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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
 
WC,
Please, before you let go of the Neo, put the lighter amps and preamps into your living room where the Neo is, and do the listening.  You know the reference sound in that room better than the new room, and the Neo has the wonderful stat midrange which will be near impossible to duplicate with a nonstat dynamic speaker.  The parttimeaudiophile review of the 118/Christine makes a few interesting observations on the tone quality of the Merrills, but the second guy makes a big mistake by fully boosting the treble of his speaker.  In itself, that is OK, because I do the same with my EQ, but he doesn't tell us how his other preamp/amp compares with the Merrills with that same tweeter boost.  Why did he need to boost the tweeter when he didn't boost it with his reference stuff?  Does that imply that the Merrills are rolled off in the highs?  The first guy said that the tone was a little warmer than neutral, heading in the direction of the big Macs.  I really want to get your final judgment on the combination of the Corus + 118, Christine +118, Corus + 925, Christine + 925.  This is best done with the pure midrange of the Neo.  People trust your ears more than the 4 ears of the reviewers, whose speakers have inferior midrange to your Neo.
viber6
2,448 posts
 
RIAA,
I know Dave from Audio Doctor in Jersey City.  He let me take lots of stuff, each for several days to a week.  He gave me the credit card slip back when I didn't buy, but I did buy a few things on that basis.  For the more expensive Mola Mola Kaluga, I gave Bill Parish of GTT Audio a check to hold, which he returned when I brought it back a week later.  A real gentleman.  There are other examples.  Pure retail without returns is dead.  Maybe such a store can sell to the novice, but they will not make a sale to the enlightened experienced customer with that attitude.
ricred1
2,007 posts
 
WC,
"I know ricred1 loves Rowland and he’s had Rowland for quite sometime and that’s awesome." I like my 625 S2 and Corus, but I know there are better amplifiers and preamps than what I have. Hey, I might prefer the Luxman combination over my current JR gear, but I'm not willing to continually try to find something 'better". I've played the game long enough and I honestly don't have the disposal income to keep buying/ selling. The truth is I've heard the JR 925 mono-amps several times and I don't like their sound. It isn't about Rowland to me. I actually love Gryphon and Constellation amplifiers.

mrdecibel
3,063 posts
 
Jeff Rowland, since his beginnings, has always designed equipment, to be warm and smooth, which has been a trademark of his. In my earlier days, I remember he wanted to create amps and pre amps with " tube like " qualities, without the drawbacks of tubes ( he is not the only ss designer who does, and this in itself can be another thread, but not here ). All of these brands typically have a house sound. The way " I " see it ( hear it ), I buy equipment, based on the music I enjoy listening too. Much of my music has become digitized, and the newer music, no question about it, is digitized. I wish every recording I owned, sounded as realistic, and smooth, as the three recordings by Tony Minasian ( the man behind Tonian Labs ), or by Chesky, Reference Recordings, Sheffield Labs, Blue Note, ECM, and Verve, just to name a few. With every piece of gear we purchase, it should be understood that we are all at the mercy of the recording companies, who’s recordings we purchase, download, or stream. I remember a discussion I had with viber 6 ( I believe this was through a private email exchange we shared, which he is, of course, free to comment on, if he reads this post of mine). Or maybe, it was here on this thread, as I really do not remember. I suppose I am one of those " old people " WC just referred to. If I remember correctly, viber stated that, only a handful of recordings he owned, accurately portrayed the " sound " of the violin. If this was because of poor miking, equalization, compression ( or whatever ), the fact is, we are all at the hands of the record companies, and labels. So, what to do. What I do is, I listen for the " musicianship ", the " playing ", and the " artistry ", of the musicians and performers. Example...I would rather hear an excellent, live, " tight, on the money " performance, of a group, band, or orchestra, in an environment, where the acoustics were just so so, as opposed to these same musicians, where, much more practice was needed, or the performers stayed out all night drinking and doing other things, as it showed, in the performance, but the acoustical space, was wonderful. I come from two backgrounds, which are being an audiophile, and a performer. It IS the music that matters. I know so many people, in and out of the audio industry, that only play / listen to " state of the art recordings " ( we all own some, as I mentioned above ), but, I want to listen to all of my recordings. In other words, recordings that are so so, to good, to very good, and of course, excellent, but where the performances are top notch ( many are studio albums, with over dubs ). Labels such as Columbia, MCA, Warner Bros., A &M, CBS, Sony, RCA Victor, Atlantic, EMI, Epic, and, so many more. I would not expect many of these recordings on these labels, to be played, today, at shows, as any of us who have been to / involved in shows, can attest to ( of course, back in the day, songs such as " Money for Nothing ", or " In the Air Tonight ", have been. In fact, I used a track from a Roger Waters cd, when I was doing the demos for Jadis, at the "96 N.Y. Waldorf Stereophile show ( the Eurythmie designer wanted me to play it many more times than I had anticipated over the 3 days, and, at levels, that I even thought was a bit too much, as we were getting complaints from other exhibitors ). I should not have played it for him during Thursday’s set up. But, I digress. Pretty much every recording I listen to, allows me to " get into it ", stay involved, and invites me to continue listening, instead of me thinking, what can I do, or get, that can make all of this better. Being around the block several times, I know there is better. Always will be. It is my opinion, that many folks, are chasing the horses tale, and will continue to do so. I see it as unfortunate, but for some, such as WC, and some others I read here, it is a blessing, as he ( they ) are having fun, and the journey of equipment " differences ", seem to be as much fun, as the music, itself. Of course, we lower income, older folks, get to read all about it. Sorry this was very long......Did I just read that the Neoliths are leaving ? On one hand, I am very surprised, and on the other, I am thinking, what took so long.... WC, still, a great thread, and much comradery ( unless people might negatively respond the my post, so who knows ? )... Enjoy ! MrD.
grey9hound
1,112 posts
 
@whitecamaross
Don’t you also feel that your reviews would somewhat have you fit into the magazine reviewers’ role ?
You can’t really afford to give the amp that you just bought (that happens to cost 5k more than the previous one you just sold ) a BAD review. Therefore, would you not also be somewhat complicit ....???? I am just sayin'   :)
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