Amp with best bass control

Yes and the 710 stereo. I compared them head to head with ML53's, Accuphase, EAR and whatever else my dealer had. It wasn't even close. The speakers were Amati Futura's. The source was an EAR CD player which was phenomenal for the money (a little cheapie looking, but the sound was excellent). Its the best CD player I've heard. It bettered the much more expensive Accuphase by a large margin. Cabling was all Tara Labs. And I preferred it slightly to the Esoteric k03.

The Soulution gear had this ability to vertically slice the music into its proper place with zero "blending" or "mushing" together of the midrange and tweeter. It was crystal clear. No mud. The tonality was also very natural and a close second to my ARC gear. Where some amps tend to "mush" the music together, the Soulution was crystal clear, with incredible spacing between the instruments and most importantly, between the frequencies. I'm not sure that makes much sense....but in summary, it was CRYSTAL clear, with terrific speed and bass grip.

Why no ARC gear for the Raidho's? I own the D1's now (actually they were just sold here yesterday). The ARC gear could not control the lightening fast diamond woofer. My Classe CAM600's do a much better job. My ARC gear sounds incredible on every speaker I've heard them on. But the Raidho's are so special and require a totally different approach IMO.

Lightening fast tweeter and woofers need electronics which can keep up. IMHO, tubes and Raidho don't mix. Except for maybe VTL. That's not a knock on the ARC gear. I love it - for almost every other speaker.

I want to hear Constellation and perhaps Jeff Rowland and D'Agostino as well. Maybe Spectral, but I am not a big fan of MIT cables. The amp on the outside is Vitus. I heard Vitus gear on Magico S5's (an absolutely amazing speaker IMO - especially for the money). It was terrific. Maybe an all Dane system is the way to go! :)

More auditioning is needed, but if I was picking today, it would be Soulution. I hope to hear Constellation, D'Agostino and others next week.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I'm making a list!

Mike

As a person who plays bass guitar, I resent all this control people seem to want to have over bass. Maybe I'm being over sensitive, but I think I have the right to be utterly out of control.

Mike, the Raidho D3's sound like amazing speakers. You mentioned some very good amps. I own a pair of Magico S5's and have heard the S5's with Vitus & Soulution amps. I liked the Soulution 710 which sounded very smooth and relaxed, much like the S5's. As for Vitus, i've only heard the S5's with the Vitus RI-100 integrated and liked the tonal balance, but overall preferred my Boulder amps which subjectively sound more powerful & transparent. If you were going for Vitus, I would recommend their mono's which achieve more acceptable channel separation. I've heard various Rowland amps, including the 725 mono's. I don't know, when I hear them I hear some artifice which I find a bit fatiguing in long listening sessions. Maybe that's due to the op amps or switcher psu? The weak point of Rowland imho is their preamp. Spectral i'm not a fan of. They sound too clinical and bright for my liking. You correctly pointed out the Raidho's diamond drivers & ribbon tweeter require plenty of clean power which can match them for speed. I don't have access to D'Agostino or Constellation gear; both could be good options. If you're still auditioning amps later in the year, i'd include the new Boulder 2160 which should be excellent. Boulder have also just released the new 2110 preamp which from all i've read is outstanding. Enjoy the process.

Wolf - playing bass and controlling bass are two completely different things. If I gave you a really old paper cone bass amp, you wouldn't like the way the bass sounded (flabby). Just like some guitarists prefer tube amps to SS amps....it's the same thing.

Diamond woofers (new technology) are very hard and therefore need an amp that can move them in and out quickly and efficiently.

Boulder is definitely on my very short list! Can't wait to hear them.