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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
skootb
68 posts
 
I'm about to start listening to 24 bit files of the final Allman Brothers concert ever, from the Beacon Theatre in 2014. All these years later, and their final show was 216 minutes long...

That was a fun night
viber6
2,444 posts
 
Of course, I meant classical orchestral and chamber music concerts, which are about 2 hours long.  There are very long classical operatic works like Wagner's Ring cycle, which totals about 20 hours.  Individual operas within that cycle are 4-5 hours, but there are intermissions, so there is about 90 min of maximum continuous music.  Most operas are still only 2 hours or less.  Performers are human beings who need rests from their intense work, as are listeners.  It actually is work to listen carefully to best appreciate the music.  
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 

If I understand WC’s passion for energetic music correctly, he might like something a little wilder than Prokofiev’s relatively tame Classical Symphony... Why not plunge directly into the quaking fires of The Rite Of Spring, by Igor Stravinsky... Don’t expect gushing romantic melodies here, folks.... This is a real tembler of a piece of music... Usually played by a giant orchestra with at least 113 members. Just be patient for the first three tame minutes or so, and then the chest-punching syncopating rythms start... Intoxicating, at least for me... Sure won’t be able to fall asleep with this here baby earthquake playing on the Neos *GGrins!*


Many excellent performances out there.... I suggest Pierre Boulez: one of the firyest I ever heard... Talk about unrelinting timing, pace, and rythm!


My negative recommendations for WC would be the recordings conducted by Igor stravinsky himself or Alfred Cortot.... Too matter of fact the former, and a little too slow the latter. I would also not recommend for WC Herbert von Karajan, which is on the lush romantic side.


Of course, WC might dislike The Right Of Spring all together... And there would be nothing wrong with that.


Saluti, G.



viber6
2,444 posts
 
Guido,
Recently I sat up close in a 4 hand piano arrangement of The Rite of Spring.  It was more violent than the orchestral version, believe it or not.  This piano arrangement revealed so much that I didn't know from the orchestral version.  It is extremely dynamic, but the piece has so much complexity that I think WC is better off at first with the popular pieces I mentioned.  Also, the recordings of von Karajan are on the DG label, where the recording philosophy is lush and spacious which detracts from the excitement of these hard hitting pieces.  Boulez recordings are on Columbia Records, now Sony Classical.  Sony recordings have been criticized for stridency in some cases, but their upfront sound character suits these exciting pieces.

WC, for a short exciting solo piano piece, go for the last movement of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, only about 5 min of fast, furious dynamics, especially in the recording by pianist Vladimir Horowitz.  You won't doze off, but if you do, a few seconds later a loud quick outburst will charge you up.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Ladies and gentlemen:
tonight I’ve done more serious listening between the dac pacific Lampizator and ref10. 
This week I added the wireworld platinum 7 powercord to the dac and I am now using platinum 7 xlr from the ref10 to the amps. 
Last weekend when I did the shootout I was using wireworld silver 8 xlr to connect the amps to the preamp. I chose the ref10 over the pacific lampi because it was more forgiving with bad music and just threw a bigger sound overall. The dac was less forgiving but still stellar sounding nonetheless. 
Anyhow as I said above, I added the platinum silver 7 powercord to the dac and platinum 7 xlr to the preamp/amp connection. I’ve been listening to the dac as a preamp for the last 3 days after adding the platinum 7 powercord cord.  I let my ears simmer in the sound and get as acquainted as possible with the sound. 
Today, I fired up the ref10 and began to do a/b comparisons and I am now gauging things better.  The ref10 is huge sounding with air around the instruments and clarity in spades. It has been the only preamp that woke up my revel salon 2s in regards to the bass. It added a ton of fun to every single songs  that I’ve played through it. It has never ever disappointed me. That said, I can now honestly say that things have shifted and I am now leaning towards the pacific lampi. Reasons why:

1. It sounds liquid and very detailed at low volumes. This volume level is what I mainly have to listen to when I do late night listening. The ref 10s relaxed presentation stays relaxed at lower volumes and that makes it a little harder for me to pick up the same level of detail as the Pacific DAC. 
2. The dac sounds as if the singer brings the mic closer to his mouth while the ref10 does not. This effect helps tremendously when I listen to music videos (YouTube videos) which I do listen to here and there in order to see how much clarity a component can dig out from an old music video from the 80s or 90s. This exercise has been crucial for me in the past especially when testing a cable’s ability to absorb noise. 
3. I had the wife sit down and listen to both while blind folded. She kept picking up the lampizator. She said the ref10s was somewhat warm sounding. 

With that said, this could be the start of a new adventure in terms of preamplification.  
I’m shocked to say the least but my ears have identified something that is stimulating and really amazing. I want to keep tweaking the sound of the lampizator with other things I have in mind. I also still need to get powecords for my monoblocks. The entire set up will have silver cables throughout in order keep things with synergy. This is super exciting and incredible. I never thought this dac would grow on me so much over the past few days but I can’t deny facts. What a spectacular component. I DO NOT REGRET FOR ONE SECOND not having bought the MSB dac.  
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