My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
So last night I attempted to switch the Gryphon speaker cables and put back the Odin 1 speaker cables in the system. Without a SINGLE DOUBT, I am now 200% sure that when you switch speaker cables (mainly), you must MUST wait at least a few hours before you can pass judgement on which cable is better. Forget about those quick a/b comparisons. I can assure you that at least for now, for speaker cables, you need to swap them and let them play music for at least a day before you know exactly which cable is better. This amp is insane when it comes to showing me the transformation of cables as they settle in the system. |
Guys , SO WHAT if gryphon sounds best with their own cables? WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL??? spectral only works with MIT cables and ??? What is the issue ? The reason why anyone buys a mephisto is to maximize their listening experience where cost is no object. Nobody buys a mephisto who is broke or is trying to figure out how to make their next car payment. It’s stupid to believe that if you can buy a 60k amp that you would refuse to buy the cables that sound best with it. Do you refuse to only put 93 octane fuel if your car is a dodge viper ? Because last time I checked, it specifically says "premium fuel only" so then what’s the argument there?? Oh that’s a flawed design that the viper only takes 93 octane. F... That. Etc. Really ?????? It’s STUPID AS HELL to think that way. NOBODY SAID that a mephisto is for the luxman, simaudio owner. 2 TOTALLY DIFFERENT groups of people. People who get a VIP table at a high end club here on south beach don’t complain that costs AT LEAST $5000 dollars to get one for the night. Oh and guess what? A drink HERE, on south beach, cost $30 freaking dollars for a damn drink. Do you think you walk into a top club here NOT KNOWING it’s gonna cost you to drink? It’s all relative. You wanna try the best ? You wanna go into the best restaurant? Best club? Then PAY or stay the F home. Simple. The MEPHISTO was never intended to be for technos of the world. When they built it, people with your mentality is not who they are after. Do you think bentley makes cars keeping in mind toyota buyers ? |
Something needs to be said about people liking a particular group of components and how they unite to create music. For instance, I was talking with someone yesterday (not going to name him) who has the Gryphon pandora and spectral Preamp. He said that to him, the Gryphon pandora sounded bright but smooth at the same time. He had high expectations for it and he is returning it. that said, his source is dcs Rossini, wilson Audio alexia 2, a krell Amplifier from the 90s (don’t know the model) and cables along the lines of the middle of the pack cardas or old generation transparent cables. First, I want to be clear: that is an approximation of what he has when it comes cables. It isn’t at my level or whatever you all could consider to be high tier group cables. Ok so he said he prefers the spectral Preamp over the Pandora because it has more resolution, Information, but he also said it is bright and it doesn’t make him tap his feet after listening to it for a while. Anyhow my response to him was that you can’t just drop a preamp or an amp and be said and done. He said that he believes he can pick up the house sound of any component regardless. So in short, he thinks gryphon is too much of a presentation or that the sound is like " guns blazing" all the time etc. I told him that was my feeling with mephisto and as I started to change cables then things changed. I also said many other things that I am not going to get into. Anyhow, there are 2 ways of looking at his particular case: 1. He is right, the Pandora shouldn’t have to sound as it does and the spectral Preamp indeed Is his preference even though he also said it was bright after a while and never made it tap his feet. He said the spectral sounded way better even with his krell amp but he negates this comment by saying he brought in the Pandora because his spectral was too bright and not engaging. 2. He is trying to look good in a toxito and wearing fucked up shoes from 1990. He needs better cables and at least a more current Amplifier with more solution or better parts etc than a krell from the 1990s. (He could choose any of the current Amplifier offerings from any brand ) Which argument do you lean towards? |
I sold my Valhalla 2 XLRs here on audiogon...listed them and they were gone in less than 12 hours...so you are saying I sold a better cable and bought worse cables to make the mephisto sound worse ? Lol. So why am I not paying for the powercords and speaker cables ? Because I'm still trying to see what I do or if I prefer my Odin 1 speaker cables or powercords. I am STILL mixing and matching trying to see what happens even though this will be worthless once the Pandora gets here. For now, I'll have fun with it and spend time playing around until the preamp arrives. |
Viber, You couldn't promote the expensive because you haven't owned it. I could say the same thing to you by telling you to stop promoting the lamp cord trials that only occur in your domain. I highly doubt anyone went out to try that on their amp. You give tons of opinion on things that you only have really read about or seen on pictures. Why is that the case? |
Yes but these cheaper amps don’t do the same job at articulating the differences. You can go buy an emotiva amp and then connect the cables I have and switch back to blue jean cables. I am sure you will hear a difference but can those emotivas do the same job as a top end Amplifier at describing to you the different shades in tonality? Can it pin point exactly what happened to the sound, line item by line item? I don’t think so. Just because a cheap amp can tell you what happened when you switched cables does not mean it can tell you the whole story of what happened. The better the design and the amp, the more it will tell you what Is happening when you make changes as long as you have the speakers that can tell you this too. |
@speedbump You took the words out of my mouth. I don’t think I could have articulated things better. Thank you for your last comment. For pure transparency, I will disclose HOW MUCH money I have made from youtube over the last 8 months. Everyone wants shootouts and me too but there is nothing coming for me from only doing that. Nada. I want to try more brands but the deals can’t be closed out so I gotta keep reinventing myself. I want to say that I wish I could try everything you all suggest but it is hard to appeal to 1,800 subscribers at all times. I have to keep going with the gryphon project which is my main focus right now. That said, once I feel I have gone as far as I could then maybe I get an itch to try the new boulder stuff ? Who knows ? But right now I gotta focus focus on what I have been doing with the Mephisto. Lastly, today I grabbed a 3rd speaker ($15k msrp) to mix things up a bit and I plan a shootout of this speaker and the magnepan 20.7 only to keep all eyes engaged while I wait on the rest of the items that will be here later this month. I have to keep bringing other things to keep you all entertained and to keep different groups engaged. We will do magnepan with mephisto when that is ready and this 3rd speaker too. More fun stuff is coming your way. |
Looks like the martin logan 13a have a lot of subscribers quite excited because they want to hear it against the magnepan. I don't believe ANYONE on YouTube has done what im about to do: A shootout between two panels that are hardly ever heard next to each other in the same room conditions and with good components. |
If and when that day comes that I begin to get compensated FOR REAL, I will announce it here. Don't worry I won't hide. I don't need to hide because I wouldn't get paid if I can't deliver either product or a service. It is coming though...how long have I been doing this here? 4 years ? I think 4 years is as long as it takes to get a bachelor's? To finish high school? I take the good with the bad. I got scammed here by a dealer, you (techno) have been for some reason just bitter with me as if I am personally attacking you from the beginning. Others tend to fight you off and you keep coming at me like with vengeance and I don't know why? Am I taking food off your plate? Am I somehow impacting your life ? Hurting your family? Those are things that I don't get about some people in this world. It's like they are angry at others who haven't done anything to them but they have this drive to be mad and salty non-stop. Why?? I've been doing this for 4 years here!! My daughter wasn't even born when I started this and I keep getting slammed by multiple people. Luckily, it is not everyone but man I can NOT imagine how dealers - REAL DEALERS handle bs all day long from customers. I guess they can justify the bs by looking at the digits in their bank account. I hear all sorts of stories from many dealers about all kinds of customers and the bs they try to pull. My jaw drops at some of the things I have heard. That said, I have been here for 4 years posting and I am planning to "graduate" soon from the freebies and begin to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I'll leave it at that. |
I ended up with shunyata omega PCs with the Mephisto monos. Everything is system dependent....who would have thought that focals sound as good as what you heard on my last video? Nobody did... But now I believe i have proved that it's about system matching. There is a reason why boulder uses focal in their sound room. |
All- I believe the title of this thread is very clear: "My Long List Of Amplifiers and MY REVIEW of each" To me, that implies it is about ONE MAN’S opinion & journey on amplifiers he has owned. It means you are reading someone’s feedback based on what he has had or currently has. That said, we are "supposed" to be grown men here and not kids and i am assuming (fingers crossed) that there isn’t anyone underage reading or posting here. i consider EACH and EVERYONE OF YOU grown men. As grown men, we have families, bills, responsibilities, jobs, businesses and so on. I have been here on a 4 year journey now and some people have come and gone and i am sure there are plenty of people who still read this thread and don’t post which is totally fine. Anyhow, and to be frank with everyone, i am NOT HERE luring kids into buying candy. I am also not here to convince ANYONE of buying ANYTHING. You are all GROWN A$$ MEN and can make your own buying decisions. If my input and/or feedback resulted in you making the correct purchase that helped your own personal journey then i am glad that i was able to help you somehow. If we start to observe the behavior of some individuals here, notice that the hate started ever since i began to explore higher end offerings (Gryphon, Alexia 2, Nordost Odin, DCS, etc, etc). It never happened while i reviewed more "affordable" equipment. I personally feel like i am entitled to review whatever my financial situation allows me to have. I don’t feel that i need to follow someone else’s protocol because the title already implies what this is about. I don’t need to articulate it further. If you feel content with the more affordable lines and that has taken you to happiness then be happy that you don’t have to spend the money i have spent. I applaud you for putting together the perfect system FOR YOU for less money. Kudos to you! With that out of the way, I don’t appreciate the bashing, constant punches, criticism (unless it is really REALLY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM). I do, however, appreciate advise when given appropriately. i do not accept "orders" because i left the military many years ago and quite frankly nobody here can order me to do anything i don’t want to do because (and again i don’t want to sound harsh) it is MY MONEY. How would you all feel if you lived all by yourself, you pay all your bills, mortgage, etc and a stranger from the streets who you have never ever seen before comes into your home and tells you how to decorate your home? Your first reaction would be " who the F--- are you to tell me how to decorate MY HOUSE?" Granted, this is a public forum and i understand it is different, but you all get what i am trying to say. I sent 2 private messages over the last 24 hours to 2 people with whom i had no beef with, but who suddenly came on here and began to say things that really took me by surprise. Long story short, is that i need to start doing? Do i have to call you out privately? It is totally out of my character to be an a$$hole and i demonstrated this HERE for a LOOOOONG time when i did not confront ANYONE EVER, and MANY OF YOU messaged me to tell me "hey Jay don’t take that bs man..say something to those who attack you etc, etc." Well, a man reaches his limit and i am there now. I will plaster it here as smoothly as possible: IF YOU FIND ZERO VALUE IN MY TRIALS AND JOURNEY THEN STAY OFF THE THREAD. I DO NOT NEED YOUR CRITICISM AND CONSTANT BS. IF YOU ARE MAD BECAUSE YOU ARE IRRELEVANT TO ANYONE AT ALL AND I MANAGED TO CREATE THE LONGEST RUNNING THREAD EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THIS WEBSITE AND NOW I AM WORKING ON GROWING MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL THEN BE SALTY WITH SOMEONE ELSE. -THE END |
Last night’s video was the Magnepan 20.7s with Gryphon Mephisto. There were many things that i liked about it:
What i did not like?
That said, the space that the 20.7 needs to create the incredible the tall,wide & deep presentation of the Alexia 2 will be far greater. Look, it is a big speaker and there is no way around it. You must have the space to let them breathe and transport you into the music and this can complicate things for those of you without a dedicated room or enough space in your living rooms. However, i want to remind you all, i STILL BELIEVE the Magnepan 20.7 is crazy good for the money. It does things that NO OTHER SPEAKER that i have owned can do and they are A TON OF FUN. Can they replace my Alexia 2s? absolutely not, but if i were in a position where i needed to downsize, financial issues, etc and needed to buy something cheaper, i would probably get the 20.7 and use subwoofers with it. I do not believe there is a speaker that can compete with it for the money. This is like the "luxman" of speakers when it comes to bang for the money. As far as aesthetics, i know, i know, it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and neither is Vivid Audio for some of you or even Wilson Audio. You are not going to make an interior designer happy with the 20.7s in your room, but if you can open your minds and overlook the aesthetics, you won’t be disappointed. If you haven’t checked out the video, please visit my youtube channel: Jay’s Audio Lab My next video will either be the Magnepan Again WITHOUT the Merrill Preamp and just go Dac direct into the Mephisto while keeping the rest the same OR the Martin Logan 13a will make their first appearance. Stay tuned for more. In addition to that, in case you are all wondering, i am still waiting on the Critical Mass stand for my Gryphon Mephisto (they said 3-4 weeks to build it), Gryphon Pandora preamp will hopefully be here by the end of this month and i have purchased 3 more Audioquest Dragon HC powercords to round out my system. |
Hi I haven’t decided yet on my Odin 1 speaker cables. I don’t know if I will go gryphon speaker cables because the Odin is still an Excellent cable. I have another speaker cable in mind that I want to try but I haven’t pulled the trigger. The last video with the magnepan was with the odin 1 speaker cables. I’ll need to try the gryphon speaker cables with the logans and magnepan |
@thezaks. I think what you are seeing is that some people here are tired of some other individuals who speculate. Keeping a AUDIO ONLY thread alive for this long isn't easy. There's a lot that needs to be done and tons of criticism plus opinion which is fine because this is a public forum. I don't want to make each page constantly about arguments or battles. I'm staying as focused as I can so I can continue to roll forward with this journey. Thanks for your observations. |
That is the plan :) Give me some time and more speakers will be arriving. Maybe i do the first Magico M series shootout versus my Alexia 2? hmmm... This has NEVER EVER been done.. A Magico M series in the same room with Wilson Alexia 2? I want to do what most people only dream of hearing even if it means they do it through a computer. IF, AND A BIG IF, if i can pull that off and have a Magico M series here and compare to my Alexia 2, i think i would have a tremendous amount of people biting their lips... :) You never know... never know.. |
@kren.. So doing a blindfolded shootout between the Magnepan 20.7 and the 13a Martin Logan won’t really work because it would be easy to know which speaker is which even if i dont show the speakers on the video; All you gotta do is listen for the one with full bass and that is the Logan. There is no getting around that. @tjassoc Alexia 1 vs Alexia 2 differences that i heard in my room:
hope this helps? |
@kren. i know you like the Colosseum :) . It is cool and i know you are not here to try to change anyone. We are all grown men, we like what we like. I love having the opportunity to do this and to be able to show differences between amps, speakers, preamps. This is also valuable for many of you and i am sure you guys have some of "Jay’s OCD" deep inside :) I am trying to "slow down" a little more with equipment changes and trying to pay a little more attention to things. i am not there YET with fuses, wrapping heat-sinks with aluminum foil, etc. I would love to do it all, but time is of the essence and i think showing the differences in equipment at a high level is more valuable for many of you. I am not saying doing the smaller tweaks is not important. I actually now believe in stands when before i was not quite 100% sure of it so as you can see i am slowly changing my "old ways". I am hungrier than ever to learn more and compare more here, IN MY HOME and as soon as this pandemic is over, i will make a huge effort to go to shows more often and hopefully meet and greet many more of you. Just don’t ask me the raw truth about certain things because i don’t want to make you upset lol. I appreciate what you all do here day in day out while you are hiding at work to respond here, making your wife mad because you are posting on jay's thread and not listening to her (yes i have been there), but hopefully you all ARE NOT posting while driving! |
Ladies and Gentlemen, i had to get off my listening chair and post something. i don’t know if you all have watched the video from today where i showed the Drago HC power cables i ordered for my Mephisto. If you saw it, you know by now i was using some adapters to make them fit my Mephisto. Well, i just plugged in the right 15a dragon powercords you all saw on the video without using those adapters and i am damn near about to do backflips. I can NOT BELIEVE the way my Mephisto woke up. You all remember the Colosseum? You all know i was using a dragon powercord right? Well, i am right now listening to the same exact set up you all heard recently of the dac into the amp and now with these cables WITHOUT those adapters, OMG!!!. I have to announce it HERE FIRST, and for you all, YES, I AM ABOUT TO SAY IT HERE, The death of the Odin 1 powercord has arrived. The dragon ate it completely and swallowed it whole. I am here, announcing it, i have found the powercord cable that kills Odin 1 on ANY POWER AMP PERIOD. Lights out, Odin 1 pcs will no longer meet my future power amps. RIP Odin 1 Powercords |
Guys- I get the back and forth going on now. That said, this horse has been beaten to death with the same stick. I don't think anyone will remedy anything with how we have been doing this. Yes we know viber writes long, drawn out messages about what he thinks is purity or his personal flavor and others disagree with him. He has been told to post but to hold off from writing chapters as well as giving his views on how something should sound when he hasn't owned it. I don't question what he does for a living and won't get involved in that. I do , however, think it is important how you, viber, word things. There are ways of saying things without sounding like you're barking orders or imposing. When I came out of the military I had a hard time coping with the civilian life because I used to always say " you need to do this or that " and that came off the wrong way especially when you are talking to your boss. I had to learn how to rewrite things and still deliver the message. Bottom line, nobody can come here and tell you what to do (me , you or anyone else) but because we are behind a computer we tend to read and forget about what gets lost. You don't know how others interpret what you are trying to say. Viber, going forward, could you try to work on this ? You are free to post because yes this is a public forum and we don't own it but it is important that you read your posts multiple times before you post them. This might eliminate a lot of the friction that takes place between us all. Thanks. |
@kren. That’s a possibility to address those questions. I would love to address them via an actual shootout but it’s tough to do. I’ll plain why: If I use stock power cords on the dac and good speaker cables then we can hear the impact of the speaker cables since stock Powercords won’t be really doing any magic. But, how do I show the effect of the speaker cables when there is no such thing as "stock"speaker cables?? Most or actually all my speaker cables are far from average. It’s tough to show on video for me the improvement a speaker cables makes because I own Speaker cables that are good but present things differently. I have a video releasing today at 10am ET where you will hear the magnepan sound totally and I mean totally different than on my previous videos. This will serve you to understand how much IMPACT speaker cables have on the presentation. Lastly, maybe what I could do is simply showcase the amount of change that one cable does over the other on the presentation rather than saying x cable bests y cable. For this particular purpose, I might be able to just do a video and do cable swaps so you can all hear where the biggest change occured in sound when I swap a power cord or a speaker cable. Check out the video at 10am ET today. You get to see a sneak peek at my projector and the surround sound system in action too. Wanted to do it a little different :) |
Gryphon cables add that relaxed feeling. You are the first person to spot that. Why do you think I bought the Gryphon xlr within 24 hours after I heard them here in my room and sold the VALHALLA 2? It was too much energy with gryphon. Finally someone understands WHY I went with gryphon cables. :) Systems matching....that’s what i have been working on ever since I got the mephisto. This is the SAME EXACT THING that someone else who just bought a mephisto is working on after watching me do it. He didn’t know why it wasn’t playing nice with his sasha Daw. Patience ... Nothing is plug and play with some brands and the mephisto is far from a plug and play Amplifier. This is why I don’t think it should be purchased by anyone who has zero understanding of what they are getting themselves into. I also have said this on my videos but I don’t think people really hear what I say because they skip a lot of the video. Anyhow, today’s video you got to hear the magnepan with gryphon speaker cables. I used the same songs so you all can compare how things change by switching speaker cables on the last two videos. https://youtu.be/8nwoWwU_OXE You all should take the time to read the comments on my YouTube videos. This way you get a general understanding of what the general audience is feeling each step of the way. |
Trade offs guys... NO SPEAKER IS PERFECT. If anyone is selling you this BS then they are LYING to your face. I don’t care what manufacturer it is, all speakers have a trade off. Wilson has an ability to sound huge and with incredible resolution. Right now, i still prefer the Wilson alexia 2 over my magnepan. Why do you ask? here are a few reasons off the top of my head:
Magnepan has the upper hand with instruments. Songs such as "Chan Chan" from Buena Vista Social Club sounds more impressive with the Magnepan and a tad more organic, but again this is not the same scenario with other genres. So, let’s say there are 100 genres of music (hypothetical), the Magnepan will sound amazing with 30 genres and wilson alexia with the other 70 genres. Holistically speaking, the Alexia 2 will be the better speaker with more music types, BUT the Magnepan DOES beat the Alexia with some genres. I already recorded the first video of the 13a without the room correction being applied. I want you all to hear what this speakers sounds like without room correction applied and then on a separate video i will do the room correction and let you hear the "after" room correction presentation. |
@chayro thank you for the question above. I appreciate your sound, educated comments. On a different note, today i have the Martin Logan video dropping at 3pm Eastern time. I simply CAN NOT WAIT to hear the reaction from many of you lol.... i can already hear the back and forth that is about to begin once you all hear the logan.... Magnepan owners, brace yourselves because i suspect there will be strong opinions coming from the Logan camp. |
Ok so i am clear on Viber’s thoughts of the Martin Logan 13a based on the video i posted. That said, what does everyone else think about the initial presentation of the 13a? i am curious as to what you all heard? i want to see how similar your thoughts might or might not be to mine? Let me get you all’s feedback! |
Viber, i have the speakers set up properly. Also, you dont point the panel directly at you with electrostatics like you do with Maggies. Who told you to do this??? you use a flashlight to get them toed in properly. Right now, they are almost 4 feet away from the side walls and nearly 8 feet away from the wall behind them. They are FAR AWAY from any wall. Anyhow, this is the first round, and this is why i am now making sure i do captions stating WHAT I HAVE NOT DONE such as the room correction. Lastly, are you BY ANY CHANCE, reading the youtube comments that others leave behind? Not for nothing, but you are preeeeeetttyyy much the only person who has been THIS CRITICAL/HARSH of them which makes me question WHAT IN THE WORLD are you listening to in your home? The vast majority of the comments on YOUTUBE have been positive so i am now starting to wonder what are you using to listen to these videos.... |
yawn.... i won't get started here once again.... i am having a kick @ss time reading the non-sense, but cool i gotta worry about ME and those who i am helping along the way. I will not cross the line with abrasiveness anymore, but i will report personal insults. I will let the admins do what they are paid to do instead of getting me all worked up. Let me focus on the things that matter and i will not argue anymore. I am done with the fighting and the immaturity. I got more important things to do and i will leave it at that. Haters will always coexist near anyone who is trying to do better in life. FACT. |
