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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
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cleeds
5,921 posts
 

viber6

it isn’t clear that Jay really has problematic AC power. I think Jay already answered your question.

The few details Jay mentioned about his AC power revealed some issues and he has dodged the topic since. It looks like he has an A/C unit or arc welder on his "dedicated lines," as well as some potential code violations. Perhaps it was those problems that led him to try the Stromtank, although addressing the AC issues is probably the less expensive solution. Of course, if he’s in a rental, he may not have any choice.

My Shunyata Denali conditioner yields a big improvement in every sonic parameter, and that’s without any work in my 1963 NYC apartment building. I will make a small $1-2K investment in the Amperetime battery and big Giandel inverter to see whether it is an improvement over my Denali.

That will be an interesting experiment!

jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 

My lines are dedicated lines...coming from the panel box inside the house and the ac system is connected on the panel outside the house. I don't understand this narrative that i have compromised outlets. I have 5 dedicated outlets with 10 gauge wire and aftermarket outlets. 20a, 20a, 30a, 30a, 30a-220v. 

viber6
2,444 posts
 

Ricevs,

True about the PS Audio Powerplant, thanks.  However, once it generates the DC, it functions like an inverter.  The real issue here is whether the unique types of distortions from an inverter are qualitatively greater than those from good conditioners.  Stromtank distortions are rated below 2%, but PS Audio Powerplants reduce AC THD to about 0.1% distortion.  Yet Jay found the Stromtanks sound much better than PSA.  The unique distortions from the inverters are not characterized.  One more nail in the coffin for the measurements-only school of fantasy doctrinaire claims.  Listening is required to properly answer the question posed by cleeds, whether battery/inverters sound purer than conditioners and dedicated lines.

The Giandel 5000 puts out 5000 watt-hr continuous, 10,000 peak, when used with two Amperetime 200 amp-hr batteries for a total cost of $2800.  The competition is the S-tank 5000 for about $50K or so, for handling a complete system with power amps as well as front end.

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cleeds
5,921 posts
 
jays_audio_lab

I have 5 dedicated outlets with 10 gauge wire and aftermarket outlets. 20a, 20a, 30a, 30a, 30a-220v.

Do you have 30A devices (receptacles) on those 30A lines? If so, when you test power cords, do you change the connectors to 30A plugs?

If you have 20A receptacles on the 30A lines, in many places you’d have a code violation and it’s a potential safety hazard. So that’s problematic.

That 30A 220V line is a real puzzle. Do you actually mean it’s 30A 240VAC? Is that a hardwired connection? If that’s not for an arc welder, dryer, or A/C, what’s it for?

As for some of the spurious noise that was detected in your videos (graphs were posted earlier in the thread) - have you hunted down the source? There were some speculations here that they originated in your AC lines.

jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 

I’m no electrician... I leave that to the pros. I pull out my wallet and pay the pros to do the work that the manufacturers recommend.

It’s simple: pay a dude to run wires from your circuit breaker directly into your room. This isn’t rocket science. Grab one stupid end of a thick wire and plug it into the breaker panel and run the stupid ass wire through the wall and make it come out through a hole in the wall and then grab a decent outlet and connect the wire into the outlet. Lastly, make sure the outlets are in phase so there is no bass cancellation issues.

Let’s not make this job complicated folks:

  • Go to home Depot and buy thick wire and 20a breaker
  • Buy aftermarket outlet of choice
  • Find a dude on Angie’s list that does electrical work
  • Have the dude run the wire you bought at home Depot from your breaker all the way to your desired location
  • Pay the dude the money agreed upon for the job
  • Plug in your electronics into the new outlet
  • Grab a drink and chill.

 

Step by step how to do dedicated lines for your system. I believe my 6 year old can understand how to do the job too.

Now I’m anxiously waiting for the bashing to commence by the electrical gurus that lurk on here.

 

Oh yea - stromtank still embarrasses any dumb dedicated lines. Just wait until i drop the video of a guy who i sold a STROMTANK to and how his system has transformed even more than the $15,000 dollars he paid to some electrical gurus who supposedly also did Michael Fremers electrical work.  Just wait and see...

The proof is in the pudding so just wait and see...

 

 

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