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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
zprr
306 posts
 
awesome. thanks for reporting back on this.  two different flavors it seems. 
are any of the cables not ’fully’ broken in yet?
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Well I’m not sure if the Valhalla 2 is broken in. I’m not sure how much use it is. As far as the rest of the cables, yes they are all broken in 
viber6
2,448 posts
 
WC,
I have been away on a Euro cruise, listening to big church bells, the jingle of street cars, assorted street musicians, unamplified.  Big church bells have a lot of low freq info, but they are not full and boomy like funeral coffin box speakers costing 1/4 of a million bucks. Clarity is still the name of the game.  Reading the last week of exciting amp talk, I am confused about your statements about the Rowland 535 and Constellation preamp/amps.  First, you say that the 535 is merely good for the money, and it can't compete against the $80K Blocks or almost as expensive 925.  Guido has said that the 535 very nearly equals the 925, and may have even better HF extension although not quite the spaciousness of the 925.  I believe you said that the clarity/detail of the 535 and HF extension exceed that of the Block.  As Guido says, give the 535 more time.  Also, you like the Constellations, but said that they are a little missing in the sparkle, which does enable you to listen loud without fatigue.  So what does it mean to say that Constellation = Luxman on steroids?  A body builder on steroids may have a lack of flexibility and delicacy.  Even though you don't follow phono cartridges, the most expensive and detailed cartridges are handmade by delicate women with supreme coordination.  No steroids there.  Perhaps the Constellations are known for very good detail but not the ultimate in levels of clarity, which is still the most important criterion for most any type of music or real world reproduction of the sounds of nature.  Don't fall in love with expensive things--glad you were able to sell the Blocks.  And are you getting the clarity out of your Neos with the expensive Constellations, or do you find that the clarity of the Axpona ML 13a system with the much cheaper Con Inspiration electronics and cables still exceeds your Neo system?  Within their power range, a Con tech years ago told me that the circuit is the same as the higher models, which use the same 125 Watt modules.  
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
The 535 amp I own here does not come within striking distance of the centaur 2. This whole conversation of waiting 3 years of playtime for a component to sound better means TO ME that your hearing got used to the sounds and not the component sounding better. I said it before, the 535 is a about 5 months old so if 5 months isnt enough break in time then I don’t know what to tell you.
The 535 was never meant to compete with the centaur 2 monos. That’s an amp I bought to evaluate and to see the kind of bang for the money it provides.
As far as the constellation’s detail, it’s some of the best detail behind detail that I’ve ever heard. I am trying to find something wrong with it and I can’t find a thing wrong with it.
Is it better than the block audios? I can’t really make that comparison because I used a ref10 on the block audios that I think wasn’t working 100%. They both are extremely good sounding amps.
What do I prefer? I prefer this constellation set up over any of my previous front ends.
It has pretty much everything I want in terms of sound.
That said, NO, let’s off get off the cloud and think that a baby 6500 dollar amp can compete against the top amplifiers.
You can’t make a corvette z06 be a Lamborghini aventador. I’ve been in both cars and even if the z06 were faster (which it is not), it STILL isn’t an aventador in terms of the driving experience. I’ve been on both ends of the amplifier chain; affordable and expensive and there’s a reason why some amps are more expensive.
viber6
2,448 posts
 
Oh, too bad you didn't A/B the Block with the 535 or Constellation using the same preamp, whether the ref 10 or Con preamp.  Aging tubes and the expense of their replacement with top notch tubes makes excellent preamps like the Con a better proposition.  Even with all the tubes under the sun, an ARC preamp may have inferior clarity to any Con preamp.

I agree that if you don't like the 535 after about 5 months of use, then it is not in the running.

You still can't say that expensive amps or other components will usually beat cheaper ones.  Circuit design is more important than parts expense, as good thinking costs no more than mediocre thinking.  If clarity is top priority, then the balls brute force of an expensive Dag won't compete against some cheaper amps such as Plinius, Rowland 535, maybe MF Titan.  Car analogies are not really that useful, since the experience of clear sound is different from the thrill of a ride.  You also noted that the Oppo was very close to the far more expensive Lampi.  Now with the new tubes, the balanced Lampi may be more tubey sounding than the Oppo, so it is possible that the clarity of the Oppo may be in the league of the Lampi, although you may like the Lampi better.  Personal taste, nothing to do with money.   

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