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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
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
@ricevs
Here’s the issue i have:
I personally don’t like to take advantage of in-home trials. I feel that it is quite dishonest on my part to do that if i know I’m not looking to buy anything.
I also feel that if i open the door to your suggestion, wouldn’t it be fair i also listen to others’ suggestions as well? They should also be heard just like you and i know there have been people in the past who suggested i try brand x or z and i never did.
Opening the door to what you are saying i should do is also opening the door to others because they also deserve a shot. That said, i can’t sustain that level of effort because it would be quite intensive.
I tried tekton because someone from this thread sent it to me and i paid shipping both ways which was quite a bit i must say and that is fine - i ate that bill because it’s the cost of doing what I’m doing.
Also, i have been vocal about this: if you or anyone here wants to talk to a manufacturer or someone they know on the inside of a particular brand and can facilitate this, PLEASE DO. You all got my email so feel free to send them an email and copy me on this email.
Use whatever resources you got on your end to perhaps put a product you want to see in my room. Sometimes all it takes is an email from you because you know someone and i don't. 
ricevs
1,542 posts
 
If you really wanted to do something.....there is always a win win scenario. There is no reason anyone has to lose. You could contact Shenzhen directly or contact Musetec directly for a loan. However, lets say you bought it from Shenzhen......and you thought is was 85% of the $75K MSB......so even if you return it for refund (and what do they lose doing that.....maybe a few dollars to put it in a new box?) you might stimulate hundreds of sales. You would have more people coming to you for information. If it were great for the money, you could also sell it in a few minutes to someone by just mentioning that it was for sale.

As far as listening to people.....you are already doing that. You have certain reviewers, friends, dealers that you trust. That is how you get knowledge. That would not have to change. You would just expand your pool of possibilities. Most people who suggest things have very little actual knowledge of the possibilities of things. So, of course, you would only listen to those that you know have extensive knowledge. Of course, the audio game is infinite.......and you have decided to play with expensive components......so....here we are. It is easier to play in a small field that is contained. If you play in a large field you will need outfielders to help you fetch the balls that were hit a mile away from your mind set. We could help you.....or you can just play in your small current high priced field. Mind expansion is fun! Audio expansion is fun! and it does not have to cost much.......so more people can play on the field.

The problem with playing with expensive equipment is that most manufacturers of lesser priced gear might not want to send you anything because there might not be anything gotten in return. If you say a $3K DAC is not as good as an $80K DAC then no one is going to learn anything from that comparison (unless you rave about the piece, despite it not being as good). And the chance that a 3K DAC sounding as good as an $80K DAC are not good. However, it could happen. No one knows much in this game. How many manufacturers of "normal priced" gear have A/Bed their stuff with mega buck stuff......just does not happen. However, there are certain components and ways to do things that are way more tweaky and transparent then even what the mega products do. I have talked about them. This is why someone could make there own speakers for practically nada that would compete with the big boys.

Here is a video of a homemade speaker using a $430 a pair plus shipping full range 8 inch driver from Lii Audio of China played back with a $400 server, a $1000 DAC (a "soft sounding" first generation Denafrips Aries) and a $1000 amp (cheap Ncore class D stereo module). I am sure he is using junk binding posts on his speaker and has not bypassed the binding posts on the speaker driver. You can hear box resonances here......Still.....you get a hint at what these 97db speakers can do. A friend is using the 10 inch version on an open baffle and is crazy over them. Imagine what these speakers would do if tweaked and with Jay’s electronics.....you would cry, it would sound so good! You can build these speakers yourself for $1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You could pay someone $1500 to make you a super set of multi-layer super dead boxes.....and then just mount the drivers inside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_VqDN5-878

Sometimes the sound fades in and out and has distortion.....but still.....I mean....well, WTF! The paradise of sound is waiting for you. It is here....you can reach out a take it......it is yours. You don’t need to cash it you T bills.......just use your head.

Now, back to your normal program......"Listen to expensive equipment here"
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
Lmao...
sequence56
73 posts
 
Kren0006,

That makes perfect sense to me also, no problem with that. 

My point is, when you count all points of the individual video's, we have a better understanding of the preferences about dac 1 and 2.
In the end you know which dac is playing and when, so you can choose accordingly what's best for you.
If nothing is known which dac is playing it is more of a blind test.







viber6
2,442 posts
 
grey9hound,

I enjoyed listening to Flow, Lift off, Farewell transmission, Charlotte's thong.  The bass is the least interesting part of these recordings.  It is used like punctuation in a sentence--necessary but not the main message.  Far more entertaining are the other instruments, vocals and interesting spatial effects.  A system where all the components (speaker, electronics, cables)--are highly resolving, will offer the best clarity of all the aspects of the music.  It will also clarify the pitch of the deep bass.  Most systems that emphasize warmth and fullness make the bass in particular suffer in clarity.  I want to hear ALL the notes of all the instruments clearly.  In that way, clarified bass does enhance the overall musical effect.  Often the fault lies with the recording engineers, so trying to obtain maximum clarity helps undo the poor taste of those engineers.

These recordings as well as most others, are best enjoyed at moderate SPL's.  Too loud makes things muddy.
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