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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
2,444 posts
 
Convenient repost of Jay's videos of Alexx and M6 on the song, Iron Hand, with my analysis.

https://youtu.be/gueDCNUAapI.  This is Alexx with the best electronics.

https://youtu.be/VEjje1WCvFw.  This is M6 with Soulution integrated.

On my computer, these videos are top quality and enable comparisons.  Whatever colorations there are from my computer system,  they are the same for both videos, so I believe that similar differences would be heard hearing the system live in Jay's room.  Only Jay knows for sure.

I hear the M6 as darker, warmer, less brilliant in upper midrange/HF, than the Alexx.  There may be more information/accuracy in the lower freq on the M6, while the Alexx shows more clarity in the freq from midrange on up.  The male voice on this song has the lowest fundamental note of A which is 110 Hz, so this recording is mainly a test of the lower midrange up through HF.  The opening guitar is more brilliant on the Alexx, as a test of upper midrange and HF.

The M6 has three 10.5" woofers; Alexx has one 10.5" and one 12.5" woofer, so the total air excursion for the M6 is greater than the Alexx for bass.  But the Alexx has 2 midrange drivers, and M6 only one, so the Alexx seems to be designed for more midrange clarity.  Then the Alexx has the resistors which is a form of EQ for the drivers, allowing for adjustment of tonal balance.  

The interesting thing is that although the M6 cabinet, drivers and its tweeter may be more sophisticated than the Alexx, the overall design and voicing shows that the Alexx gives more clarity and aliveness than the M6, at least from lower midrange on up.  I defer to others regarding the bass, which I can't analyze just from this song.

Is the M6 handicapped by the Soulution, compared to the Boulder electronics on the Alexx?  Probably yes, although I believe that the upper range brilliance of the Alexx design is a much bigger factor.  It is likely that other resistor adjustments on the Alexx would create a completely different tonal balance.  This is another example of my long experience with the benefits of any form of EQ, whether in the speaker crossover electronics or Rane, etc.  It is valuable for the owner to have flexibility in tailoring tonal balance for his preferences.  All things considered, the presentation of the Alexx from Jay's video is the best dynamic speaker system I have heard, from lower midrange on up.  


kren0006
1,859 posts
 
Good stuff Viber. Will be interesting to see if WC agrees with you. Usually he has a bit of a preference bias toward whatever is currently in the room. Maybe that is because his typical progression is to move upward in cost which can often result in better quality (not always of course).

Interesting to note that M6 is over 50% more expensive than Alexx, and now we have at least two forum members preferring Alexx, for whatever that is worth when comparisons are over YT.

Yes I’m willing to wait until the M6 gets better electronics so that it is a fair comparison, but I would submit that the fair comparison point is when M6 gets electronics that total $60-70k less than what the Alexx had, to even the total cost, given that M6 costs about that much more than Alexx.

Come to think of it, perhaps we are already there (fair total cost comparison) with the Soulution? Probably close anyway - same dac, for starters. Then Soulution costs equal at least to Gryphon preamp, and Mephisto within the cost delta of Alexx to M6. So there you go. M6 with Soulution greater total cost than Alexx with Gryphon pairing, at least I think so.  Probably not there yet as to the Boulder pairing with Alexx.

Also, Alexx now not even a current product, but a legacy product, FWIW, with the new replacement now out. fwiw
henry201
144 posts
 
Not how I hear it. The Alexx has this added ‘echo’ around everything, the image is not well defined and somewhat smeared. The voice on the M6 is focus, and it is clearly in front of everything else, unlike the Alexx more homogeneous, diffuse presentation. The M6 sounds louder with more dynamic contrast, even though they are both playing at the same level.
ron17
607 posts
 
Thank you viber for providing 2 links to the same song Alexx vs M6. What I hear in these 2 demos is not what you described. I heard more clarity and focus with the M6's. The Alexx sound somewhat veiled in comparison.  The vocals are slightly forward with the M6's and way more separated from the acoustic guitar. The soundstage was greater with the M6 with accent electric guitars more pinpointed and focused within the soundstage. I heard a little more thump (weight) from the kick drum on the Alexx. The thunder @ around 1:40 was more clearly heard with the M6's. The M6's do sound ever so slightly rolled off on the very top...but that being said I still hear more detail and focus on the top end of the M6's. I much prefer the M6's presentation (on this track).
kren0006
1,859 posts
 
I like Alexx better but for different reasons than Viber does. I also can’t really say I concur with his assessments of the clarity/brightness qualities the way he described it, but that’s subjective - everyone hears differently.

For me it’s still a Coke/Pepsi thing. Alexx==Coke. M6==Pepsi.
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