Which amp matches best my JM Lab Mezzo Utopia ?

When I purchased mine back in 2000, I listened them with a pair of Lamm parallel single-ended amps, some Thor monos, a Simaudio solid-state amp, and my own amp of the time, a McIntosh MC500. I definately preferred both the Sim and the Mac compared to the other two, mainly because of the bass response.

Since then, I've set up these speakers in five different living spaces, and the bass is the aspect of the Mezzos' performance that I'm least happy with . . . they can either get really boomy, or turn around (with position changes, or even different recordings) and sound thin.

The vintage Marantz amps I'm running now are by far the best I've ever heard with these speakers. They're P-P EL34 amps, and unlike most SE designs, maintain a pretty low output impedance. (Amps with higher output impedances are usually associated with the traditional "tubey" sound: relaxed highs, boomier bass).

And one thing I will say is that I have never once wished for my Mezzos to have boomier bass, in any room. Thus, I personally wouldn't be looking at single-ended amps as a good match for them. But as always, your mileage may differ . . .

Aleko, if you use a balanced amplifier with the single-ended inputs, the entire amplifier gets used.

Your speakers are tube-friendly but they need more power than most SETs offer, and the issue that you face with SETs is that the more power they have, the less bandwidth they will be capable of. You will definitely hear that on the JM Labs!

There are tube amps out there that have a lot in common with SETs (class A, zero loop feedback, all-triode) that will make the power that you need, and do it in a very classy way.

Atmasphere, I guess that you actually are the Atmasphere company?
Had read somewhere though that it is not efficient to use a balanced amplifier with an unbalanced source (as mine).
I am not targeting a balanced amplifier for this reason
as it is naturally more expensive due to the doubled circuitry.
Why pay for double circuitry and not concentrate the funds on a better quality single type circuitry.
A matter of strategy I suppose.
On the other hand I know that a balanced amplifier will provide more current at output which will be good for a hungry speaker like the Mezzo.

Aleko, wherever you read that tidbit, its not actually true. Also FWIW if the amplifier is balanced-differential you do not have 'doubled circuitry'. Differential circuits have the advantage of lower noise and lower distortion as opposed to their single-ended counterparts. This can be a big deal depending on the complexity of the amplifier. In single-ended circuits the distortion of one stage is compounded by the distortion of the following stage. Obviously a fully differential amplifier will be lower distortion.

Lower distortion is usually audible in 2 ways: more transparent (detailed) and more relaxed (regardless of bandwidth).

The Mezzo is a tube-friendly speaker, but does need some power to make it go. You will be a lot better off with 50-100 watts than you will be with 7-15 as a result. The speaker will literally wake up!

Hi Aleko,

I am not familiar with too many brands & amps.
I am using Dual Mono Block Tube Pre-Amp and Mon0-Block
Tube Power Amp ( P-P 300B ) and had them driving my
Mezzo Utopia for almost one year. Tube-rolling, ( of course only changing the 6SN7, 5U4 etc. not the WE 300B )
inter-connects/ power cables changing were all failure
to make it sound to satisfaction. So don't use Utopia
with 300B amps. (other tubes may be suitable more )

Because I like WE 300B so much, finally I had to change
to Parsifal from Utopia.