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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
 
If there was a way to build an amp for $3,500 that can put an @$$ whopping on a Mephisto, don’t you think someone would have done it by now? Don’t you think that if a company saw an opportunity to build far better product that is more economical they would have jumped at the opportunity?
Why hasn’t ANY MANUFACTURER shown up with something quite affordable that can easily demolish the ultra high end?
It’s just not doable and this is why they don’t really do it. This is why they stay in their lane and don’t go at it with the big brands.
You really REALLY think that tomorrow we will all roll out of bed and find out that there is an affordable class D amp that is killing the Boulders, constellation and Gryphons of the world?
I got news...you’ll be waiting a LONG TIME at the bus stop...that bus ain’t coming.
When it comes to amplification (which is what I am most familiar with), there isn’t anything that touches the heavy hitters. The gap between the heavy hitters and the affordable amps is quite big.
Take Parasound for instance: good brand, good construction, good sound. How long did it last in my room? You think that was by coincidence? Why do you think i still have 7 year old constellation monos sitting on the sidelines? I’d take a depreciated set of constellation amps over ANY recently released MIDFI amp. It’s baffling to see how bad this old amp murders many new amps.
That said, i predict this new Luxman amp is going to take down some names. I also heard there is a big expensive set of Luxman monos coming out next year that will replace the 1000 series.
kren0006
1,859 posts
 
WC: face the facts. Viber and ricevs actually believe the stuff they say (ricevs) over and over and over and over and over and over (Viber).
They actually think that stuff is better.

I don’t think anything you or anyone else says will convince them otherwise.

Ricevs sorry for grouping you with Viber here because I know your deal is tweaks but you do continuously profess that expensive amps will soon be boat anchors so that’s far enough out there in crazy land to warrant inclusion just this once with mr zip

(and psst, mr zip, the reason nobody commented on all of the videos you keep asking about is because nobody cares)

To be clear I am not ripping on inexpensive gear. We all (including WC, read his first post of thread) have or have had inexpensive gear and likely enjoyed it for what it was.

But to contend the bargain basement gear (the usual stuff that shall not be repeated) can sound better than the systems WC presents (as is contended ad infinitum here) is lunacy IMO, and dare I say it, tells you everything you need to know about the audio judgement of the one making the claims. To a few those statements will be celebrated, but to most experienced audiophiles they’ll be dismissed as out of touch ramblings . To each their own.
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
We all WISH there was gear that was far cheaper and that easily bested the expensive stuff. The only one amp i can say has been a surprise as of late is the Gryphon Essence. Again, this is proof that for me NOT ONLY EXPENSIVE gear is amazing.

Anyhow, has anyone here ever wondered what Metallica sounds like on my system ? 
Today you might get to find out if YouTube doesn't block the video of course. It was SO MUCH FUN to listen to this yesterday and i found myself not analyzing the system but rather enjoying the music. 
jays_audio_lab's avatar
jays_audio_lab OP
5,381 posts
 
First time on YouTube: Metallica on a $400k system. Nobody is doing this kind of stuff.
Wear headphones and crank it the hell up!.
No music server, no special speaker cables, no power conditioner and stock cheap powercords on the msb.
This is the new monster monos with matching preamp. From here, we can only go up!
You can hear the immediacy, dynamics and explosiveness of the system. This is still not fine-tuned folks. Just wait...


https://youtu.be/btVSE8u07HM
viber6
2,448 posts
 
All of the above posts saying that cheap amps cannot equal or outperform expensive amps are based on ignoring a few inconvenient truths.  For example, claiming that the Benchmark AHB2 cannot equal or beat the Nagra Classic for clarity is based on NOT auditioning the AHB2.  RIAA deserves credit for being the staunchest proponent of the need for personal audition to make any claim.

Second, designers all have their sonic preferences.  The AHB2 design goals were clarity/transparency/neutrality, and they have succeeded according to my listening for 1 month, and yyzsantabarbara's longer ownership.  All the Gryphon amps have some degree of warmth, according to Jay, even the Mephisto which was warmer than the Boulder, verified by several good listeners including myself and mrdecibel.  Yes, all the Gryphons have better build quality and drive capability than the AHB2.  I didn't buy the AHB2 because it couldn't drive my parallel electrostatic speakers without shutting down, but I loved its qualities at moderate levels.  Many people have conventional, more efficient speakers, so the AHB2 drives them well.

Third, a more theoretical claim.  It is a correct widely accepted notion that simpler circuits with shorter signal paths are the recipe for clarity/transparency.  This should inherently reduce the cost compared to a larger, complicated circuit which costs more.  All this assumes that your goal is accuracy/transparency.  The AHB2 is an example of the above.  But if your goal is brute force, by all means spend your money on big, heavy amps which are expensive.

Fourth, an amp is not a high performance car.  More money buys more power, acceleration, etc.  I am not knowledgeable about cars, but I wonder if the high performance power cars can do the subtle moves required if there is 2 inches of clearance when driving between 2 vehicles, or avoiding a bicyclist, etc.  Jay might say that the expensive car can do everything better, but the driver has to have more skill.  For my average skills, I am safer in a conventional car because I couldn't properly handle a high performance car.

As an aside, some high end phono cartridge manufacturers employ small women with delicate hands and great coordination to do the skillful hand construction and adjustment of those cartridges.  Such a woman would be out of place in an amp factory where strong men are needed to lift heavy amps around, even with assisting tools.  This illustrates my contention that brute force is useful in some tasks, and subtle skill is for others.  Different amps are designed with different priorities, for the consumer with different preferences.  More money helps in some cases, but not others.
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