Amplifiers Recomm. to drive my Martin Logans

I was driving my Martin Logan Aerius i with an NAD C340, and just recently upgraded to a tubed VTL IT 85. The difference between these two amps is HUGE HUGE HUGE. My speakers have become SO musical. Veils and veils removed. Mids are MUCH richer, fuller... the NAD really sounded thin in comparison. I have to just stop and stare at my speakers sometimes, i'm so amazed at the music coming out of them with the VTL.

I also listen to a lot of non-classical music, and I now understand how pace, rhythm and timing really can change with a different amp. The music has really jumped in terms of excitement and energy with the VTL.

The IT85 is an integrated amp, rated at 80 wpc, but it is more than sufficient. I never turn it up past 12 or 1. I guess what I'm getting at is don't worry too much about getting an amp with some huge power rating. I'd bet 150w for each channel would be sufficient. My Aerius recommends 80 to 200, so I'm right at the bottom recommended setting, and the amp totally blows away the 100w rated NAD in terms of power.

I drive mine with an Audio Research tube amp VT-100 MKIII to be exact, fed from an Audio Research pre LS-16 MKII The whole shabang is cabled with Nordost Quatra-fil and Nordost SPM bi-wire speaker cable. The sound is quite nice :^)

I was pretty happy with a McCormack DNA 0.5 driving my SL3s until I had a good opportunity for a DNA 1/B. You may also be interested in the new McCormacks or the InnerSound amps which were designed for electrostatics.

Also check out the Blue Circle amps. Founder/designer Gilbert Yeung is a Martin Logan man. They are one of his reference speakers for designing his gear. You could eMail him for his opinion on which of his amps would match your particular MLs best.

Here is a picture of Gilbert's listening room.

I too agree that a monster tube amp might be ideal, but if you are looking for a bargain basement solution, a trusty old Aragon 4004 MK II worked very well for me on a pair of ML SL3s.

It drove the hell out of them, sounded just fine, and never gave me a single problem even though I left it on continuously for about 7 years.