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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
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
thanks for the comments. I will try to update it after this long weekend ahead.
That said, i have listed my monitor audio Platinums!! This is the very first pair to hit audiogon so look hurry and take these!
I have shifted into b&w d3 for the time being to give these speakers a shot. With that said, here is my mini review on these Monitor audio Platinums Series 2:

1. HUGE IMPROVEMENT over series 1. Having owned the original platinums, i was not even prepared to hear how much more refined this new series is. It has a bigger soundstage and sounds very very electrostatic-like. Extremely smooth speaker.

2. MASSIVE BASS OUTPUT with a level of precision and speed that i haven’t heard before from any speaker under $15k.

3. The midrange is really something special with this speaker. The center channel is HANDS DOWN THE BEST center channel i have ever owned. It destroys the dynaudio confidence, Bryston tc1, paradigm c5, and the original platinum center. Again, this PLC350ii will make your neighbors hear the dialogue of your movies. Incredible width and spread that lets everyone hear every word spoken regardless of where they are seated.

4. This is in my opinion the best speaker under $15k. It destroys the sonus faber olympica 3, martin logan montis, golden ear triton 1s, Martin logan summit x, b&w 802 diamond, and YES i PREFER THIS SPEAKER OVER THE REVEL SALON 2 as well. I don’t think it has any competition under 15,000 dollars.

5. As far as home theater, these speakers are by far the best home theater experience i have had. Yes even better than the renaissance martin logan were for movies. They have such a huge dynamic swing that allows them to go from 0 to 100 mph in no time.
jafant
19,041 posts
 
Thanks! for the update- whitecamaross

Happy Listening!
mamzh
17 posts
 
whitecamaross, thank you very much! Did you have chance to listen to kef reference 3? Really appreciate all your information. This has been the best thread for me!
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
i have not had a chance to listen to them.
That said, i had a chance to listen to my monitor audio platinums over this long weekend. i learned quite a few things in terms o musicality and smoothness.
Here is a few things that most people don’t really know. Speakers are no no different than tvs. What i mean by that is when you go to best buy and look at the televisions playing, you will notice that the displays that grab your attention are the ones with a lot of brightness and with a lot of saturated colors. That said, we all couldn’t handle a tv in our house with that much brightness and with the lights being off while we watch a movie. Our eyes would totally burn!
Speakers are no damn different. If you walk into a room and audition speakers that sound very detailed and almost bright, you will instantly be like omg they sound phenomenal and the truth couldn’t be farther than that. This brings me to the monitor audio platinums. i played with my 803d3s and the platinums and did back to back sessions. Of course within the first 15 min the 803d3s sound amazing and make the platinums sound dull and boring in comparison UNTIL you sit down in front of the platinums for an extended period of time and that is when it hits you. You realize that all the detail is there and that they give you ZERO ear fatigue at any volume level. That is when you realize how to truly appreciate a different type of speaker.
The bass slam with these platinums is some of the best I’ve heard. They make my 803d3s sound anemic in comparison.

In addition to this, i am happy to say that i also purchased a 350.8 pass labs amp. This is indeed an incredible amp with beautiful highs and attack. i can say that it is a really good match for b&w d3 speakers because it smoothes out the high frequencies on the speakers. I like the bass as well and the overall musicality that exists in this amp.
With all this said, i decided to do a A/B comparison with the xs150s and the 350.8 while i played with the speakers and the first thing that stood out to me were the highs... It was not even a close match in terms of the detail, smoothness, silkiness that the xs amps possess. It almost felt like someone was throwing a blanket on the speakers each time i connected the 350.8. The xs totally demolished the highs of the x350.8
As far as the midrange, i would say it was kinda close in many ways. I really couldn’t gauge it too well to really give an opinion.
When it comes to bass, again i think the fact that my 803d3s aren’t really known for bass makes it very tough for me to hear if indeed the bass is that much different between both amplifiers.
The one thing was the massive soundstage thrown by the xs amps, but it kinda sucks that you have to wait for about 2 hours before they really open up and sound big and bold. I don’t care what anyone says, these xs amps NEED A FEW HOURS to sound best, but once they hit their stride, it is lights out game over for every other amp i have owned.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
COMING SOON: This amp has always been on my radar. I used the integrated before, but i wanted to bring a real amp to try and i believe it will be one of the most epic shootouts ever done by me. I am talking about the HEGEL H30 power amplifier. i am really looking forward to hearing this beast against the pass labs x350.8. I am going to NOT BE BIASED even though i love pass labs. i will try to be as objective as i can be and put it all out there. I expect that this h30 amp will be murdering the pass labs in regards to bass output and control. The question is how it will be when it comes to highs and mids?? that will be one fun thing to test out. Let’s see if i can bring this bad boy home and put it up against my x350.8!!
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