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
viber6
2,444 posts
 
dguitarnut and WC,
I agree that the Avantgarde horn speaker is a top contender for WC.  I heard the original Trio model at a NY show with a low power tube amp.  This didn't include the humongous bass horns now available.  The Trio did well even in that small room, and I was sitting close, in the front row.  The HF were excellent, possibly better than from the Neo.  And that was from a tube amp, which usually sounds rolled off on most speakers. Brass instruments were present and crisp as a testament to the accuracy of midrange and HF.   Imaging was natural, without the bloating of large panel speakers.  So for dynamics, overall accuracy and proper imaging, I believe the AG Trio beats the Neo.  The only question is whether the AG midrange is as accurate as the Neo.  I suspect not quite, since electrostatic technology is still superior to any dynamic driver.  Now if AG decides to use Be or Zylon for these drivers, the use of the horn would bring even less distortion to these drivers, and then the AG would be serious competition to any stat speaker.  It appears that WC should just settle with his Neo for a long time, unless he switches to the ML CLX + REL subwoofer.
allvinyl's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
allvinyl
23 posts
 
I am responding to posts by faxer and whitecamaross on page 124.   I recently took delivery of and have the initial setup of my GTA3r speaker system. Though I continue to fine tune the setup and room acoustics, the system is sounding really good and improving all the time as the drivers, subs, and new line stage log hours. I'm also dealing with room treatment tuning issues as I respond to the increased demands these full range speakers place on the listening space. I've added 4 more Apertures to the back wall and panels on the side walls but measuring tells me I need a little more absorption on the sides.
All that aside, I lived with original Acoustat X speakers with heavily modified servo amps(Dan Fanni) from 1979 to 2009.  In 2009 I gave up on the amps due to continual high voltage failure issues.  I changed to a 2-driver dynamic speaker system from LaHave(LH).  I missed all the strengths of the panels but enjoyed the LH speakers for what they were.  All the while I listened to all the usual suspect panel speakers on the market over the years in homes and at shows.  As the Ops Mgr at Stillpoints for 5 years, I was exposed to a lot of speakers.  I was always on the lookout for my next panel and first found GT Audio Works about 4 - 5 years ago.  I followed Greg's updates and developments through the versions.  As interest and dialog about the speaker system increased through the last few years I continued to listen to many panels and decided I needed to audition the current GT offering.  Spending 2 consecutive days in NJ listening to the system in Oct 2018, I found what I have been looking for these last 9 years.  I believe Greg's proprietary panel and cabinet construction result in a purity of sound I have not previously experienced.  Coupled with the SI200 subwoofer system I now have a full range speaker that articulates and complements all the various genres of music I listen to regularly on CD and vinyl: small and large orchestral, jazz, rock, opera, solo instrument, choral.  
To address whitecamaross' show music concerns, I know Steve and Greg promote interested listeners at shows to bring their own music on which to audition their speaker system.  I will be attending Axpona and will be bringing music to do just that.  I look forward to meeting other interested music and audio enthusiasts to learn about their experiences and to share the experiences that led me to the GTA speakers.
viber6
2,444 posts
 
allvinyl,
Thanks for your feedback on the GT Audio line source speakers.  They sounded good at Steve's house.  I was never that impressed with any Acoustat from the X to later models.  Most of the problems were because of the large curved panel of the X which rolls off the HF.  Despite the superior electrostatic technology, the Acoustat X as a large curved panel is one of many poor implementations of stat technology.  I feel that the GTA planar magnetic and ribbon drivers in line source configuration are a much better implementation of their technology, so the GT speaker is superior.  They are a better implementation than any Maggie.  Greg deserves to succeed and dethrone Maggie.  The GT imaging is tall, of course, but it is more true to life and not bloated like from a large wide panel.
faxer's avatar
faxer
165 posts
 
 In response to all vinyl and Viber6 comments 
we would like to point out that unlike other Manufacturers that are constantly making the consumer buy an upgraded or new model which essentially forces you to sell your speakers for you to buy the upgraded model - when you purchase a GT AudioWorks speaker system you do not have to worry about this as this is not a concern as Greg offers a lifetime warranty on any and all future upgrades.The speakers are designed in such a way that you simply remove the back grill cloth which are attached by a series of screws and you have access to the drivers which are mounted on the vibration free frame all you need is a screwdriver to remove the 6 foot tall planar driver.  The frame is then sent to Greg To retrofit the new driver. 
 And yes I personally guarantee that we are very receptive to playing  any requests or music that anyone may bring into our room at Axpona.
 We are looking forward to having Zanden Audio
 Providing their world class amplifiers, preamp, phono preamp cabling and room acoustics to our exhibit.   We are also going to have the top-of-the-line Kronos turntable  spinning vinyl Please stop by room1430.
 Look forward to seeing you all.

klh007
621 posts
 
faxer, I will be stopping into Room 1430 for a long and rewarding listening session, see you in Chicago! I'm hoping to meet John (allvinyl) in your room for a chat about his new system and room acoustics.

More to discover