$6000 Budget Which used Amp ?

I hope this helps. I read that ML Electrostatics with a Audio Research VT100Mkll or Mklll will make you think you are in Audio Heaven, However I have run the Krell FPB250 with the same speakers and it was just AMAZING really Wonderful. As you know the Krell FPB250Mc are SolidState and Audio Research are Tubes. I would think the ML Speakers would really Shine with tubes more so than Solid State

Mp is right. Give your Logans a listen with both solid state and high powered tube amps and hear the difference for yourself. They really open up with tubes. Tube amps are also better able to deal with the sometimes interesting impedance swings that these speakers can produce.

By the way, you didn't mention which Martin Logan speakers you plan on using. Are you driving Statements, Prodigy's, CLS's, etc. -- it will make a difference in recommendations although conceptually I think tubes, (or a combination of tubes and solid state), are still the way to go whatever the model.

Go listen for yourself.Take amps home to listen.

My Quest Z's sound great with my BATVK500, much smoother than with my Classe. I'd suggest a tube preamp and transistor amp, BATVK30 and VK500 are great in my setup. I've stayed away from tube amps, mostly due to the cost of changing tubes. I leave my stuff on all the time, tubes would need replacing fairly often and output tubes aren't cheap.

How about Sonic Frontiers Power 3? I was looking at both the VT200 and the Power 3. I found the Power 3 with a 5-year warranty here on Audiogon (Underwood Wally 770-667-5633, great guy) for a lot less than the VT200 used. The sound is very good with my B&W 801s.

I have Pass Labs X350 driving ML reQuests with MIT 750 Shotgun cables with great success. Very smooth and detail.

I may consider selling my X350 (1 year old in perfect condition) because I move all my equipment to dedicated HT room and will probably go for multichannel amp. I hate to depart with this amp, and may just add another multichannel one to drive other speakers - have not decided yet.
I will decide within a couple of month though.

If you are interested, contact me (732) 617-0927
or email to roman@insightfirst.com

AOB
Roman

One amp you should consider for any electrostats is the Innersound, which is specifically designed to handle the difficult load they present to an amp. I've heard it with the Innersound speakers, it was excellent, and there have been a lot of favorable comments about it here and in the rags. Worth a listen.

Yes, you should definitely check out the Innersound. And I think you could buy two of them new for your budget.

For high-powered tubes I'd take a serious look at the Art Audio Jota, and they also have a new and supposedly even better amp that I don't recall the name of. Check out reviews on Soundstage!.com, and you may even consider emailing Srajan Ebean from GoodSound!.com who is very familiar with the amps and may have some valuable info. for you.

On the solid state side you might be able to find a used McCormack DNA-2 LAE(Limited Anniversary Edition) that is said to be one of the best amps ever made--of course that's always relative to personal tastes and equipment. I think there's a reprint of a review from one of the mags(TAS?) on Audioreview.com if you're interested in more info. I bet you could buy it and if it didn't work sell it at no loss given the reputation of this amp. Best of luck.

Tim

I second the SF Power 3 amp - heard the Power 2 and 3 2 years back driving Logans (SL3 I believe) and while the Power 2 did a nice job with the stats the Power 3 did a much nicer job, at least to these ears. I have owned hybrid Acoustats previously and found that using a higher powered SS amp worked well - there seems to be a common thought that the 4 ohm load of certain stats really requires a decent level of power to make them sing. As I have not tried tube amps in the past I cannot comment on the tube vs SS comparison but IMHO regardless of which way you go I believe that you will be better served getting more power than you think you will need...

Wolcotts are suppost to be good with electrostatics. - Dan