Amp with best bass control

@ Audiolaybrinth - I flip gear - a lot. It's what I do. A year ago, I had a pair of Sonus Faber Stradivari's and all McIntosh gear. Then I sold all that, and moved to Pass gear. Then I sold all that and moved to ARC gear.....now.....well....you get the picture. I have two systems going and I'm constantly swapping gear in and out.

People who aren't gear swappers have a hard time understanding those who are! I like to switch gear. That's it. No secret. No voodoo magic. Just love to try different things. Whenever I post an ad for something, I get these PM's "why are you selling this?" or "why are you selling that?" I'm not sure people believe me! I like to try different things - that's all.

I have audiophile friends who are similar (and some even worse!) - and others who take years and years to make a decision and upgrade or buy something. There is no right or wrong - whatever floats your boat.

There is very little gear I've had over the past 35 years, that I wished I had kept. Maybe the McIntosh 2301's. They are pretty special, but below average bass control. If you can live with that, oh my, are they good!

Hell, I've bought and sold the Classe CP800 three times! The Classe CAM600's twice! I'm definitely a little nutty! :)

As for D'Agostino amps - I really like what I hear from both Soulution and D'Agostino. Although, admittedly, I was so overwhelmed by the sheer liquidity and musicality of the D'Agostino amps, I was completely awash with emotion to pay proper attention to just the bass!

But I'm between the Soulution and D'Agostino. With the Soulution, I hear more of the music. It has this uncanny ability to sort everything out with no blurring, smudging, muddying whatsoever. Crystal clear. And absolutely the best bass control I've heard - yet.

However, I can't think of two amps that are more opposite - but yet both were incredibly pleasing - but for different reasons. Its almost like a heart vs head battle!

Other than those two (and maybe the Vitus), everything else I've listened to, seemed like more or less, the same or a slight variation of the same - and truthfully, the Classe CAM600's I own remain right up there with many of these - and exceeded many of them too is speed and smoothness. Not sure why they don't get the respect they deserve. Maybe if they were still made in Canada and cost 3 times as much they would! :)

But I digress...I desperately want the D'Agostino's to pair perfectly with my new (just ordered) Raidho D3's, but I'm afraid they may not. The Soulution/Raidho pairing I think will be a much better synergy. The owner of Raidho uses Soulution amps in his home (501's). That says a lot.

Just because I love the D'Agostino amps and the Raidho speakers doesn't mean they will work well together.

My research for pairing with Raidho's has showing the best three are:

1. Soulution (high priced)
2. Jeff Rowland (moderate priced)
3. Sim Audio (most economical)

Mike

Thanks Mike, however, if you are in the market for speakers to go with the Dan D Agistino amps, Look no further than the JBL Everest DD 67000, these speakers will open a whole new world to you with High-End Audio!, You may not take my word on this, Go ahead and listen to these JBL speakers, Pair them with the Agistino amps, Likly, you will never change systems again!, And do the Taralabs top cables with this set-up, Its la,la, Land for sound!

I already bought the Raidho D3's.
If you go to the Raidho Acoustics Facebook page - the speakers they are building "for a customer in Florida" are mine! :)

I'm still considering Soulution, Audionet, Viola and D'Agostino. Maybe Sim, Jeff Rowland and Burmester too.

Open to other suggestions. Amps need to have a high damping factor (north of 500 is best). Soulution and Audionet are both over 10,000. Wowser. High damping factor is one of the important specs for control of the difficult, hard, diamond woofers.

The D'Agostino doesn't have a high damping factor, but damn do I love the sound! May not be a fit on my D3's though. TBD.

Vicdamone...I still play, mostly guitar and songwriting.

@ Mbovaird, Thats cool, I am from Florida my self!, north west Florida, It is my exsperience with damping factors to sound alot worse than eanything I ever owned!, I bought a Rotel solid state amp back in the mid nintys, the dampning factor was thru the roof!, the amp sounded good, when I bought my first Krell amp, LOL!, that shitt was over!, there are many ways to do dampning, Isolation of your componets is way better than a specification that means, really nothing!, you should check out some still points ultra 5 cones that can be used for componets or speakers, they will do the trick!, you may not take my word on this mike, go and audition some, like you did the amps, you have to admit, I was correct about the Dan D Agistino amps, you may find this to be true with the still points ultra 5 cones, I awaite to hear from you, most enjoyable to talk with you, cheers.