Recommendation on power amp

@ajpk1971 . That sounds good . What speakers have you paired them with .
i am very happy with my ayre mxr/twenty . I did upgrade my streamer to the lumin u1. 

Got my Krell 375's 2 months ago.
They are the best Krell's yet.

I liked my FPB 250Mc years ago, but the XD's are spectacular !!!

@yyzsantabrabara
My room is quite big , open design 32 by 24 ft with 20 ft ceiling .
saw ur LS50s. One of my friends and guide Barry Oder made a system matching Jl Audio subs with the LS50s. He said they were a great match .

http://www.soundoctor.com/about.htm

He he was raving about for about a fraction of the price you could get very similar sound .
you can contact him if you are interested . He can help with bass integration with room treatment and set up .

@transnova  I have heard rumors that the Blades 2 can fit in small rooms, sort of an audio urban legend. Would you mind taking a look at my virtual system and tell me if I would be crazy to out the Blade 2 into this room (for only a few years). Currently my idea is to put in the Paradigm Person3F with the Anthem STR DSP capable preamp However, the Blades would be my ultimate speaker.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

I've been in HR for so long and can say that a leopard can't change its spots, just my perspective.

@audiotroy, I listened to them in the showroom , the xd 300. He has had them running for a while for me to audition.
my impression was the sound was too overbearing for my taste. It seemed to be on steroids.
thanks for your input really appreciate it .

Rs507 we are sorry that you feel that way, and you are basing everything you know about us about what we write on audiogon, it is not the same to actually visit a place and talk to the owners  in person.

Caphill we are also big Naim fans we don't have a 500 stack we have a 300 stack with Nac 282/high cap, and a NDX 2/XPS stack sounds pretty amazing, Personally we don't think the OP would have gone that way as Naim tends to work best as a system approach.

Newtoncr, congradulations on the new Ayre amps, we would love to know how in the demo you got the Krell 575 were bright sounding? They are just the opposite, we  had our XD 300 off for a few days while redoing our rack and it sounded very flat and a bit harsh when it was just turned on, the next day back to smooth and silky so did you demo these at a dealer or at your home? Where the amplifiers the XD versions? and how long were they warmed up? At this point is it moot as you got the Ayre amps which will have their strengths in resolution over the Krells, but are way more expensive with less volume capability. 

Also sorry to hear about your "dealer" that wouldn't lend you a set of amps, that seems particularly rude considering you have purchased from him before. 

Good luck and let us know how the new amps work out.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

OP none of the Ayre dealers I know carry Chord...but no matter, you have fantastic amps and a great company behind them !!!! enjoy them in good health
best
Jim

The local ayre dealer here would not offer thr home demo I requested .i was surprised cause I was not new to him and had bought other stuff for him. I was shocked he wouldn’t provide that service . His excuse was someone “ earlier had misused the privilege “ I replied to him saying it was not a privilege but a service he should provide if he wanted customers to buy from him. He was also very pushy with his favorite brands like chord, and gave me the impression that if he didn’t sell it they were not good . And he didn’t sell kef. 

OP sorry I just saw you bought the MXR-20 series...OMG you will love them and they sound like magic ten minutes in out of standby
have fun !!!!!!!
Jim

I owned the VX-R Twenty for several years driving Vandersteen model 7 Mk2 not a warm speaker at all - magical sound and ayre amps competes well above the $20 K range. Some would say IF you can live with 200 W, it sounds better than the MX-R. I have spent some enjoyable time listening to Blades driven by VTL, quite lovely sound.

might I ask why no home Ayre demo ? I know more than a few Ayre dealers who would send me home with gear....is there perhaps a bit more to the story ????

BTW, Ayre support and engineering and build quality if fanatical. I upgraded to the Vandersteen amps but the Ayre are no slouch....

Thank you caphill,
i have already the purchased the Ayre MX-r twenties .
i have not listened to the Naim.
next time I upgrade I will keep them in mind.

@newtoncr

Not sure if it’s too late for you to demo the Naim NAP 500 DR power amp with a separate external Naim 555 PS DR power supply unit. I know they are above your budget but a used ones can be had for $20k and less. The NAP 500 DR & the 555 PS DR external PSU go together. These are two-stacked amp. Highly musical. Highly recommended! These are Naim’s 500 series, which is top of the line series before you get to the Naim Statement series, which is cost-no-object design gears and one of the absolute best musical sounding gears I’ve ever heard and owned regardless of price or SS or tubes etc.

The Naim NAP 500 DR power amp and other Naim’s 500 series gears use some component parts that are used in their Statement series gears.

Especially when you partner the NAP 500 DR/555 PS DR combo with Naim’s own NAC 552 linestage analog preamp + 555 PS DR external PSU and the Naim ND 555 digital network streamer/DAC + 555 PS DR external PSU you will be treated with a whole new level of musicality from what you currently have now. I know these Naim 500 series gears are really expensive but they are extraordinary and highly musical sounding gears. 

At least you should highly consider the Naim NAP 500 DR/555 PS DR power amp/external PSU for your KEF Blades.
They will sound really good together. Naim sound profile tends to be on a slightly warmer side of neutral with full rich & punchy sound but nothing like tubey sound. Naim gears have excellent PRAT (Pace Rhythm and Timing & speed) yet punchy and very organic natural sound. they simply don't sound at all. They just sound like real natural music and not reproduced sound.

If you care about how your music sounds and want the best musicality I would highly recommend the Naim 500 series gears If you can't afford their Statement gears. Well....Naim Statement gears (NAP S1 monoblock amps + NAC S1 linestage analog preamp) are way too expensive for a lot of people. These are cost-no-object design gears. The Naim NAP 500 DR power amp + 555 PS DR external PSU are expensive but be on the lookout for a used ones. 

I've heard the all Naim 500 series gears, which include the NAP 500 DR/555 PS DR power amp/external PSU, paired with KEF Blades before and they sounded fantastic together. 

I'd also look at a pair of Bryston 28B3 monos.

Audiotroy I guess you don't know me well enough for I could have been a customer of yours but again based on your many advertisement posts you lost this customer. Same with a local car dealer, based on their tactics I drove 100 miles and bought the same car and it was several hundred dollars more but that really wasn't the point.
I wish you luck in your business it just wouldn't be with me.

Newtoncr congrats on making a choice to suit yourself.

I think some posters, particularly some of the sales people, think they are the complete authority on what is good and what is not. Often someone points to their knowledge and experience. Let’s not get confused here, they are smelling money here on the forums and are trying to get a sale. I don’t really think they care what might work or what might sound good or what might fit within a budget...that is for the buyer to figure out! In fact I find the interference from them so tasteless and arrogant, I would not buy anything from them.

Another note, during the comparison I realized that the krell sounds very similar to the parasound jc-1 and I couldn’t justify the “upgrade”  
but that’s me . 

I got a pair of mx-r twenties for my system to replace the jc-1.
will use for a week and let everyone know how they sound.
the krell sounded a little too aggressive for me . Made music sound loud not smooth and delicate. I preferred the ayre.
thanks everyone for all the advice and recommendations 

Correction, twoleftears, if they are too informative for you and one or two others to process their content stick with the posts you are interested in. A lot of us find they provide insight into equipment matching and quality.

As I said above, your "protecting us against the evil salesmen" routine is rather stale. You sound like your jealous of Audio Doctor's professional success.  

What we need are fewer dealers whose every post turns into a lengthy infomercial.

dznutz, I’m 100% in agreement about the helpful posts of Audiotroy. I think what you will find is that those posting against them are jealous of Audio Doctor’s business success and equipment knowledge.

Their "protecting us against the evil salesmen" routine is rather stale.

Off topic, but why so much hate against Audiotroy?  I have found their posts and experience quite helpful.  Especially when I agree with their assessment of certain gear that I have owned and lived with myself.  I think we need more experienced Dealers who actually know what they're talking about and willing to share.

OP: the Krells are used with Martin Logan’s 13a. 

Try a used DK intergrated amp

@notesaddict what speakers do you use with the krell xd 575 . 
pass labs I am not very excited about the heat . I find the jc-1 very hot running at high bias class A to  25 watts, the way I use them ... 
again the jc-1 sound very nice and right now listening to the rega the system sounds very holographic and clean. But I want the same sound at higher volumes . 
Will soon post on my experience with diff amps on my system and my final choice . The current leader is still the  mx-r twenty . 

I suggest you I suggest you check out the latest Amos from Krell. I recently purchased the new Krell Duo 300 XD and they sound more musical than my FPB 400CX. Don’t know how they pulled it off given it’s a pure class A amp that draws only 1 W in standby. They’re driving Confidence C2’s EFFORTLESSLY. 

Have you listened to or thought about the Pass Labs X600.8 mono amps$26,000.00 pair compared to the Ayre MX-R twenty at $29,500.00 pair.

I own Krell’s 575 Solo XD. They’re excellent. Audiotroy did a good job in describing their sound in one of his posts. 

Hello, your equipment sounds great.  the Pass Labs X series amps are fantastic.  May be the missing link.  

I would also like to hear them with the new Parasound JC-5.

 I have a pair of Blade 2's that I have owned since 2015. They work well in both mid sized and small rooms. I was shocked that they did not overload my 12' x 13' office. They are better in a larger room away from boundaries, but were surprisingly good in the smaller room. I have paired them with a Sonic Frontiers Power 1 (55 wpc KT-88 tube amp), Mac 6700 (200 wpm solid state receiver), Classe CAP-151 integrated,  Rogue Audio Stereo 100 & Atlas Magnum (both 100 WPC KT 120 amps), Parasound Halo A-21, Aragon 3002, Mark Levinson 532H (300 wpc SS), and an Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 1 SS amplifier.
 The best Solid State results have been with the Levinson and the Emotiva, which is somewhat startling considering it was $999 new and can be had for half that used. It is a 75lb 250/wpc beast! The Aragon worked well, but only through its single ended inputs. The best tube results were with the Rogue Atlas Magnum/ RP-5 preamp combo. Preamplifiers seem to alter the sound as much, if not more than amplifiers. I have used a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 SE, Line 2 SE, Rogue RP-5 & RP-7, and my Esoteric SA-50 player directly fed into the amplifiers. All combos sound different. Even changing from RCA to XLR in the same combos changes the sound.The Emotiva/RP-7 works well, due in part to the Emo's high (32 db) gain.
 I would like to try the PS Audio BHK amplifiers, and after reading this thread, recent Krell amps.

Don’t get me wrong , the jc-1 are good amps. When I play my music louder the music seems to get congested. I feel it’s the transition from class a to class a/b operation. And also omg in high bias they cook. I can feel that the bottle neck are the amps and the speakers can sound better at louder volumes with an amp upgrade. 
and again it’s the upgrade bug and right now it’s the power amps in the spotlight
 
thanks everyone. I am sure there are very good amps out there but I have decided to get a pair of mx-r twenties. Special thanks to everyone who helped me make this choice. 
thank you 

Love class A but tough in the summer months...

From what I know the Parasound jc-1’s are a pretty fancy pair of amps.
Where do they fall short?

What sort of sound are you after?
What’s the size of your room?
Tubes are nice, but I’d go that route in the pre-amp stage, longer tube life, heat, power consuption - yada, yada. Good tubes are expensive, and in power amps, well, they can complicate things .... but that sound.
A/B amps .... bullet proof.
Class A amps ..... oh that sound, but - heat can be an issue, eventually some of them cook themselves after years of use. But IMHO Class A amps are sweeter.
Again .... what are you after?

And, if you can't swing the $15K, their Stellar line (S300 and M700s) is next best. I have the M700s; finest amps I've ever heard.

I would suggest auditioning a pair of the BHK 300s.  Really incredible power amps for the money.  They are about 15k, so in the price range.  

I did contact them and ask them about compatibility and they said it would sound very good and the preamp and speakers are all compatible.
i agree ayre has the best customer service I have encountered. They are amazing and that’s why I am so interested in their amps.
i didn’t ask them about a home demo but I am just waiting to listen to the krell before I decide on the ayre .
Then all I will need is to find a good deal in the mx-r twenties 

Newtoncr, have you tried calling Ayre's corporate offices?  I own an Ayre K-5xe pre-amp, your CD player and a QSB-9 DSD DAC.  Unfortunately, not the MX-R Twenty amps nor your KEF speakers.  

My point is that Ayre's customer support has been excellent in my experience.  They have been helpful in answering several questions and in making some recommendations.  Perhaps they can help you get the amps home for a test.  I would not hesitate to advise them of the response you got from your local dealer.  I agree wholeheartedly with those who have noted that your dealer should be happy to arrange a home demo, particularly given your past purchase of Ayre equipment. 

@newtoncr
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/blade-2-1st-na-dealer-demo-pair-i-heard-them.17444/page-2

Ayre + Blades

Now that they have severs hundred hours on them and are now driven by Ayre MX-R Twenty monoblock amps they are, in a word, awesome!!

I am biased. I think the blades sound great with almost any amp.

You say you are presently using a pair of Parasound Halo   JC1's.  Are you using these as monoblocks?  Read the specs and this is a really powerful amplifier.  Why would you need anything else?

Lol don better is my local ayre dealer.

I can add something of value perhaps to the discussion. I think audiotroy mentioned he does not carry JL Audio subwoofers and now carries SVS.I cannot find fault with his statement but...
Quite a few years back, before SVS became a bigger company, I had driven to Ohio to purchase a subwoofer from them. I liked it for sure but a few years later it developed a problem. When I contacted SVS directly they flat out stated they would not fix it (even if I paid them) and suggested I buy a new one. They did not even suggest I buy one from them?? I would buy a REL, JL Audio, Rythmik or Salk subwoofer before SVS. My two cents...I think salespeople can be very helpful since they have much knowledge, but often they become arrogant when making claims about gear. I have bought gear from Don Better in Cleveland and he has been great. I think audiogon members sharing knowledge can be helpful and that is why I shared my experience here...

I am going to listen the krell 575 xd before I decide . Yes they r much cheaper and lot more watt per $.
Reading the responses I felt a lot of raised eyebrows about the Jl Audio cr-1 and pair of Jl Audio f113v2 set up for the low end .
I would like everyone to read the below white papers that I am going to post a link to .
They r by Barry Oder “the Sounddoctor “, who I had the pleasure of spending 2 days with .
this is the link to the home page, you can navigate to the white papers. 
Trust me you will find the reading quite enjoyable and helpful 
http://www.soundoctor.com/about.htm

I really like the way Audiotroy put those amps into categories of similarity in sound . Never seen that before . 
@Audiotroy I have a pair of Kingsound King Electrostatic speakers . Do you have a recommendation for a amp or monos that would delivery the perfect sound ? You know , great bass great mids and perfect treble .

Hate to be a party pooper but our store has a room filled with amplifiers from $1,000.00 - $15k in one room and and if you add in the matching preamps you may be talking up to $25k. yes these amplifiers do sound radically different.

In our reference room we have $10k amplifiers, $19k, $14k solid state amplifiers and tube amplifiers from $8k to $38k

There are families of sound certain amplifier companies are in the fast, transparent and perhaps a bit lean or just slightly warm: Spectral, Audionet, Ayre, Chord, Sim, Bryston, Solution, T+A,  all tend to fall in this area

Then there are the warmer richer amps which may or may not accentuate the the bass with a more polite top end: Dagastino, new Krell XD, Parasound, Anthem STR, Pass Labs, Coda, Darthzeel, Thrax, Ypsilon.

then there are the very neutral punchy amplifiers Hegel, Nuprime, ARC, later CJ, VTL.

all of these are great amplifiers and will shine with the right components and system matching any brand not mentioned was not intentional. 

There are definatly increase in openess, resolution, the size, width and depth of the soundstage when you reach the uber amplifiers they just increase the sense of precence over the lesser amplifiers.

When we were searching for reference electronics for our Polymer and Paradigm Persona and Kef Blades we tried: CJ, Devialet, Chord, Thrax, Electrcompaniet, Manly Labs, until we got the T+A gear which just made the speakers come alive in ways that the other amplifiers just didn’t.

As per the OP please try the new Krell solo 575 XD based on your original post of wanting a more organic sound you might really like them, the Ayre amplifiers are very fast and are cleaner then the Krell’s but they lack the sense of flowing warmth and body that the Krell amplifiers do so well, as a Blade dealer we have found amplifiers with a bit of warmth tend to work really well with the Blades which have a very uncolored midrange and tend to like things which add a bit of warmth to the speakers.

Also the Krell are more powerful and are a lot less expensive to boot.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Of the amps I have owned (nothing top notch) I could easily tell which was which in a blind test.

1) Peachtree Nova 150. Decent mellow sound, not so clear on the high frequencies.

2) Benchmark AHB2. Clear and quiet (my fav that I owned) but the sound was coming from the speakers. The sound did not separate away from the speakers. I tried this amps with 3 speakers, Magico A3, Audience 1+1 V3, and KEF LS50 it had the same characteristics with all of them.

3) Various Bryston, 4B-ST, 7B-SST. I can always tell by the high frequencies.

4) Parsound A23. A veiled sound but not harsh

I am actually someone who thinks there is a lot of diminishing returns with higher cost audio gear. I think my bias are the opposite that you describe.

I am actively shopping for new gear and I recently heard the following 3 amps. Mark Levinson 585, SimAudio 890A, Lyngdorf 2170. I could easily pick out the Lyngdorf, but I would have a tougher time between the ML and SimAudio.

Unfortunately, during this recent shopping spree I am finding the higher cost amps sound better to me. There are many things I do not know but one thing I do know is that my hearing is incredible.

@yyzsantabarbara

You hear what you hear. However, I bet I could easily trick you into what amp you were listening to if you don’t know what you weren’t listening to. No one is immune to bias, even if subconscious, once you know the brand, price, and/or asthetic, measurements don’t tell you jack. Also, need I remind you of the $10K amp challenge.

“Space between instruments” has nothing to do with an amp besides channel mismatch and crosstalk, which neither of Benchmark nor the ML has issues with.

Also, the Blade 2 is excellent, better than most all around its price, and anything Wilson puts out, but due to its side-firing woofers, what room it’s in (or how much treatment you have) becomes a factor. Once you go far off-axis (50°+), it has huge dips around 500Hz and 4kHz and a large wide-frequency hump centered around 1kHz around 90°,  so I would suggest either a very wide room or a good amount of thick acoustic panels to the sides of the speakers.

Or, sell all your equipment, get the Dutch&Dutch 8C and dual Rythmik G25HP’s.