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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
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Review #1 from audioholics:
Pros
  • Superb bass extension to die for
  • Huge soundstage
  • Exquisite build quality
  • Ability to fine-tune bass and crossover in the speaker
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Huge footprint
  • Require lots of amplification to make them sound their best
  • Require a medium to large room


Review #2 (mine)

  • The very best bass i have heard in my room EVER by miles and miles and miles. Did i say i could play the magico and wilson audios all at once ( 4 speakers) and STILL they won’t even come close to the fullness of this speaker? It makes the bass from a wilson or magico sound mediocre.
  • Huge soundstage: extremely big sound with a level of imaging i have never heard before
  • Build quality that no other martin logan speaker has ever had.
  • VERY EXPENSIVE
  • Huge footprint, but not as big as some may think. i actually feel like the vivid audio g1s looked just as big
  • Requires lots of amplification? this is an understatement. i have zero doubt that they will require the best tube or class a amps you can afford. Dig deep into your pockets and pull out every single penny you have.
  • Possibly harder to place than the vivid audio g1s. These speakers "talk to your room" unlike any other speaker.
  • Watching a movie through these is like being inside your tv. Things just pop out of the speaker in all directions.
  • As big as they are, they disappear and you remain focused with what they present between them.
  • ZERO FATIGUE of any kind at any volume level. i cranked them up yesterday to close to 100db and it sounded as if a 747 was taking off. Oh, i also dozed off while they were playing for hours at loud volumes. My ears remained comfortable no matter what the volume was. 
  • They tend to sound their best when cranked up (could also that they need either a class a or tube amp to sparkle more)
  • If you love Beryllium tweeters, this speaker or any electrostatic speaker may not be your cup of tea in regards to the high frequencies (they will sound warmer) No other speaker sparkles as good as Beryllium tweeter does. However, If you love soft dome tweeters, this speaker will reward in ways that soft dome tweeters can’t.



grey9hound
1,112 posts
 
@whitecamaross you are obviously hung up on how much something costs.
Lots of amplification does not have to mean expensive.
Why are you so hung up on cost.you always state that upfront.as if it means everything...it doesn’t. Many here have tried to express that to you..but you don’t get it.
The Tekton speakers from 3k to 12k will come much closer ,if not surpass what you have tried at much less cost.
Read the reviews. At least 7 or 8 reviewers at
Stereotimes own the Tekton encores or ulfberhts as their reference speakers.
Lots of other speakers and amps out there that perform as well or better than what you have or have tried for much less!
Cost does not = performance!
Maybe someday when you are more experienced you will understand it.
Maybe ..???
viber6
2,448 posts
 
WC, 
Although playing with spikes, tilt, powercords is useful, the most important thing you have done is tone controls.  I can illustrate why use of more flexible EQ either analogue or digital will give you much further enhancements by giving a numerical analogy.  1 is the worst sound such as barely perceptible music from a distant analog radio station with 90% distortion.  100 is perfect live sound from the best seat.  Nobody has achieved 100 in their audio system.  With the world's best (WB) preamp and power amp without tone controls, you can only get to 40.  Call the best DAG preamp and power amp without tone controls 38.  Your Momentum integrated without tone controls used is 36.  But with the tone controls the way you like it you are now a giant 14 ft basketball player with double the height and double the audio level at 80.  In other words, there is no WB amp and preamp without tone controls that can equal what you now have..The tone controls on the Dag are rudimentary but still good enough to show you the absolute necessity of them.  The tone control circuit is another circuit, so even though that is a minor disadvantage, the benefits vastly outweigh that factor.  With a much more flexible stand-alone EQ there is admittedly another circuit in the chain, just as with the Dag integrated, but the ability to fine tune the tone control is of extradordinary benefit.  If you like tweeking now, just wait until you try a dedicated EQ with the WB preamp and amp.  Then you will achieve a 90.  When you build a larger better room, the EQ settings will change.  If you listen to a quieter piece of music where you don't need much of the additional gain of a preamp, you can use the Rane with its 6 dB gain from balanced inputs/outputs with only the WB power amp, and achieve a 95.  How about that?  Maybe the digital EQ's are better, and then you can get more.  Exciting!!
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
grey9hound: so what you are saying is that if you have a Bugatti Veyron in your garage right now, 16 cylinders, $10,000 for an oil change, $50k for all 4 tires, etc, etc, you then would be ok going to a Honda Civic with a turbo engine because the tires are cheap, it puts out 700 hp hp, and it can also go 200mph per hour like the Veyron right? (although it would take the civic about 3 hours to get up to 200mph)
Nobody said expensive stuff is what is needed. I simply said that this speaker needs quality amplification and through my experience with many amps, these amps are never cheap. It was only implying that these speakers take quality amplification the same way a Porsche GT needs the crazy expensive tires to be able to go what it does or else you will be spinning tires each time you put the pedal to the metal. I am somewhat "spinning tires" right now until i try more current, more wattage. I tried this exercise with the vividi audio g1s already. 
grey9hound
1,112 posts
 
You’ll get it someday
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