a Gamut D-200 amp and it is more powerful than most pesople give it credit for. It is very high current capable of delivering sowhere around 47 amps or so. Here is the thing... The reason it gets a bad rap for not able to drive a heavy load is because GamuT plainly states that the amp is designed to shut down if it sees a speaker load of 1.5 ohm or less. So unless you have speakers that dip below 1.5 ohm (not many speakers do), the amp can drive almost any other speaker made for home audio on the planet.

I doubt it would have problems with your Martin Logans.

Sound qualitywise the GamuT is as transparent and amp as I have herad for less than $10k. At $3k the amp is a steal. You really must hear to believe. I have had Plinius amps, and I think the GamuT is a much more refined and transparent sound than the Plinius power. Pass amplification is great, but overpriced IMO. I would love to compare the Pass amps with the GamuT. That would be a great shoot out.

However, from the top down, the Gamut D-200 is difficult to beat. It does so many things so well with very few short commings.

KF