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!
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!
20,890 responses
They should give you one of these if you already bought the Select II........Any one know the pricing?.....the Select Digital Director is......let me guess.....$30K?...too low of a guess?.....Whatever it costs....I have to have one to go with my modded $400 SMSL DAC......ya baby! Jay just ordered one now.....you bet. Actually, it probably is a noticeable upgrade......digital does indeed keep getting better......but at these prices....you can hire a band to play. |
I have the Theater 7 XD. Even though it's ony 100 Watts and my speakers are 85-86db efficiency, it's plenty of power. The Odeon was a mess. Sounded thin and had functional issues. They don't make them any more, so support is iffy. I don't want to go too deep into my experience here - no need to throw anyone under the bus. Dave |
@thezaks Hi Dave, thanks for your input. Could you please tell me a bit more about the differences between the Plinius Odeon and the Krell Xd. Was it a Chorus or Theatre XD? Thanks |
Thanks @jays_audio_lab , much appreciated. Just one thing, you mentioned the bass is a bit light on the Mark Levinson 533h. If you were to give the Pass Labs/JC1 a 90-100% for bass, then what score would you give the ML 533h? Can this be overcome with a pair of high performing subs (2x Monoprice Monolith 13" THX), EQ correction and room gain? Room is 21x12x8 ft. Also in your original post you went on to say the Plinius Odeon 7 was the best HT amp you heard. So a bit confused with your recommendation. Am I missing something? There's one used example available. Would the ML combo outdo the Plinius one box solution? |
Will those older Classe amps be any better than my EAD Power master 8300? Not sure they would be. Read the reviews link I posted to get an idea of what I mean. What I'm looking for is a significant jump up in sound quality from multichannel amps. So looks like it'll probably have to be 3x monoblocks or a 3 channel PA. Hence I posted here hoping there is a 3 channel amp that is as good as their stereo offering. Anyone?
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"Wow i didn’t know this... We are losing many great minds but unfortunately it’s part of life. The issue i see is that some brands don’t have a succession plan. Once the lead designer is gone, the brand goes too and that unfortunately murders the resale value. I really commend Wilson Audio for having a plan in place. Daryl has my respect for doing what he’s doing." Jay, It’s one of the reasons I like Mcintosh. The brand isn’t, now, tied to some kind of designer dynasty. Yeah, It’s great when the king has a prince but often they don’t. Who designed the MC611? I don't even know. No matter how good the designs after the king is gone, you have to deal with the audiophile stereotypes. It was a great company until they lost(________). Which I don’t be believe is true. There are few people that are irreplaceable, some would say all people are. Classe is another example of where the brand is larger than the designer. I look for this. It's hard to find the middle ground where the designs are great but not tied to one person. |
@ron17 In regards to the Classe amps, you are right, the new delta series are limited to stereo only, no multichannel. Which is a shame as they’ve got some rave reviews. I’ve always had a soft spot for them. I’ve got my beady eyes on a used pair of CA-M600 monoblocks at £7k ($8.5k). A bit over my budget of £5k ($6k). If I can get them for £5k I may reconsider. Also will leave the system incomplete as the centre channel will need a solution as well on top of that. |
@carey1110 Thanks for your response. I already have an Acurus Act 4 which is on par with Mx170 so am looking for a better PA. This forum started as an amplifier comparison and review thread. Some of the early amplifiers reviewed by whitecross were multichannel PA, like the Krell and Plinius Odeon. After many years though, I was hoping there were some new multichannel PA’s available and with lack of availability here in the UK, was hoping some of the users on this thread can provide their opinions and experience of some of the newer PA’s which with the latest technology and advancement must have reached a similar sound quality as some of the best A/B class stereo amps from the yesteryears but across all channels. However the more I look into it, to get the best sound quality it is looking more likely to get a stereo amp for the fronts, but with the centre channel being the most important, I wanted the same quality feeding that as well. Therefore my choice has really been narrowed down to a handful of 3 channel amps, which I’m hoping are based on their best stereo amp but with an extra channel. Rather than a watered down version of their multi channel amp. Or a top stereo amp with a matching monoblock for the centre from the same manufacturer. Some of these class D amps are now starting to look like serious contenders as well. Guys, if you can help me with this, I would appreciate it a lot. The ecamples above were just some I was looking at. Thanks |
Wow i didn't know this... We are losing many great minds but unfortunately it's part of life. The issue i see is that some brands don't have a succession plan. Once the lead designer is gone, the brand goes too and that unfortunately murders the resale value. I really commend Wilson Audio for having a plan in place. Daryl has my respect for doing what he's doing. |
So sorry to hear about Vladimir Lamm passing. He was a true pioneer in the field of audio. @abizzle55, Classe made some great multi channel amps that can be found on the used market. I had a CA 5100 and loved it. However I believe the (new) Delta series consists of a preamp, a stereo amp or mono amps.....no multichannel. |
Hi all, long time lurker wanting some help in finding the ultimate multi channel channel HT amp that is almost as good at stereo as the top amps you’ve listed from Pass labs etc. I thought about buying a seperate stereo amp or integrated, however due to lack of space and the Mrs, I have to stick to multichannel. Are there any better than: Krell Chorus 7200 XD Classe Delta Series (New) Mcintosh Legacy Audio i-V7 NAD M28
At the moment I have the EAD Power Master 8300 which I love but seeing if the tech has advanced considerably since its release. On paper spec wise the EAD still seems to outdo all these latest options. I know the specs aren’t the be all and end all, hence why I need some help in figuring all this out. People have also said its better than Pass Lab and Krell amps in their experience. I have attached the details of the EAD for you guys to compare spec and also the reviews for it from back in the day. Your support is appreciated. http://www.nobleelectronics.net/nob10.html Dynamic Power Steering: Because of the circuitry’s very low inter-channel cross talk, an extremely large power supply, including a 2000 VA Plitron transformer, with nearly 1/2 million microfarads of capacitance provides a huge reservoir of power, which can be tapped by any or all channels on an as-needed basis. Alternatively I could add a 3 channel amp which performs as good as the top stereo amps but with just one extra channel included. I feel as most of a movie soundtrack comes from the centre channel, so don't want to disregard that channel in pursuit of a top stereo amp, as then it will have little impact on movie soundtracks. Something like Krell 403e or Mark Levinson M533h come to mind. Very few available out there. Unless you guys can guide me to my best option. |
Really OP I would. I would at least archive this thread. I've seen entire threads with tons of great information just vanish behind two or three people disrupting a threads and a single moderator wipe out years of work. I enjoyed a guy named GK I quit stopping in when he left. Where the heck do all these threads and people go? There were a few great contributors here, I don't know let me drink some more wine and think on it.. I sure like this thread.. Take CARE of it.. |
What happens if the Moderators did shut down the thread or worse erased it? Do you have any control over that? This much information would be a horrible loss. That is a great reason NOT to rely on someone else's web site. From what I see it could happen. I stop in when I need something and usually post after a gallon or two of wine. I've read this thread for a long long time. Thanks, I appreciate your FREE hard work.. :-) I'd archive all of this. It would be a shame for your hard work to vanish because of a misunderstanding. How about a YouTube with a forum also? I'd pay to play. |
@mulveling Thank you. Agree with you 100%.
@jays_audio_lab Sorry to see you get so defensive about this thread and its survival. As you may be able to tell from a few other posters, your comments about preferring YouTube and your post about how we would be waiting for an extended period before seeing your videos here certainly made myself ( and it would seem others) believe you had lost interest in this forum and this thread. Since that now appears not to be the case (?), I do think you may want to get off my back and reel in your rabid dogs. Oh, and remember to not call everyone that disagrees with you the ’t’ word! I am off this thread now, as going forward there is nothing here for me...
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Hi everyone, This thread is supplemental to my YouTube channel. I will keep dropping in to give you all some small updates of things i am evaluating here and there but the bulk of my work will be done on YouTube. For example, the new brand i will be representing will be unveiled on YouTube first and later will I’ll update everyone on here. I appreciate EVERYONE who has followed me and supported me throughout the years. YOU ALL are the ones that keep me circling back in here. My "rough riders" will always be special in my life and you will always have an open door in my home. There are always antagonist that manifest themselves in the thread throughout the year. It’s like a cyclical thing but they eventually leave. I thank you all for the continuous support and appreciation of my body of work over the last 5 years. Let’s not allow for those who randomly come in to disturb what we all have built in here. Jay
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