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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
 
Here is where i am: Do i want to hear an Alexia 1 in MY ROOM to see how it compares to my old Sasha 2? hell yes. Do i want to have to compete to try to sell it once i am ready to move on to the next one? hell no. Unfortunately the market is flooded, but that will soon come to an end and once it dries out then things will stabilize.

As far as the Scala Utopia EVO: i would LOVE to try this new speaker. I want to see how much better it is than the Sopra 3 i had here. Will it get closer to the magico? if so, how much closer? This speaker intrigues me because i know it is a speaker that NOBODY has reviewed which kinda makes me eager to be the first one to write a solid review on it. Of course, some say this speaker is not at the same level of my magico or even the Wilson. Some say it is below. However, you all know me by now. I want to see for myself how good or bad it is. I know THIS SPEAKERS was totally re-worked from its previous version. A lot of new adjustments are not on this model that were not there before.

Alexia 2: I would totally see how this animal would do against the S5 magico. Did this Alexia 2 distanced itself from the magico s5 that justifies its 20k price difference? My only problem is that yes the market is controlled, tight, not a single Wilson Alexia 2 has sold here and so of course prices are crazy high. Let me put it this way, a Wilson Alexia 1 can be had for about 24-26k used right now, but the Alexia 2 comes in 20,000 dollars on top at the very least if you find a dealer willing to do a deal which is not an easy thing to find. So the question is,  let’s just say hypothetically speaking i were to buy an alexia 2 for $45,000 vs $25k for the Alexia 1. is the alexia 2 $20,000 better? if i were to hear both next to each other, does the alexia 2 sound incredibly superior that my ears would be able to easily tell a difference? i know Wilson claims it is a totally re-worked speaker, etc. Without having owned the Alexia 1, it would be hard for me to gauge how much better the Alexia 2 is.
Of course i hear people telling me that the Alexia 2 is just a million miles better than the Alexia 1 and then i have others that tell me that it is only slightly better than the first generation and that is it. So yes, this is a tricky move when it comes to the Alexia 1 and 2.

When it comes to other brands, i am just not really that much interested in a brand that i can’t at least recuperate most of my investment from. I can’t go out there and buy Raidho (terrible resale) or brands that i know i will have to bury with me in my casket. I wish i would buy and try everything, but the reality is that what i buy TODAY will eventually be someone else’s gear tomorrow.

On another note, the amplifier market is crappy right now. i have yet to see ONE SINGLE AMP that i want. There is NOTHING listed on here that makes me want it as of today. The only amp i was contemplating was the musical fidelity titan. I want to try that beast, but it was not the right deal for me so i moved on. THIS IS WHY, i am very eager to try the "mysterious" amps i will be trying early next month... DON’T FORGET about those amps because i am going to be trying to take down those rowland 925s. They are still at the top spot for me due to their sheer beauty and immense sound with gobs of clarity. However, i had to do lots of homework and carefully inform myself in order to select those 200 lb chassis with 500 watts of power to be the next contender that i will be throwing in the ring with the Rowlands. November will bring me a new set of speakers and monstrous mono blocks. It will be a hell of a month.


techno_dude
382 posts
 
WC, I understand your will to try Alexia 2 or Scala EVO. But the S5 mkii man, these are supposed to be the cream of the crop...

Viber says go CLX , it s difference may well be the key  to end game , final best.

Travel a bit to seak out boutique demos before buyng, have fun and discover things along the path.
riaa_award_collectors_on_facebook's avatar
riaa_award_collectors_on_facebook
981 posts
 
OMG...where is the grammar police when you need them.
viber6
2,448 posts
 
WC,
I sympathize with your anger at that dealer who dumped on your good faith offers to do business.  Just realize that these guys are selling mainly overpriced mediocrities.  There is NO audio item that is an investment, because everything audio depreciates with time and becomes a horse and buggy with advances in technology.  These guys are just trying make the most money selling their overpriced mediocrities while they can.  Look, I can come up with $500K in a few days, but I know the junk out there and I have better things to do with that money.  I have a patient with prostate cancer, and I referred him for easy SOTA laser ablation treatment that cost him $27K.  Any SOTA procedure is NOT covered by insurance.  The main covered treatments involve major surgery and various types of radiation, all of which are associated with common major side effects of incontinence, impotence and many others that are too disgusting to talk about here.  He is happy, doing great and is free of side effects.  That is $27K well spent, instead of on some audio crap, except for the few things like the CLX-REL which is real value.  Why should you care if one dynamic speaker sounds better than another, because they are all demolished by the CLX for clarity, etc.?  Unless someone offers to pay you for your reviews, funds your purchases, pays for your medical care and missed work from back injuries in lugging around speakers the size of funeral caskets, don't waste your time and money.  Yeah, the Musical Fidelity Titan is powerful and not too expensive, but why bother--just another euphonic piece of mediocrity, according to reviews of it and other MF products.  No, I have not heard it, and don't need to waste money/time and hurt my back just to prove the point.  

Meanwhile, I have decided to keep the $2000 Mytek Brooklyn Amp which I have had on 60 day trial.  It has slightly rolled off highs compared to my peerless Bryston 2.5B SST2, although the highs are more elegant.  The rest of the range is truly superb, and better than my Bryston in a few ways, with decent 300 watts into 8,4,2 ohms.  It is approximately as good as anything I have heard at home up to $10K.  With small tweaks of my Rane EQ which thezaks found for only $90, the Mytek is truly excellent.  If it were $5K, I wouldn't keep it, because I regard it as a cheap interim amp while I wait for the Merrill Elements to appear and I can fully study and evaluate them to see whether their cost can be justified.  Also, John Atkinson in the Nov issue of Stereophile admits that the Mytek does a nice job of driving the $215,000 Tidal Audio Akira speaker, but then snidely asks who would want to drive an expensive speaker with such a cheap amp.  Yeah, he is sucking up to big bucks manufacturers who advertise in the rag mag which pays his salary.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
People kiss up to what he says like he’s the last word to be heard. Yes he has knowledge and sure he has the reputation but I agree with your point: a lot of what John Atkinson says comes with a subliminal message. I’m sure his paychecks are no chump change and the perks must be quite good. I wish I could be a fly on his wall to see what is being said behind closed doors in regards to some of the gear he reviews.
That said, I see the other side as well which is maybe he can’t really speak his mind about how he feels about certain products. Everyone and their mother is suing nowadays. You can’t even fart at a movie theater without getting sued. I actually know someone who got sued by a woman who came with her husband to listen to some speakers he was selling. The woman slipped and fell inside the house and she was fine. They listened to music etc and then all of a sudden he got a letter saying she got home and had chest pain and hurt her back so now she had a bunch of medical bills. This is what this world has come to.
I miss those days when I was a kid That you were able to go to the back patio and fight the kid that had beef with you then after the fight was over we both were separated and went home and that was it. If I got knocked out or he got knocked out then oh well. The beef was over and done with. Those were the good old days.
Those days when you could say to someone “ you gotta a problem with me? Let’s step outside and fix it” and then you told your friend “here hold my watch”.
The legal system has created such an imbalance. It forces people to do what they don’t want to do and also it doesn’t let people fix their own problems by being rational. By talking things out and being fair.
I always try to fix things and being fair. I believe that NOT ONE PERSON here that I’ve sold equipment to can say anything bad about me. I think there was only one guy who I sold the boulder 2060 who texted me this long thing a few days after he received the amp where he stated he was going to call PayPal that I sold him something with problems because the amp was humming and he couldn’t stop it etc. I roll out of bed and see that long text and said “ man you gotta relax. Give me the chance to see what’s going on and troubleshoot. Let’s Skype later etc. So when we get on Skype that afternoon I walked him through several steps and bingo. Problem was solved. It was his crappy Comcast cable box which I’ve known are notorious for introducing humming sound to big amps. Then he apologized to me a million times and said to forgive his ignorance etc. 
I told him it’s fine man. Just look at my thread and feedback.  I’m not going anywhere. 

anyhow, let’s get back on topic
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