2. amps-preamps
  3. 126624-10101

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
 
I had the wife sit down just now and played one song for her: “you and your friend” by dire straits. She heard it on the Diablo and the momentum.  Both integrateds have been on for the last hour. Her words were and I quote: “ the shiny one seems to sound more engaging and brighter” and the black one sounds like it has less treble. 
Lol. 
Well I will do more listening tonight and try to translate what she meant plus post my opinion. 
riaa_award_collectors_on_facebook's avatar
riaa_award_collectors_on_facebook
981 posts
 

Jetter,

Dont wish to derail the current details of the OP's new toys so I will keep this short.  You have 750+ Posts on this site...yet you dont know how to use it which baffles me.  I cant speak for Viber but if you click on either my name OR Techno's names you will see we are involved in numerous ongoing threads besides this one. Quite frankly I'm not sure why you would be interested in what other people are doing with their time anyway on Audiogon...or other any site like AudioAfficiando/Audioshark/Steve Hoffman etc     Now that Ive taught you how to "follow" people feel free to stalk me. I'm flattered and disturbed at the same time.  Back to our Neolith and DAG vs Gryphon Shootout.

tjassoc
258 posts
 
whitecamaross and techno_dude - the size of the panel makes a dramatic difference in the speaker, and it effects much more than merely the size of the imagining (imaging being a critical issue).
The size of the film allows the speaker to reproduce signals with much greater coherency, fidelity, dynamics and authority. The speaker doesn't work nearly as hard and experiences significantly less distortion (something I observed with a pair of Vivid B1 speakers I got to demo in our home). Increasing the (active) driver size improves both strengths and weaknesses of this speaker.
What I immediately recognized with the ML's I heard was how well integrated they were (they use a single Mylar film driver with a crossover for bass only). Few speakers match it (in this regard). Think of Quad's (EL34?) and how well they reproduced midrange rich music. Reminds me of the Classic 60 and then the V-70 Audio Research tube amplifiers I enjoyed early in my audiophile journey. Beautiful midrange, decent highs, fat bass. But beautiful midrange - few could match it, none for a competing price (at that time).
Well, think of the Neoliths as a fully integrated version of the Quad's.
I would be shocked if it didn't sound better than the Alexia II's - it is almost twice the price.
We're starting to get into a serious performance level, so evaluating things becomes critical. Small steps make dramatic improvements in the rendition / illusion of a live performance. And in my humble opinion, at this level - recreating the illusion of a live performance is what it's all about.
PS: Even a statement piece like the Neoliths are not without limits. 
PSS: whitecamaross - I've never written this much on a single post. We're ALL awaiting your evaluation(s)  :-)
mikepaul's avatar
mikepaul
223 posts
 
I believe that whitecamaross hinted this already but not only will the Neoliths will be utterly satisfying musically ,they will be the ultimate reference tool to analyze and judge each individual piece of equipment upstream.

Especially AMPS.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Yes mikepaul. The Neolith will strip naked any amp that doesn’t have balls under the hood. It will get bright sounding at moderate volumes and it will present loose bass.
That said, are you all ready with my preliminary findings on the gryphon vs momentum?
Well, here I go:

momentum:
1. The very best integrated I’ve heard. Even more satisfying than the belcanto black.
2. Immense detail, soundstage and a level of liquidity that I don’t remember hearing from any other component I’ve owned.
3. Gorgeous highs and the mids are just perfect. They are evenly balanced.
4. More detailed than the gryphon. More clarity, more 3D effect with a sense of depth that the gryphon can’t match.
5. The most tubelike sound I’ve ever heard from any other solid state piece I’ve owned.
6. The blackest backgrounds which result in music coming the from the back and with long VERY LONG decay. Instruments linger in the air for seconds longer than on the gryphon.
7. Engaging, romantic and with a presentation that makes you want to sit and listen.
8. Amazing sound even at low volume (<85db)


Gryphon Diablo 300:
1. Awesome muscular sound signature
2. Big soundstage
3. More mellow highs when compared to the momentum.
4. The background is silent but nowhere near that of the momentum.
5. The best bang for the buck without a doubt. You get a lot more here for the money than on the momentum.

With that said, and again this is my preliminary feeling, the momentum is just on another level. Had I not heard the momentum next to the gryphon, I wouldn’t have heard the flaws or weakness on the gryphon. The momentum just exposes them with ease. At 3 times the asking price of the gryphon, the mometum is not only better built and far more beautiful but so is its presentation and overall sound. This integrated is really an integrated to compare against separates. 
I will spend more time with them and the Neolith in the next few weeks so I can examine the bass and give you my feedback as to who has better bottom end. For now, the mometum bests the gryphon on highs and mids.
More to discover