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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
 
the set up played music all night long and i have been listening today. So far it has an excellent level of smoothness, good bass control that is very even with the rest of the presentation (meaning it does not take over the rest of the frequency range). Things that i can call out thus far:
Pros:
Imaging is excellent
Mids are clear and smooth
You can blast the music at 100db without it ever getting in your face
Big soundstage

Cons:
Very transparent which makes old music sound dull and some recordings that sounded good before are now just "ok"
I could use a little more detail or "sharpness" if that makes sense?

That said, i still need to introduce the nordost odin cables in the system and use a better source than the oppo 205. If you are asking WHY i am using the oppo when i have the lampizator, well because i want to gauge the system's sound with the most basic cables & source and THEN begin to tweak cables and sources and perhaps use the lampizator as a preamp rather than a source. The monos are using their stock cheap powercords and so is the preamp too. I will begin first by adding a nordost pc to the oppo and then i will add a second nordost pc to the preamp. Once that is done, i will top it off with the nordost speaker cables. At this point, i will see what these cables did to the oppo and the entire system and then i will add the lampizator towards the end. i want to gradually see how or what happens each step of the way. 


jafant's avatar
jafant
19,666 posts
 
whitecamaross
Much Thanks! for initial impressions and thoughts. At this performance / price level, Cabling,  is more critical than many think. Careful trial-and-error and  synergy of system matching is paramount. I am looking forward to your next cabling evolution.
Happy Listening!
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 

Hello WC, sorry... I thought you were going to use a pair of M535 in bridged mode instead of a single unit in Stereo mode.


My enthusiastic comments about M535 behavior pertain to a bridged pair with at least 700 hours on them, and the additional capacitors slipped onto the output terminals.


There is a very marked difference in performance between a single M535 and a well broken in pair.


For one thing, even after complete break-in, a single chassis in my system produces a stage which does not exceed the outer edges of my speakers (about 9.5 feet)... Conversely, a bridged pair under the same condition appears to generate a stage which reaches beyond the width of my entire listening room (19.5 feet). In terms of power/authority, while a bridged pair seems to yield endless power/authority, a single chassis approaches its limits on very complex and demanding passages, such as Mahler symphonies, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, or Rachmaninof's Symphonic Dances performed on two pianos by Ax and Bromfman.

.


The difference extends to all other parameters.... Resolution, transparency, harmonic detail, image sizes, authority, and that very subjective feeling of being immersed in a musical nirvana.


 And if a stereo unit is still into its break-in infancy... Well, you can just imagine how restricted/congested everything still is. As usual, patience is golden, if admittedly tedious.


Hello MRD, yes of course... Would love to chat about sound, music, "the universe, and everything" *Grins!* I'll send you a PM!


Saluti, G.



jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Nordost Odin 1 PCs are now connected into the oppo and in the preamp:
1. Clarity is remarkable
2. More oomph through the amps
3. Transparency has increased even more which forces you to use even better recordings
4. It will disappoint those of you who don’t own well recorded music, but if you own great music, you’ll need your wife to pry you out of the chair.

As as far as the direct connection on the amps (constellation connection) , I have mixed feelings about it. There’s less volume through it too which means you have to push the preamp harder to get the volume louder.

Sitting on this level of gear  is indeed surreal... now it becomes more like an art where you need to mix colors the way you like them to be. Each ingredient here is top notch but it is also EASY to create an awful meal if you don’t know how to cook. I mean, cables, powercords, usb cables, etc. EVERYTHING is heard here and it forces you to look at every single aspect of your set up. NOTHING can be overlooked here. 


zprr
306 posts
 
Awesome WC. 
With your experience with the Odin 1 PCs so far, are you generally seeing the most upshot when connected to sources/DAC vs preamp vs amps? Or, maybe it is hard to compare, as the upshot for each brings out different qualities?
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