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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
faxer's avatar
faxer
165 posts
 
Yes I agree transparency is very important and I thought it was apparent by my profile that I was in fact a dealer.  I am simply trying to invite people to have an open mind and listen to this loudspeaker system I am not telling anybody or forcing anybody to buy this speaker. I am simply trying to educate the audiophile community into understanding that there are dedicated individuals out there Who truly believe that the performance of the loudspeaker is directly related to the engineering and the complete non use of crossover components.  Not to mention the best premium parts, research design and engineering that goes into producing a planar magnetic speaker that does not exhibit the typical problems with resonance and
vibration.
I am simply trying to indicate that I have represented and sold some of the worlds greatest loud speaker systems and have traveled to and exhibited at numerous audio shows and customer homes to understand and appreciate what good sound is truly all about. 
 We can blog  and pontificate all we want but the truth is in having an open mind and auditioning 
any given speaker.  System synergy is very important  on any given component and can interact and sound great on a given set of speakers as opposed to sounding completely different and maybe not as good on a different set of speakers. 
viber6
2,448 posts
 
techno-dude,
Good point about Magnepans, also true of ribbons. A fabulous speaker is Eminent Technology, similar to planar magnetics, so reasonable at $2500 direct for their top model.  When I heard it with modest electronics, the midrange was SOTA, and the medium size of the speaker gave a good image in the medium/small room.  These speakers are not quite as accurate as electrostatics, because the electrostatic membrane is more tightly controlled than ribbons and planar magnetics.  This factor of control of the membrane outweighs the downside of plugging in.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Odin speaker cable and powecord update:
15 hours of playtime so far. I hear more decay with this speaker cable but the soundstage width is gone? I find things to be not as huge sounding as they did with the platinum 7. Instruments are better separated and have more articulation. That said, I’m now using a brand new Odin 1 on the dac so both the speaker cable and the powecord are with only 15 hours of playtime so it’s 2 components that are now breaking in. I’m also using the dac as a preamp. The ref10 has not been connected yet but I suspect that it will now really begin to show its true colors with these new speaker cables in the mix. 
jafox
1,456 posts
 
@keithr 
Great suggestion on the CAT.  8-)  I have run a pair of JL-3's on SoundLab A1s for 10+ years and love it!

My gut feeling is that the CAT's are a bit too much maintenance and geeky for WC.  16 power tubes per channel, in pure Class A, are required, and need to be matched, not cheap.  And attention to the 3 small-signal tubes is required.  One does not put in new Sovtek, EH, etc., tubes here.  When a tube fails, the user is required to replace the 1-watt resistor associated to that tube, a process not trivial with a 150 lb amplifier.  And the heat from all these tubes brings on their own set of issues.

Some people might laugh at the JL-3's output rating of 150w, but many people have reported that these amps can drive/control speakers far beyond many 500w+ amps out there that ultimately crumble with some speaker loads.

There are a few updates to the JL-3's in the last 10+ years but I would not be surprised if my older pair embarrassed the Block Audio amps driving the Neoliths.  I would love to put them up against any amp(s) WC has auditioned.  Sadly, the size/weight/distance (Minneapolis) makes this not likely.

John
faxer's avatar
faxer
165 posts
 
Yes Viber6  eminent technology represents a very good bang for the buck. However, it is important to note that the GT Audioworks speakers are a completely different design even though technically they are a planarmagnetic design.
 Conventional planar magnetic diaphragms are essentially either a kapton or mylar.  The use of either of these materials does in fact cause various points of resonance on the driver.
 In fact when the speakers were measured by stereophile  they in fact exhibited a very steep resonance between 80 and 120 Hz.  Aside from this resonance - Higher volumes resulting in higher SPL’s  also cause the diaphgram to resonate in an overall uncontrolled manner.
The propietary diaphgram Utilized in the GT speakers does not suffer from this type of resonance or vibration anomalies.  Additionally unlike other manufacturers the GT speakers utilize a frame within  frame technology. 
Specifically, the actual outer frame is a very dense MedEx material  upon which the inner frame where the actual membrane is mounted is mounted on a sub frame which is a constrained layer frame which also eliminates vibration. Unlike other planar loudspeaker designs GT Only utilizes pure 6N copper traces on the membrane (not aluminum)  and most importantly no crossover components on this main panel.
Where the panel rolls off at around 50 to 60 Hz the open baffle servo subwoofers take over producing the lower bass. There is a highly sophisticated computer On the servo circuit board in the servo plate amps that pulls the woofers back as quickly as it excurts so they’re there is no bloat or overhang as you get on a conventional woofer.  These open baffle servo woofers are available in either 2,3,4 or 6 woofers per side depending upon the size of your room.
 They play flat 15 hz and will scare the beJesus out of you.


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