2. amps-preamps
  3. 126624-10101

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
grey9hound
1,112 posts
 
@whitecamaross
Sorry man. I did not mean to start a debate on guitarists. I try to respect the thread and you, but the music suggestions , were obviously something that I thought stood out , and would be a good "System Test" .The reason for posting was for everyone who reads the thread,to check it out . I only ever bring up something "off topic" , when i think it will benefit everyone .
Most,but not all, was stuff that took me many many years of listening , to find , and "cherry pick" out the songs that I thought stood,above many .
The Stevie Ray Vaughan "Tin Pan Alley" was one that I had sent to you, but until Mr. Decibel mentioned it as one to try , you were unaware of it , even though you actually had it .
I know that I had physically mailed you some music cds and asked you to listen and let me know your thoughts, unfortunately, I never heard back from you about any of it , privately or publicly.Many times i and others have asked you a question or have posted something for you to respond to ,and it just gets ...Ignored.

The big problem with a lot of the songs i mentioned , is that they are not in the database, in Tidal...and so many "Audiophile types " are stuck on TIDAL. Tidal sucks when it come to content , IMO.
Sometimes you just have to go to Youtube , but then again, Therein lies the problem.
Most "audiophile" folks do not have the ability to listen to Youtube on their system, because they have an ""audiophile" Pre-amp, which only takes analog inputs and is 2 channel. I think everyone needs the ability to play something from a computer based system.
In today’s world if you don’t have this capability , then you are missing out... on a lot, IMO. I use a McIntosh MX150. It is good in its own right. It does not compete with a most 2 Channel Pre-amp setups .. I admit this .
I have a PC that runs JRiver Media Center . It will also do anything that you can do from a PC... and that is a lot. Of course a lot of Audiophile types will snub their nose at this , But, I can play DVD-Audio files or DVD music which is usually .MVI files...and all of this can be done in 2 Channel , DTS ...5.1 Surround . etc
I also own a Roku Ultra. .Pandora Plus sounds Fantastic through the Roku (HDMI). can also see anything in 4K that it offers. I had the OPPO UDP-203. It has an HDMI input. It will output 4K.
WC , I know you have a TV between those speakers. I know that you have an OPPO Udp 205.
If you hook up a Roku Ultra in to it, your possibilities are Phenomenal.
The big problem here is that the Ultra Hi-Fi (in most peoples opinion) is all about 2 channel. I am here to tell you that if you have something that takes and HDMI input ,You greatly expand your A/V experience.
PC computer Example .
I have a McCormack DAC-1, that I use for the outdoor pool speakers. I have usb out of my PC (Mainly J-River Media center) to a V-Link2 USB to spdif converter. (usb in and both Coaxial and optical out ) I am testing the following to see which sound better
HDMI out of PC to HDMI l in on McIntosh MX150
Optical out of V-link 2 to Mx150
Coaxial out of V-Link 2 to McCoramck DAC-1 to Analog in of MX150
Optical out of V-link 2 to McCormack DAC-1 to analog in of MX150.
Anyway my whole point is that , I may not be getting that awesome 2 Channel , but I have Awesome sound on 2.0 or 2.1 or 5.1.
I think a lot of people are missing out on a lot with just dedicated 2 channel systems .
Don’t get me wrong , everyone’s high end 2 channel setup is excellent and rewarding in its own right.
This is all the more reason IMO for you to build that Home Theater Room !
Oh , and what i was going to say initially, to WCSS, with all due respect, ..
is that , OP means "Original Poster" not necessarily "Owner of the Pages"
viber6
2,448 posts
 
Technically, RIAA is right about starting other threads about other topics.  But I think this thread is so popular because of the community that WC has built.  Many people are catching his bug for enthusiasm, so it is natural that we can go off on tangents, off topic.  But, if people are happy and enthusiastic, they are more likely to have good contributions ON TOPIC as well.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Contributing is all good. That said, am I the only person that is going through equipment in the last 3 years? I gotta believe some of you have swapped amplifiers throughout  the last 3 years. Why not post your thoughts here? I know I’m not the only one here who goes through amps. Why don’t some of you put paper to pen and share your personal experience????
bigddesign3
237 posts
 
Sounds good. Question? Are you still thinking of doing the Home Theater setup in your existing room? Would love to hear your thoughts on a 11.1 or 11.2 system that you had mentioned. Curious as to what brands of speakers you would choose.


I just have to mention that Martin Logan has the Motion Speaker Systems with regular speakers and that nice sounding ribbon tweeter. The Motion XT series has quite a good total setup with Atmos and the side speakers. And of course, I would recommend REL subs as a great addition to no overdo the bass. More like an extension to existing speakers. This is just my recommendation. Love those ribbon tweeters. I have 2 of the Motion Vision Soundbars, and I love the sound. Never irritating. Just a suggestion.
keithr
1,306 posts
 
Well, I’ve tried around 15+ since 2011 or so, but don’t focus on large SS mono blocks since I’ve always had efficient, dynamic driver speakers (now Devore Gibbon X). Many SETs, P/P tubes, Class A SS, etc.

My favorite SS amp is Dartzeel , tube is currently ARC Ref 75SE with fond memories of a baby Mastersound Due Venti for value. I also miss my Mc601s from back in the day.

I generally prefer simple circuits with minimal tubes or transistors as they sound better. The amp I need to scoop up one day for fun is the Viva Solista even though it’s not a perfect speaker match- total hifi jewelry.


More to discover