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
As for the stereo Rouge versus the 200w class A monoblock shootout, I will be very interested to hear how this comparison plays out in Jay's room but I already have a pretty good idea.  

I have not personally heard the Rouge but I have plenty of experience with some of these so called giant killers that are especially favorites of the fanboys on ASR because they measure well as if high SNR and low THD+noise tell the whole story.  This includes the Benchmark AHB2 monoblocks and the new gen class D amps from ICEPower (Bel Canto), NCore (VTV), and Merrill Audio (Element 118) that I have had in my listening room.  Some may remember that Merrill lent me a pair of his Element 118s for a few weeks and I posted a review on a different thread here on A'gon some time ago.  

As for 200w class A monoblocks, I don't know exactly what Jay has in his room but I have had 2 sets of amps in my listening room that meet these specifications:  the Pass Labs XA200.8 (which are long gone) and the Block Audio SE Mono Blocks (which I have now).  I have been able to directly compare the Block Audio monoblocks against the AHB2 monoblocks and VTV Ncore NC2000 monoblocks driving my pair of Wilson Alexia Series 2 speakers.  

While I can go into much greater detail about the differences among these amps, the 2 biggest differences I hear come down to (1) space and (2) decay.  Even with the Block Audio monoblocks set to "Eco" mode which is essentially class AB mode (idle power draw of about 50 watts per monoblock), the Blocks sound much more spacious whereas the AHB2s and NCore sound flatter and more confined.  Switch the Block Audios from Eco to Class A mode (idle power draw climbs to about 500 watts per monoblock) and the Blocks sound even more spacious (trust me, I have zero desire to consume 500 watts per monoblock at idle for no good reason and yet this is what I find myself doing).  Same thing with decay, with either the AHB2 or the NCore, the decay truncates much more rapidly whereas with the Blocks, you can hear the decay float in the air longer and more realistically.  This is especially evident with organ concertos.  With either the AHB2 or the NCore (and especially with the NCore NC2000 monoblocks which can output 2,500 watts into 4 ohms), you feel like the organ is expressed forcefully but you also feel as if the concerto is taking place in an anechoic chamber whereas with the Blocks, you get a greater sense of being in a cathedral.  Because the presentation of the AHB2 and NCore sound flatter, the layering of detail is less well expressed which is responsible for the perception of less resolution as well as truncated decay.  Yes, the AHB2 and NCore sound clean and clear and have good control but they lack the dimensionality of the Blocks (and other amps like the Blocks) that ultimately make the presentation sound less authentic and less engaging.  I'm not talking about contrived euphonic space that are introduced by some tube amps (which I don't care for at all) but the real space and depth that you would hear at a live performance venue.  When someone tells me their amp sounds like the performers are in the room, my immediate thought is "thanks, but I'll pass.  When someone tells me their amp transports the listener to the venue, ok, you've got my attention.  To my ears, these are power supply differences and where the less expensive amps seem to be lacking.  

I'll conclude this lengthy post with a comment about interconnects and speaker cables.  Personally, I did not care for Nordost Odin or WireWorld (thin and bright).  I agree with Jay, with Wilson speakers, there's a reason why you'll often find them paired with Transparent cabling at shows as there's clearly good synergy there and in my case, I use calibrated Transparent Reference XL interconnects and speaker cables and have been quite pleased.  I have tried the Opus Gen 5 speaker cables and even uncalibrated, I found they are a notable step better then what I have although I found the Tara Labs Grandmaster speaker cables to be better still.  The fullness and richness is there just like the Transparent Opus but bass dynamics, control, and resolution were superior with the Tara Labs.  With Wilson Audio, I don't think Transparent is the only good fit but it is certainly the safe bet. 
viber7,
Thanks for commenting, especially since you know classical music, like me. I don’t have experience comparing stereo amps to their strapped mono versions, so accept your findings for now. Same applies to class A vs AB, or having more power reserves.

What is your experience with HF material, like string orchestra, quartets, solo violin? Organ music has a lower freq tonal balance, although some HF content to 9 kHz is present. I have found that cables or electronics which exhibit more depth and spatiality unfortunately tend to have rolled off HF. This is especially true with tube electronics, and you wisely point out that tube amps create contrived euphonic space. I’ll add that this euphonic space is accompanied by larger images, which is really distortion. The actual image of the real instrument is smaller and more focused, and these tube and euphonic SS amps add an overlay of bloating which is distortion. I know the stereo Benchmark AHB2 well from 2 months of audition at home. It has the finest resolution and clarity over the entire freq range. However, its dynamics esp in low freq are compromised. Bass is tight but restrained.

I have struggled with the duality/paradox that AHB2 type amps are detailed but less dynamic, whereas powerful SS amps are less detailed but more dynamic. My Rouge is a happy marriage of detail and dynamics in my system.

I thank Jay for doing a blind A/B so there won’t be any bias for any listener, including you and me. Please comment on your findings and which preference you have. I will just describe what I hear, say which one I prefer, but not venture a guess as to which one is my Rouge. When Jay reveals it later after we all post our findings, that’s when the learning will take place. Heads may roll.

Speaking of live unamplified music, sitting closer shows greater detail but less depth and hall ambience, whereas sitting further back shows less detail but more hall ambience and depth.  Some recordings have a close perspective, others the opposite.  We don't actually know what the engineers designed, but we can choose electronics that show what we want--either close or more distant.
Yep i had a feeling mR Joe from critical mass would get his panties in a bunch. I did tell him to his face that these footers were adding artificial sound.
Since Joe is the manufacturer of critical mass, you all can tell him to come here and debate me here if he dares to. I’d be glad to put out my findings in more raw fashion in here.
Nothing will spare him here and on my YouTube channel.
Some manufacturers know better than mess around with influencers.
This is why many are better off staying with their mouths shut and understand that the whole world doesn’t have to like what they produce and they should learn to live with it.
Apple doesn’t lose sleep just because some people prefer Samsung. They don’t come out to argue with the massive amount of influencers on YouTube that criticize the brand. But then again, comparing Apple to Critical Mass is like comparing best buy to radio shack (now gone).
As I'm currently looking for new  amp (used) your information is great. Not to mention invaluable. Listen loudly in a large shop area, acoustics are great. Rock and Roll in the high 90's spl.  Solid 2 channel sytem only. Mostly digital, through a pair of 98.2 efficient Tekton Double impacts, SVS sb4000 sub, Benchmark LA-4 preamp and DAC 3B. Current amp Peachtree AMP -500, Class D. Pass labs 250.5 and Parasound JC 1's are interesting. 532 H Mark Levinson also. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with the NEW Parasound  JC5?? Thanks, Robert TN
So this is what's wrong with hi-end audio when manufacturers can ban people just for having another opinion that's different than theirs. WBF has a bunch of a$$holes and their site doesn't tell the truth or let others give their own honest thoughts. Hope I too get banned from their site!