Krell, Classe or Bryston?

As a follow-up to a fellow Albertan, I too have heard the Sim W-5 and loved it. Was it worth twice the price of my 4BST - not to my ears with my 1.5's. I think as a stand alone amp it would do a nice job on the 3.6's and would give it serious consideration if found used at a good price. It's my opinion that a pair of 7BST monoblocks would provide more current and better control of the planars than the W-5. The Sim might "sound" similar to the Classe as it has been my experience that both are "warmish" in comparison to the Bryston amps. Bryston IMHO offers less of a sonic signature - they just seem to amplify whats provided and therefore may be subject to revealing system flaws and considered to be less forgiving...

I disagree with Leafs about the quality of sound that you get from a Krell amp. I own both a Bryston 4BST and a Krell KSA 200S. There is no doubt that the Krell has more drive capability for low impedance loads. That said I find that the Bryston 4BST sound as good (not better) with my speakers which are 6 ohm nominal. As far as cost there is no doubt that the Bryston is a much more cost effective approach. That combined with a 20 year fully tranferable warranty makes Bryston a best buy IMHO.

Rgd I agree the Bryston mono s would be a good buy and I well may go that route when I have my maggies. However SGR did not state a budget and I found when you're at this level of sound quality it takes some serious bucks to make the upgrade worthwile.I dont think its ureasonable to have to double the cost to make the next step up . It really depends what you can afford. I have also heard SimAudios monoblocks marketed as I think a W10 . They are very tight and if you ever got them broken in they provide a hugh surplus of current. chers steve

the classe' s are the smoothest, most musical of the group, IMO. they'd be my choice if i couldn't afford accuphase or boulder. a big problem with the krell gear, among many, is how quickly it becomes obsolete through the intro. of ever more models, nos., styles & names. hasn't been true of the classe or bryston. BTW, there is a huge difference between the lower end classe (much more like bryston) and the upper-range models like the cam and omega.

Best I've heard 3.6r's sound has been with Levinson 336 or the big Plinius in Class "A" mode. I've got 4 friends with these maggies and they all ended up with one of these amps or the other. Runner up: Hafler 9500/9505. Short money maggie solution not many folks are aware of. Great synergy between Hafler and Magnepan. Good Luck!