2. amps-preamps
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My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!

So I have been in a long journey looking to find the best amplifiers for my martin logan montis. As you know, the match between an amplifier and speakers has to be a good "marriage" and needs to be blend exquisitely. Right now, I think I might have found the best sounding amplifier for martin logan. I have gone through approximately 34-36 amplifiers in the past 12 months. Some of these are:

Bryston ST, SST, SST2 series
NAD M25
PARASOUND HALO
PARASOUND CLASSIC
KRELL TAS
KRELL KAV 500
KRELL CHORUS
ROTEL RMB 1095
CLASSE CT 5300
CLASSE CA 2200
CLASSE CA 5200
MCINTOSH MC 205
CARY AUDIO CINEMA 7
OUTLAW AUDIO 755
LEXICON RX7
PASS LABS XA 30.8
BUTLER AUDIO 5150
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005

With all that said, the amplifiers I mentioned above are the ones that in my opinion are worth mentioning. To make a long story short, there is NO 5 CHANNEL POWER AMP that sounds as good as a 3ch and 2ch amplifier combination. i have done both experiments and the truth is that YOU DO lose details and more channel separation,etc when you select a 5 channel power amplifier of any manufacturer.
My recollection of what each amp sounded like is as follows:

ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005 (great power and amazing soundstage. Very low noise floor, BUT this amplifiers NEEDS TO BE cranked up in order to fully enjoy it. If you like listening at low volume levels or somewhat moderate, you are wasting your time here. This amp won’t sound any different than many other brands out there at this volume. The bass is great, good highs although they are a bit bright for my taste)

NAD M25 (very smooth, powerful, but somewhat thin sounding as far as bass goes)
Bryston sst2(detailed, good soundstage, good power, but can be a little forward with certain speakers which could make them ear fatiguing at loud volumes)

Krell (fast sounding, nice bass attack, nice highs, but some detail does get lost with certain speakers)

rotel (good amp for the money, but too bright in my opinion)

cary audio (good sound overall, very musical, but it didn’t have enough oomph)

parasound halo (good detail, great bass, but it still holds back some background detail that i can hear in others)

lexicon (very laid back and smooth. huge power, but if you like more detail or crisper highs, this amp will disappoint you)

McIntosh mc205 (probably the worst multichannel amp given its price point. it was too thin sounding, had detail but lacked bass.

butler audio (good amplifier. very warm and smooth sweet sounding. i think for the money, this is a better amp than the parasound a51)

pass labs (very VERY musical with excellent bass control. You can listen to this for hours and hours without getting ear fatigue. however, it DOES NOT do well in home theater applications if all you have is a 2 channel set up for movies. The midrange gets somewhat "muddy" or very weak sounding that you find yourself trying to turn it up.

classe audio (best amplifier for multi channel applications. i simply COULDNT FIND a better multi channel amplifier PERIOD. IT has amazing smoothness, amazing power and good bass control although i would say krell has much better bass control)

Update: The reviews above were done in January 2015. Below is my newest update as of October 2016:



PS AUDIO BHK 300 MONOBLOCKS: Amazing amps. Tons of detail and really amazing midrange. the bass is amazing too, but the one thing i will say is that those of you with speakers efficiency of 87db and below you will not have all the "loudness" that you may want from time to time. These amps go into protection mode when using a speaker such as the Salon, but only at very loud levels. Maybe 97db and above. If you don’t listen to extreme crazy levels, these amps will please you in every way.

Plinius Odeon 7 channel amp: This is THE BEST multichannel amp i have ever owned. Far , but FAR SUPERIOR to any other multichannel amp i have owned. In my opinion it destroyed all of the multichannel amps i mentioned above and below. The Odeon is an amp that is in a different tier group and it is in a league of its own. Amazing bass, treble and it made my center channel sound more articulate than ever before. The voices where never scrambled with the action scenes. It just separated everything very nicely.

Theta Dreadnaught D: Good detailed amp. Looks very elegant, has a pleasant sound, but i found it a tad too bright for my taste. I thought it was also somewhat "thin" sounding lacking body to the music. could be that it is because it is class d?

Krell Duo 300: Good amp. Nice and detailed with enough power to handle most speakers out there. I found that it does have a very nice "3d" sound through my electrostatics. Nothing to fault here on this amp.
Mark Levinson 532H: Great 2 channel amp. Lots of detail, amazing midrange which is what Mark Levinson is known for. It sounds very holographic and will please those of you looking for more detail and a better midrange. As far as bass, it is there, but it is not going to give you the slam of a pass labs 350.5 or JC1s for example. It is great for those that appreciate classical music, instrumental, etc, but not those of you who love tons of deep bass.

 It is articulate sounding too
Krell 7200: Plenty of detail and enough power for most people. i found that my rear speakers contained more information after installed this amp. One thing that i hated is that you must use xlr cables with this amp or else you lose most of its sound performance when using RCA’s.

Krell 402e: Great amp. Very powerful and will handle any speaker you wish. Power is incredible and with great detail. That said, i didn’t get all the bass that most reviewers mentioned. I thought it was "ok" in regards to bass. It was there, but it didn’t slam me to my listening chair.

Bryston 4B3: Good amp with a complete sound. I think this amp is more laid back than the SST2 version. I think those of you who found the SST2 version of this amp a little too forward with your speakers will definitely benefit from this amp’s warmth. Bryston has gone towards the "warm" side in my opinion with their new SST3 series. As always, they are built like tanks. I wouldn’t call this amp tube-like, but rather closer to what the classe audio delta 2 series sound like which is on the warm side of things.

Parasound JC1s: Good powerful amps. Amazing low end punch (far superior bass than the 402e). This amp is the amp that i consider complete from top to bottom in regards to sound. Nothing is lacking other than perhaps a nicer chassis. Parasound needs to rework their external appearance when they introduce new amps. This amp would sell much more if it had a revised external appearance because the sound is a great bang for the money. It made my 800 Nautilus scream and slam. Again, amazing low end punch.

Simaudio W7: Good detailed amp. This amp reminds me a lot of the Mark Levinson 532h. Great detail and very articulate. I think this amp will go well with bookshelves that are ported in order to compensate for what it lacks when it comes to the bass. That doesn’t mean it has no bass, but when it is no Parasound JC1 either.
Pass labs 350.5: Wow, where do i begin? maybe my first time around with the xa30.8 wasn’t as special as it was with this monster 350.5. It is just SPECTACULAR sounding with my electrostatics. The bass was THE BEST BASS i have ever heard from ANY amp period. The only amp that comes close would be the jC1s. It made me check my settings to make sure the bass was not boosted and kept making my jaw drop each time i heard it. It totally destroyed the krell 402e in every regard. The krell sounded too "flat" when compared to this amp. This amp had amazing mirange with great detail up top. In my opinion, this amp is the best bang for the money. i loved this amp so much that i ended up buying the amp that follows below.

Pass labs 250.8: What can i say here. This is THE BEST STEREO AMP i have ever heard. This amp destroys all the amps i have listed above today to include the pass labs 350.5. It is a refined 350.5 amp. It has more 3d sound which is something the 350.5 lacked. It has a level of detail that i really have never experienced before and the bass was amazing as well. I really thought it was the most complete power amplifier i have ever heard HANDS DOWN. To me, this is a benchmark of an amplifier. This is the amp that others should be judged by. NOTHING is lacking and right now it is the #1 amplifier that i have ever owned.

My current amps are Mcintosh MC601s: i decided to give these 601s a try and they don’t disappoint. They have great detail, HUGE soundstage, MASSIVE power and great midrange/highs. The bass is great, but it is no pass labs 250.8 or 350.5. As far as looks, these are the best looking amps i have ever owned. No contest there. i gotta be honest with you all, i never bought mcintosh monos before because i wasn’t really "wowed" by the mc452, but it could have been also because at that time i was using a processor as a preamp which i no longer do. Today, i own the Mcintosh C1100 2 chassis tube preamp which sounds unbelievable. All the amps i just described above have been amps that i auditioned with the C1100 as a preamp. The MC601s sound great without a doubt, but i will say that if you are looking for THE BEST sound for the money, these would not be it. However, Mcintosh remains UNMATCHED when it comes to looks and also resale value. Every other amp above depreciates much faster than Mcintosh.

That said, my future purchase (when i can find a steal of a deal) will be the Pass labs 350.8. I am tempted to make a preliminary statement which is that i feel this amp could be THE BEST stereo amp under 30k dollars. Again, i will be able to say more and confirm once i own it. I hope this update can help you all in your buying decisions!


128x128jays_audio_lab

Showing 13 responses by mitch2

mitch2
3,697 posts
 
Thank you for trying those many amps and for sharing your impressions.
I just finished an amp search on a much smaller scale, including an NC1200 amp like several here have asked about.
I have not tried the Pass amps you like so much but I do agree with NP's thoughts on the importance of a strong power supply so I am not surprised they sound so good.
The amps I ultimately selected to live with, Clayton M300 Class A monos, have a tremendous power supply, double their power into 4 ohms and sound tonally rich and powerful throughout the entire frequency range.  They may not do well on the resale market, but it doesn't matter to me because I will not be selling them.  I would however like to hear the X350.8 stereo and X600.8 mono amps.

mitch2
3,697 posts
 
or any of the other amps that are marketed as subwoofer amps?
Thanks!
You might look at Hypex that make plate amplifiers.
https://www.hypex.nl/plate-amplifiers/
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
I was never fully invested in the Acoustic Imagery Atsah mono amplifiers I owned for over a year.  Like Theta's Prometheus, the Atsahs use the Ncore NC1200 amplifier modules.  However, the Theta uses a linear power supply while the Atsahs use the Hypex Ncore SMPS, like most other NC1200 amplifiers, such as Mola Mola Kalugas and Merrill Veritas.  Many aspects of the sound were quite good when taken on an individual basis (i.e., the bass was great, they were quiet, tonal density was nice) but I always felt there was something missing from the gestalt.  In my system, this had nothing to do with break-in or warm-up.  I have heard this characteristic described in a variety of  ways but, to me, the reviewer from Mono and Stereo comes as close as any in his review of the Mola Mola Kaluga.
https://www.monoandstereo.com/2015/08/mola-mola-makua-and-kaluga-review.html
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
@whitecamaross  
Anyhow, I’ve said Parasound multiple times and now I might try a pair of jc5s for fun and see what these do that the old jc1s didn’t do.
Just curious what the JC1's did or didn't do for you, sound-wise.  If you didn't like the JC1's then I doubt you will like the newer model since both are JFET/MOSFET amps with the older model spec'ing out in both current delivery, doubling power into 4 ohms, and Class A output.
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
Correction: My JC1 vs. JC5 post below should have read,

"with the older model spec'ing out lower in current delivery, power into 4 ohms, and Class A output."
Otherwise, the two amps seem similar but from a specification basis, it appears the newer JC5 stereo amp is a watered down version of the JC1 mono amps.....maybe to offer "similar" performance at a lower price point and attract more buyers?  I didn't see any indication the JC5s could be used as monoblocks.
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
The first amplifiers I have seen that truly motivated me to think beyond my Clayton Class A amps.  Try these and report back :-)

https://www.blockaudio.com/mono-block/

https://soundrebels.com/block-audio-line-power-block-mono-blocks-english-ver/

mitch2
3,697 posts
 
Aw man.....you are really going to try the Block Audio amps!  I would love to hear those.  They sure look like cost was no object in the design or construction.  Enjoy your audition.
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
WC, glad to hear your first impressions of the Block Audio amps are positive.  I look forward to hearing more and will be curious as to whether they will ever leave your room.
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
WC, thanks for the Block Audio update.....keep it coming.  Also, thanks for staying away from the BS that has somehow found its way to this thread.  I can't understand why some choose to argue about something as subjective as what somebody else hears in their own system - a pointless rabbit hole.
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
I owned Acoustic Imagery Atsahs for over a year and I was hoping they would be my last amps based on the Ncore hype at the time.   Didn't turn out that way.  I have continued to wonder whether a different implementation of the NC1200 would provide different results and have looked at David Reich's Prometheus and more recently considered purchasing a pair of Mola Mola Kalugas but I keep coming back to the "something is missing" thing that I heard, or didn't hear.   I used to wonder if I was the only one who thought something was missing with Ncore compared to conventional Class A or AB until I read the Mono and Stereo review of the Kaluga, which closely nailed  what I was hearing;
"The familiar music didn`t sound much familiar through the MOLA MOLAs; in the midrange the voices did not posses enough dose of “human touch” to sound real. All notes were there but the illusion of musicians standing in front of me wasn`t convincing at all. The music didn`t sound inviting and involving, it was just… there.  The emotional content was missing and the tonal colours were somewhat bleached. For lovers of analog reproduction and concert goers the sound could also be quite fatiguing and plain boring." 
The Audiodrom review goes a bit further in attempting to explain why some perceive something missing, including;
"Due to no overhang and smear it sounds different from what we are used to. Thus it actually may sound ‘less developed’ to some ears. The audiophile desire to hear the things ‘as they are recorded’ conflicts with the audiophile desire to hear the things ‘as I like them to hear’. Sorry guys, the Mola Mola Kaluga is the former case."
and,
"the timbres sound different that we know them, though they are very accurate, yet they miss a bit more ‘aliveness and light’."
It would be interesting to hear whether the 925s Guido owns or the Kii speakers overcome this trait.
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
@ron17 
I think it’s time we all adapt a "thicker skin" approach.
I agree, after all.....its just a frickin stereo system.  
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
WC, I have been considering Pass amps and remembered reading how much you liked the Pass Labs 250.8 and 350.5 when you wrote your OP back in 2016.  
I am interested in the 260.8 monos but also maybe the larger 350.8 stereo, or 600.8 monos so 
I am curious whether you still feel the Pass Labs amps are competitive after auditioning so many other fine amplifiers?   I am also curious whether you have considered moving up the Pass chain, to something like the XS300 monos?
mitch2
3,697 posts
 
Hi Guido,

I have been considering trying some different amplifiers and the Rowland 535 amplifiers could make my list, but only if I were to use them in the mono version.  However, there is some pertinent information I could not find on the Rowland website or anywhere else, such as the bridged power into 4 ohms, and the input impedance when the amplifiers are bridged.   I would really like to confirm the two-channel performance is not compromised in some way (including driving lower impedance loads) when the amplifiers are bridged.

It appears these are Class D amplifiers with a SMPS.  The amplifier module appears to be the same Pascal S-PRO2 as used in the previous model 525.  However, there are differences between the older 525 and newer 535, such as the large bank of capacitors and the large silver EMI filter in the 535.  I would have to know more about the bridged performance before considering a pair....I did note the Pascal amp module is designed to handle 1 to 4 channels.


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