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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
viber6
2,448 posts
 
MrD,
Back in the 70's, I heard the La Scala and Belle Klipsch at a midfi dealer driving them with receivers, etc.  The La Scala was about $600/pr, and Belle about $900/pr retail.  I wasn't a sophisticated hifi listener at the time, but somehow I liked the Belle better--it seemed more coherent and focused than the La Scala.  They were both about the same size and I didn't understand why I preferred the Belle.  The Belle was more attractive and compact, so maybe that biased me in its favor.  So I agree with you that close together horn drivers is a good design.  My father emphasized that the ideal speaker is a point source, not a bunch of widely spread out drivers.  That is one reason for my criticism of the Neo.  The horn gives the power to the point source.  The AG Trio is not a point source, so the imaging is not as focused as either the Altec 511 driver which covers 500 to 22 kHz or your La Scala or Belle whose midrange/HF drivers are point sources.
viber6
2,448 posts
 
WC,
You are right that we don't know what the live event sounded like.  But after numerous exposures to different live events in different halls and sitting in different seats in the same hall, I realize that live sounds vary so much that you cannot use any one example as a reference.  That's why I emphasize clarity above all other criteria.  It is hard to get an ideal seat at the concert hall.  So I stand up at my seat, scouting out the closer seats that are not taken, and scramble for those seats in the last few seconds before the performance starts.  These seats will have the best clarity.  I don't care about imaging, depth of field, separation.  Get the most information out of your music, regardless of where it comes from.  Don't pre-occupy yourself about whether you are reproducing the best space or the unknowable space of the recording.  It's about music, music, music, NOT location, location, location.  
mrdecibel
3,063 posts
 
viber, the Belle was 18 inches deep, 30 inches wide . Lascala is 24 inches deep, 24 inches wide. Within a few inches differences in height, as the Belle was taller. As you said, both large, but the Belle seemed more compact, likely because it stuck out into the room less, by about six inches ( that’s what she said, lol ). I suspect you liked the Belle, because they were 1/2 of a foot farther from you, as well as the Belle being slightly taller ( and likely being driven by early ss receivers, no doubt ). The Belle was the " pretty girl ", having nicer exposed cabinets, and the Lascala were utilitarian, and designed to be a bit more compact. My experiences listening to the AGs ( I have heard them all, but not the trio with the addition of the xd ) require a larger room, as a bit more distance is required between them and the listener. At the right distance, I do hear a point source. Why I stated the Lascala can be listened to more nearfield. And for both of us to say to others, that spatial characteristics are not as important as other characteristics ( we do agree on this point ), makes us both unique amongst listeners, as any true audiophile tries to create this " staging ". I certainly do, but not at the expense of other things. I want to say, also, my early experiences with Klipsch, was with tube amps driving them, and it was my experience with early ss, which included Japanese receivers, did I join the Klipsch modifications band wagon, as solid state at the time, exposed " nasties " that were present in the original designs. All horns back then had nasties, not just Klipsch. Anyway, this is a fun and lifelong journey for all of us, and it will be interesting to hear all about wc’s takeaways from the show. Enjoy ! MrD.
spinaker01
491 posts
 
WCSS, I am curious. I have been following all of your threads from the beginning. Given the numerous changes in your front end, pre and amplification, speakers, cables AND listening room, is there any gear combinations (or possible combinations unheard) that you would like to be able to revisit? Maybe the PL500 with Block amps perhaps, or the Salon2s with the Lampizator for instance? I’ll be at Axpona next week maybe we’ll run into each other. Cheers
viber6
2,448 posts
 
MrD,
Before I became an audiophile and when my major musical activity was playing for myself and in orchestras, I was only concerned about clarity of sound, while listening carefully to improve the precision of my violin playing. The vocabulary of "soundstage, depth of field, left/right separation, imaging" seems to be specific to audiophiles. Musicians don’t speak that language, because they realize that these aspects are much less important than the clarity of the music. Most musicians have inferior, mediocre systems--just good enough to hear their recordings or to listen casually. They spend most of their money on getting the best musical instruments they can afford, so hifi takes a back seat. They don’t obsess about hifi also because they realize that all hifi is far from the real thing in nearly all aspects. Certainly my system is far from the real thing in many respects, so I choose to concentrate on clarity where my system does come very close. It has more clarity than a midhall seat and approaches the clarity of the best position like the conductor on stage. Kind of like a specialist like a dermatologist who concentrates on the skin mainly, although a good dermatologist will have some knowledge of the entire body which of course is intimately connected to the skin.  Also, philharmonicpete is an educated classical music lover who agrees with us that clarity is more important than spatial effects.

Thanks for your reminiscences of the Belle and La Scala. What did you think of the sounds of the Belle, and of course, the K-horn flagship? How did you modify your La Scala? Are the newer horns like AG or Vittora using better horn materials and/or better compression drivers?
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