Best Solid State Amp w/ Avalon Eidolon Diamonds

Peter...what are you talking about....Im suggesting using these interconnects.

I have tried many amps with the Avalon Diamond & Isis. The more expensive ones includes: Boulder 1060, Rowland 312, Vac phi 300.1, Spectral, luxman M800a, ayre mxr, levinson 432, MBL 9008, conrad johson 140 (monos), Jadis da88s.

The lower prices ones includes: antique sound 1009 a& the hurricanes, vac phi 110, musical fidelity kw500, pass x350.5, naim 250.2, rowland (small switching ones) , classe 2200, Mcintosh 275V, nuforce, atma m60s.

My real surprise is that Rowland and Spectral did not work that well in my system. Many dealers in USA and Asia showed Avalons with these two. It could certainly my own room issues/personal preferences.

I could not make good sound with any of the switching amps that I tried. I really wanted to like the Rowlands because I had been impressed by the older Rowlands designs. I think stepping back to class AB design in the 625 is the right direction. The switching amps sounded bland and were unable to portray adequate tonal contrast among different instruments. None of them are bright and microdynamics are OK. The 312 had decent macrodynamics but the Boulder, Luxman, MBL are much better in all aspects for me.

Of the lower price tiers, the Pass x350.5 striked a good balance betw a liquid, natural midrange, detail, bass control and macrodynamics.

Of the more expensive ones, they all sounded very different and tough to guess what your preference would be. What you would be looking for is an amp with very liquid yet detailed midrange (possibly something to do with low global FB) and yet with good bass control and macrodynamics. The CJ had a very high noise floor and lacked detail and had notable dynamic compression. Jadis has a unique sound but not very neutral or transparent, transients seems a little slow. Vac phi 300 had great midrange, bass control was not the best but acceptable (may be a real winner in monos). Levinson sounded a little dark and opaque but otherwise not too bad. The ones I like are Luxman/MBL/Boulder/Ayre.

I used to have a pair of quad 2805 along with the Avalon Diamonds. The midrange of the quads is truly unique. I ultimately stayed with the Avalon line for better dynamic realism.

Good luck on your journey.

..my take on your suggestions Glai.... Boulder amps have grainy highs which will mercilessly be revieled by the Diamond's tweeter. Rowland has a more polite sound (maybe a bit rolled off) which will not bring out the best in that tweeter. Ayre is generally faultless in this area and would be a great match if the right cable is use...Audioquest Sky/Everest, or Anti-Cables Reference...both silver but without the "Nordost" lift. I haven't heard Luxman in a while, but I remember that I had positive feelings about it when I last heard it (about 1 1/2 years ago.

Glai - thanks for your detailed advice/information. My second system is going to be Quad57's and whatever (inexpensive) amp I find that drives them well. But back to the Diamonds: I still don't know how my Classe Omegas are going to sound. Perhaps they'll be great, who knows!!! If they are great, I might try a lower priced amp (e.g. Pass) to see if I can get the system price down and simplify it to a stereo amp. I think that the CAT JL2 will do the job for the tube amp, so the question remains which will be the solid state amp available... just in case the CAT flames on me!!!

Stringreen - my question was on your first post about Ayre amplification, not about your interconnect suggestion.

Not to hijack the thread but has anyone heard the NewClear amps with Magnepan speakers? That 40A current delivery worries me.