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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
2,450 posts
 
OK, the thing you are passionate about, DEMONSTRATING what you find in your own carefully adjusted system of top level components that nobody else is doing, generates less revenue than just talking about it.

People in their work can make great incomes but not feel passionate about what they do.  It's often just a mundane business selling consumer items, working for a company with lots of internal politics, etc. The fortunate ones LOVE what they do, not just in making money from it.  If you are making a great living from your work, why not devote your YT channel to doing what you love? 

In short, you earn good money from your regular job, but earn a smaller amount of money yet get lots of satisfaction from doing music shootouts.  Anybody could talk about equipment, but your credibility is created by the great sound you display in shootouts.  Talk is for the magazines, which is why their utility is limited.  Readers don't know if the reviewer can create great sound, but you have proven yourself mainly from the shootouts.
viber6
2,450 posts
 
One commenter on your YT video said that the 725 + Mephisto had amazing detail with great recordings, but wore him out on ordinary recordings.  Similarly, you might feel that the 725 provides "too much" detail, so you prefer the warmth of the Constellation with the 725.  At this early stage, the 725 might be relatively dry, which is often accompanied by less quantity of bass.  For me, I am looking for as much detail as possible to better understand my music, provided I keep the SPL reasonable.  It is not that the 725 + Mephisto or other Gryphon are incompatible--it's just that you are presently more comfy with 725 + Connie.  In time, you may appreciate the 725 more with accurate amps like Mephisto, Boulder, especially Soulution 700 series (not the more euphonic 500 series) if you can get a deal--already you love the voice with the 725.

40 years ago, I took refuge in tube equipment because early SS was lousy.  As SS improved when I got a Spectral preamp and Krell amp, it took me only a brief period of time to appreciate that the much better detail of these SS pieces vastly outweighed the sweet pleasures of tubes.
kren0006
1,859 posts
 
WC, your memory kinda sucks whenever you try to remember the hi-end stuff you’ve had "on the spot" on a video. It’s awesome when you catalog stuff like that but you should spend time in advance making the list so you don’t forget important ones.

This time on preamps, although you listed a lot of them, but notably forgot to mention, at least, the Luxman C900u and the D’Agostino (at least one, maybe more) that you’ve had, which certainly, at least on price if not performance on the D’Ag (just kidding, I didn’t like it but I’m sure others do), belong in the group of preamps you listed. I thought the C900u was better than almost all of the others you had to that point.

You’ve had some Pass Labs preamps also but maybe you didn’t think any of them rose to the level of inclusion in the list. I don’t remember if you had the Sim Audio preamp or not, maybe not.


Also, would be amazing to get Ref 10 preamp in again to better compete with the Soulution and whatever new big boy you have coming in.  Ref6se amazing for its price category but probably won't compete with the Soul or other $50k+ preamps.  I know, easy for me to say just bring it in, haha, but I have confidence you can do it : )
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 

Comparing ANY tube preamp to a solid state preamp is if you were comparing this:

  1. A 4-door sedan versus SUV
  2. Orange juice vs Coke
  3. Commercial plane vs private Jet
  4. A lion to a domestic cat
  5. A man to a woman

Can these comparisons REALLY be made? they are all more dissimilar than similar. You will always choose whichever preamp you like, but is it really better? for instance, maybe you love what tubes do to digital streaming which is to remove the "digitized" feeling, but that is more of YOUR PERSONAL personal preference right? What if the other person wants to hear the garbage on the recordings and not remove the "digitized" feeling? is he wrong for this? I certainly don’t think so.

The 725 is made to be compared against its direct peers:

  1. Boulder 2110
  2. Boulder 2010
  3. Momentum HD
  4. Pass labs xp32
  5. Pass labs xp30
  6. Ayre KXR twenty
  7. Luxman c900u
  8. Gryphon Pandora
  9. Merrill Audio Christine
  10. Jeff Rowland Chorus
  11. Constellation Pictor



etc
etc
etc


I did forget to name more preamps because i was not really planning on naming any preamps on the video - i just went with the flow
kren0006
1,859 posts
 
Sounds good. Glad the 6se at least in the mix.
Ok, here’s a complete Hail Mary guess on the new mono amps.
The mystery amps are in fact Gryphon Mephisto Solos, despite your proclamation that you are done with Gryphon on the video. You’ll claim the since you had ordered the Solos months ago that the proclamation was as to new purchases.

You won’t be able to move on from Gryphon until you’ve had them all, and it’s really the only foreign (“clear customs”) six figure amp I can see you purchasing new.

So……tricky and cagey, but cover blown!


(or Soulution flagships)
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