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Who is the KING of MONOS?

WHO IS THE KING OF MONOS???

Mcintosh 501:
Big. Heavy. Reliable. Built like a tank. Smooth and pleasing. This chuck of metal will flow liquid sound at you all day and not even get warm. It is Fun to listen to and fun to look at. Arguably the best looking amp of them all. Some accuse it of being too laid back. Others would consider selling an appendage to obtain a pair.

Krell Evolution 600e.
Pretty. Maybe not Mac pretty but still pretty. Unlike lesser Krells it is smooth and articulate. Possibly possesses the best bass of any amplifier anywhere. Expensive. If it can be the King it should be expensive.

Cary SA 500.1
Probably has one of the best reviews ever written. Cary is said to be a perfect middle ground between Krell and Levinson. Not too laid back. Not too harsh or dry. Just perfectly nestled in the middle. Not big or heavy. A little plain to look at. Middle of group price tag. A few complaints floating around about reliability. A few complaints that Cary is cheaply made. Is it worthy of a King’s Crown? 10 Audio thinks so………

Levinson N 53.
It is pleasing to the eye. It has lots of clout. It has cost no object claims. It costs a lot of big American Dollars. It has a non typical switching power supply. Levinson is sometimes accused of being too warm. Is this the case the N53? The company has encountered a lot of turmoil in the recent past. Can it overcome the negatives and beat the rest? Will the new D technology be its demise?

Classe CA-M600.
Aesthetically pleasing but doesn’t match anything else. Another smooth operator. This amp has also been accused of being too laid back and polite. Sometimes polite is a good thing. Can it be the polite King of Monos?

Pass Labs XA600.5
Can anything negative be said for this beast. Another block of beauty that has a glowing meter. A little magic and a little hocus pocus maybe. I can see the others getting a little nervous with the Pass in the mix. If only the company would answer the phone and tell me who the dealers are. I hope the product is better than their customer communications.

Wyred4Sound SX-1000
Can it even fit in with names like this? According to the reviews and the manufacturer it can. Its Class D. Its Light. It looks good. According to a lot of people it does things Class A / AB cant. It is by far the cheapest or cost effective of the group. Can this economical wonder compete or beat any of these brutes? Will it wimper and run away with its tail between its legs? We shall see.

Let us discuss who the King should be. Let us discuss who it shouldn’t be. Who cares about price. This is a Royal group. Who is the best of the best? No one wants to hear “They all sound the same.” Don’t waste our time. These boxes have magic inside. Who has the most? Which one should we all be dreaming of when go sleepy at night?. Who is the King Of Monos?
paimei
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,918 posts
 
Mman,

perhaps.

I do expect the cost of Class D to continue to go down or stay stable still and the technology itself to still continue to approve, so $3000 may be able to buy even more down the road.

I suppose China and other emerging economies are still good for helping keep costs of more vintage technologies like tube amplification down as well.
kirkus
502 posts
 
Really, guys? Such silly chump-change power ratings in mere hundreds of watts. REAL audio-frequency power-amps are found as the modulators in plate-modulated AM/SSB transmitters. A modern solid-state example:

http://www.contelec.com/SSM.html
coxhaus
231 posts
 
What about the Spectron Mono amps? Running in bridged mode they produce around 1800 watts. I am quite happy with my pair. I have not heard a lot of the other amps listed but I went through several different amps before I settled into the Spectrons. I don't think they are the best but they are better than some of the ones being talked about here.
enzo618
30 posts
 
Gryphon Colosseum's Solos or the Antileon Signature mono's, Boulder 2050's, Soulutions, Vitus, Goldmunds, Wavac 833's, Pass XA200.5's (only those), TAD M600's, Krell EVO 2's.

I think this is the direction you should look if you are really looking for the "King of Mono's" with no price tag limitations.
soundlock
101 posts
 
Sanders Sound Systems Magtech Monoblock: 1600 watts into 8 ohms and 2000 watts into 4 ohms.
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