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!
grey9hound, The double array will naturally go down to about 300 Hz, and the single array to about 600 Hz. It is all about total tweeter diaphragm area. For a given SPL, the double array has half the excursion of the single array. At 300 Hz double the excursion is required than at 600 Hz, so this is a crude explanation of the fact that the double array can extend down to half the freq. This is why the DI needs a conventional larger midrange driver from 600 down to 300. Still better than the Moab, the Encore has a relatively small driver to cover the mid bass to lower midrange, which probably results in greater transient purity than the large woofers in the Moab for this range. My fantasy is the Encore with all Be tweeters, but that gets into $15-16K. The Encore size is less imposing than the Moab.
Hello Everybody, Great post with so much valuable information on many popular/different brand of amplifiers...Do we have any Bricasti amplifier users here and have their feedback on this brand? Thanks.
Video is being uploaded. It should be live in about 30 min. PLEASE NOTE: The audioquest dragon speaker cables aren't broken in. (30 hours of playtime).
@grey9hound, To avoid hijacking Jay's thread, see my post from 10:40AM today, I consider the $1500 upgrade to Moabs from DIs to be the best choice to be made if Moabs fit your room. If you need more, PM me, I had both at the same time.
@klh007 What can you say about sound differences .. Moab vs Double Impact ? I think the reason that the Moabs cover into the 300 hz range is because they do not have a Midrange driver, unlike the Double Impact. When I look at the Moab, I have concerns about mid-bass. . When you look at the drivers in the Moab , it just seems like they might be lacking in certain freq range around mid-bass 80hz-200hz. That may not at all be the case, and I have no idea which drivers the 12s are but I would like to see the freq response. on them .
@viber6, I had DIs with standard $300 upgrade in house along with the Moabs, IMHO it's the best $1500 you can spend if your room can handle the Moab's size. I was hoping to hear an all Be Moab at AXPONA, RMAF, or CAF but no shows due to Covid-19. I also want to hear the $600 Be upgrade for just the 2 true tweeters, but that is on hold as well during this pandemic. I wonder if the Be tweeter upsets the coherence or narrows music selection because of its greater resolution and extension? The Be upgrade is becoming more popular so I would encourage Tekton owners with the Be tweeters to post their impressions. I'm anxiously awaiting Jay's preamp comparisons between the Pandora and "Mystery" preamp, hopefully the Christine will hang around long enough to be included in the shootouts.
Tonight’s video will be the return of the Alexia 2 with audioquest Dragon Powercords and speaker cables. This will be highly HIGHLY educational for many. You get to hear the best pc and speaker cable audioquest builds today. Keep in mind, it still needs to break in more so use it as a preliminary presentation. Beryllium tweeters will soon make a return in my room. I’d say in about 14 days, you will see one special SPECIAL speaker. Will it best my Neolith? We shall find out. The only hint I'll give is that it weighs nearly as much as the Neoliths. Nothing else.
Beryllium tweeters are very hard to get right. This is why so many very respected brands prefer soft domes. Yes, technically Be is better, but it always comes with a certain hotness that makes you want to drop the volume...Especially if you like to listen at high level, strings, saxophones. comes in without any glare...you can seriously crank it with those soft domes designs.( Dynaudio, ScanSpeak, etc.)
There isn’t a perfect tweeter out there, just preferences. But imho the best tweeter made is the top mounted one from B&W. Each time I hear a pair of those, I find the highs to be perfectly detailed, thick and very open ( large soundstage). Although what I don’t like from their speakers is the wooven material made midrange drivers. Ok they distort less, but you loose some dynamics, slam and immediacy of a stiffest product.
Right, Dave--there are so many options of using 1 or more Be tweeters. I envy the car mechanic who can try all sorts of things, and extend the life of his own car at little cost, just parts. These guys can get 500,000 miles with good maintenance.
Good point viber6. Would Be tweeters be worth paying an addition 200% more of the original speaker price? Also, would the Be tweeters be too much of a good thing? I guess the other option is to only change the one center tweeter on each speaker, which would be a lot less money.
I am also looking forward to WC’s video on the CM stand, as well as the new speaker cables, etc.
klh007, Interesting, thanks. Which single array models did you hear? Now if you could do the Be vs stock tweeter comparison, that would be a captivating read. Moabs with the stock tweeters are certainly the value leader at $4.5K, but how will they rate with all Be tweeters at $14K? Who knows, maybe someone would prefer the stock tweeters to the Be ones.
@viber6, The Tekton speakers with double arrays, 2- 7 tweeter circles with a single tweeter in between acting as an MTM design handle everything from just below 300Hz on up with the same driver which makes for outstanding coherency and stunning vocal clarity and transparency. The single array has tweeters handling frequencies from about 600Hz up, still lower than most midrange drivers are crossed over at, and doesn't have quite the top to bottom coherency or clarity compared to their double arrays, but it's close. The Moabs are the value leader having the dual arrays and are truly full-range displaying powerful bass which extends down to 20Hz, at least in my room they did.
WC, I second what thezaks said. Also, there are different types of audio consultants. Some advise on acoustics, home installations and the like. Others advise on preamps, amps, sources, cables in a given room. I respect them all--I consider them all to be like subspecialists. My knowledge of ophthalmology or dermatology is rudimentary, and I respect those specialists.
I eagerly await your evaluation of the Critical Mass stands. There are different philosophies of isolation and vibration control, and their effects on sonic characteristics. Heavy mass has always been considered the proper way, but in the 1970's Linn made waves by saying the opposite. They claimed their lightweight turntable sounded better on a light rack rather than a heavy rack. I had been in the heavy mass camp, so my first serious turntable was a flagship Denon direct drive turntable which was heavy. I then transferred my cartridge from the Denon table/arm system to the original belt drive Linn Sondek LP12 table/arm system. I was astounded at how much more airy and open the Linn sounded compared to the Denon. Of course, there are other factors that may have accounted for the different sounds, like arm/cartridge compatibility, etc. I didn't have a chance to A/B either the Denon or Linn system with different support furniture.
Then there was the question of direct drive vs belt drive, which I never satisfactorily answered for myself. But then I took my same arm/cartridge combo, transferred from the Linn turntable to the SOTA Sapphire (that's the brand name) turntable, also a belt drive design but with different materials and higher mass. The SOTA Sapphire was dead and muffled compared to the Linn.
If you can do the grueling lifting to A/B the 2 stands--Critical Mass and Artesania, that would be fascinating. Since the Artesania can't support the Mephisto, you could use another amp for this comparison. But this activity of A/B'ing stands probably isn't worth the hassle, since the Mephisto is in a class by itself and it's either worth using the Critical Mass stand or not. There are always surprises in audio!
Very nice video this evening WC. Congrats on your journey and all of your experiences with the gear that you've owned. I truly admire your ethics, as supported by what you mentioned in the video. You deserve the Consulting position you are in now.
klh007, Maybe you can comment on my speculations about different Tekton models you have heard. I pointed out theoretical advantages of the single array, and other theoretical advantages of the double array. Are my theories correct from practical listening? If you have some closeness with Eric Alexander, perhaps he can send you models which have the Be tweeters. The last time you posted here, you had not heard the Be tweeter used in any model.
My reading of your comments suggests that you still own the Moab because you thoroughly enjoy it. In a way, you are in a similar position as Jay because you are probably offered opportunities to audition and review many great products. You can't own everything you like, for financial reasons and space limitations.
kren0006, I can assure you that my competence and understanding of sound in both live music and audio reproduction of it is at least as good as my competence in my medical career. You thanked me for a great post after I advised WC about his headaches and such. I don't expect you to thank me for audio information about theory and real world results, although thanks is what I really deserve. As a minimum, show the same respect that you gave me when you said my medical post was great.
Since you are back to calling what a lot of what I have to say, "drivel" you really don't deserve any further attention from me. Since I am trying to be helpful in medical and audio realms, and no longer apparently dictating to people what they should do, I don't deserve the dump job from you. If any patient used the word "drivel" to me, I would dismiss him from my practice. I will, however, answer the valid points thezaks raised about "thinness" when I have time.
Once again, you have lit the match of fiery negativity on this board. This is surprising after people appreciated my recent posts. Even shannere, who normally is critical of me, posed a reasonable question if I would like any gear that WC has owned. Because he showed genuine respect and interest, I was delighted to give him a detailed and sincere answer.
Jay, I didn't sell the Moabs as they were in my home for a formal review for AV Showrooms. Two close friends vied for the Moabs and they were purchased locally, sale done through Tekton w/o my involvement. Now the other friend who didn't act fast enough is now asking whether he should order Moabs, Encores, or Ulfberts.
@klh007 Thank you for the above. Did you sell your tektons? If so, why ? I personally sell everything. I’ve been vocal about it on my videos and that’s because I can’t afford to pay a Costco-sized warehouse to store all the equipment i go through nor do I have unlimited cash.
Here is a quote from Jay; "A lot of talk about tekton speakers here but why don’t I see a massive amount of owners posting here" ? Jay I don't see readers interested in Wilson Alexia IIs and Mephistos as your demographic? Even kren mentions when Viber goes on about Tekton he just ignores it. Tekton's brand is built on superb value and sonics in the top echelon without the big price tag. The drawbacks are clear, a giant box, heavy, no veneer only auto colors, direct sale only. The rewards are many as have been described including very sensitive/easy to drive, top to bottom coherent, very transparent/detailed yet not bright or etched, truly full range with deep bass extension coupled with adept articulation, dynamically alive and exciting, wide and deep staging with accurate imaging, and affordable. Here is a link to my review of Moabs after enjoying them for 9 months; https://www.avshowrooms.com/tekton-moab-loudspeakers.html The Wilsons I've heard at shows, especially since Daryl took over voicing them, are sensational sounding albeit in another price spectrum as Tekton. I'm really looking forward to your upcoming preamp shootouts, and I want to know the identity of the "unknown" very heavy entry. Good choice keeping the Maggies, bass flavor of an amp will be more easily recognized on the 20.7s than 13a. Hope you stumble onto a great deal on Rockports, they seem to have strengths in your wheelhouse.
Thanks kren0006 and jetter for your last two posts. I don't have a problem with disagreement or pointing things out and having some back/forth on that - I just have issue with the manner in which it is done. Making friendly intelligent counter arguments is one thing, but kren0006's approach has been another. Dave
thezaks, I have already read your post to krenooo6 and I respectfully think its basic premise is incorrect, whereas krenooo6’s opinions on the subject are 100% aligned with my own.
I’ll let my responses speak for themselves. I won’t try to change your mind Dave, or anyone elses.
Also, I have read the entire thread. This has been going on forever. It's mostly harmless, which is why most of the drivel goes unchallenged, but it is not new. Not saying that everything V posts is drivel, before Dave jumps to that conclusion that is nowhere written.
kren0006, viber6 was speaking of his own experiences - "I have also found...", "I believe...", "For me...", "in my direct connection system". It sounded worse to WC - yes! However, for viber6, he likes that thinness of sound. His analogy is trying to explain why he likes it the way he does. He's not trying to tell WC he's wrong, in fact, he mentions earlier in the post what he suspects was not sufficient for WC.
jetter, Since you agree with kren0006’s post, then I would also refer you to my previous reply/post to kren0006, which should help explain things for you. Dave
yes i feel the 20.7 is better for me at this time. Having my room to do as i wish helps me tremendously.
@thezaks:
Too much of anything is never good. If you go dac direct, OFTEN TIMES you get more detail but with added brightness and if you use a linestage then you will lose minute things and nuances , but you "cleanse" the digital feeling of the dac. Here is a perfect way of putting it: When you use a dac direct, think of it as washing your car and drying it. You are now able to clearly see the imperfections of the paint (slight scratches, dings, etc) and when adding the linestage you pretty much washed your car and then applied wax to the paint in order to make it shine better and hide some of these paint imperfections (in this case the digital feeling, the added brightness, the thinness, etc) THIS IS THE BEST analogy i can think of.
kren0006, You might have missed the part where viber6 mentions that the bodybuilder "maintains his strength", so the 70% of the previous amount does not apply (not sure where you got that anyway?). Nothing wrong with viber6 and theorizing based upon logic. I don’t believe viber6 is trying to speak for WC, as viber6 mentions "For me..." in hs post. I would love for this thread to keep going, and it would help if you stop picking on folks like vber6. There are more friendly ways to approach differences.
I understand what you mean by cutting the fat and looking better, and sometimes I’ve experienced that with audio where the fullness was not natural and needed to lose some of the fat.
However, I have also experienced a presentation where there was thinness and something was missing. In this case, it not only cut the fat, but also a portion of the muscle. In those cases, the bodybuilder with reduced muscle will most likely not win the competition, even if they have no fat.
Terrible analogy. WC just told you it sounded bad. So in your analogy the bodybuilder who lost fat also was only able to lift 70% of previous amount. More listening, less theory. WC isn't trying to speak for other listeners, and you shouldn't either.
WC, Right. I just added a few sentences to my last post, which is consistent with your findings. Actually, you just said that the direct connection thinned out the sound, not that it did nothing. But its big deficiency was that the volume and fullness were not sufficient for you. I have also found that going for direct connections of anything causes thinness, but I believe that thinness is associated with more accuracy, because the fuzzy quality of more full sound is lessened. In great electronics, the thinness is not drastic, but is fairly subtle. For me, I am willing to make the volume sacrifice in order to get maximum accuracy at low to moderately loud levels. Even in my direct connection system, often I find the sound blurry when the volume is too loud, so reducing it by 3 dB or so is often a lifesaver.
Excuse another perhaps flawed analogy, but the bodybuilder who loses some fat but maintains his strength will have better muscle definition and look more cut, and more likely win the competition.
The reason why (i did this test MANY TIMES with 2 separate sets of Constellation monos and their preamp) i think it is no good is because the sound diminishes, the volume is drastically lower and i felt it thinned out. Trust me, i was excited to see what it did, but it did nothing. Go back to one of my videos where i talked about it.
WC, I have stopped saying that anything is garbage, but now say that X is inferior to Y because of reasons A, B, C. X may be better than Y for other reasons D, E, F. Reviewers who do this are informative even if they have different priorities than I. It is clear that you like a fuller/more dynamic sound, so that may explain why you didn’t like the direct connection bypassing the input stage of the Constellation amp. The guy in the latest Merrill bulletin likes the 118 better than the Connie pair even with the direct connection, so he appreciates the greater accuracy of Merrill designs. However, another Connie owner may prefer the smoother, more euphonic Connie sound, and dislike the direct connection which goes for purity.
grey9hound and jetter, True. I can only go so far with my theories, and listening is the real test. I thought that since the single array has 1 out of 7 tweeters covering HF and the double array has 1 out of 15 tweeters covering HF, then the single array should be brighter. But maybe the output of each of the 14 midrange tweeters in the double array is halved (more precisely, reduced to 6/14 of the level) so that the midrange/HF balance is the same. A phone call to Eric Alexander the designer should answer that question. Most of the posts from owners describe the model they own without comparing models. Rarely, comparisons are made, but I have not seen models with single arrays compared with models with double arrays, for midrange/HF characteristics.
The imaging of midrange + HF music is probably smaller and more focused with the single array, because the vertical height of the single array is about 1 foot, and the height of the double array is over 2 feet, with the single HF tweeter in the middle of the double array. Some people like small focused imaging, and others like larger more diffuse imaging. For me, I would go for the single array on the Electron with Be tweeters for ultimate performance--what a deal for less than $6K. I like the smallest 4" mid bass drivers on the Electron because they are likely to have the highest speed and accuracy compared to the larger mid bass drivers of the Encore, Ulf and even Electron SE, and would have enough output for my needs. The advantage of the double array is that it goes down to 270 Hz, compared to maybe 400-500 Hz of the single array. The whole appeal of all Tekton designs is that a lot of the musical range is handled by the low mass tweeter arrays, which are more accurate than conventional larger midrange drivers. The fact that the whole freq range is said to be fast and coherent, shows the importance of accurate higher freq overtones of bass instruments. The conventional woofers in Tektons are not as fast as the tweeters, so overtone accuracy is important in overall realism of bass instruments.
Jay, I like your thinking process. The Maggie’s are the best speaker for the long run. I did mention it on your YouTube channel (Daniel Babeux). I could certainly live with the ML if space, like you mentioned, was an issue. They sure have nice controlled bass. Once you install your subs on the Maggie’s, you will cure what was lacking in the bass department VS the ML. I think these speakers are going to rock your socks off. They provide such a huge soundstage and cannot imagine how they will sound, with nice/fast subs like the 2 brands you indicated previously.
hello everyone, well i have done more thinking over the past few days in regards to which speaker to sell between the Martin Logan 13a & Magnepan 20.7. This decision was not easy for me because both speakers do things that the other does not. It also appears that on my channel the Martin Logan has more views than the Magnepan does which i guess goes to show that the Martin Logan following is a bigger one. That said, and i as i articulated earlier, i can not keep both speakers due to the limited space available (my room is 16x22) so at this time, and it pains me to do it, but i have made the decision to sell the 13a. Why? Here are a couple of reasons why i am keeping the 20.7:
it is the harder speaker to get hands on even on the used market
It is large and in charge, BUT i have the dedicated room for it so i believe if i am ever going to have the chance to play with this speaker it would be NOW that i have a dedicated room. If for some reason i don’t have a dedicated room some day, i might not be able to make it work or accommodate it.
I still want to do a few tweaks to it (fuses, maybe the mye stands, etc).
I am not 100% convinced i will do it, but the thought lingers in my head to bring a couple of JL audio subs or REL NO25s to see what can be achieved with this speaker.
Anyhow, there you have it. I will be listing my Martin Logan 13a later today. Stay tuned, i will be dropping a video later today about a few updates including a personal opinion on a particular subject matter.
Perhaps the single array models are brighter than the double array models, which may make certain bright recordings less enjoyable to you than the double array models would.
I am not sure why this would be true of the Tektons or where the idea comes from. Can anyone elaborate that have heard both the single 7 dome array vs the double 14 dome array ?
Terry London is a professional reviewer who is active here on the forum. His review, along with that of another reviewer, and both their ultimate purchase of the review samples is why I chose the Tekton Ulfers. The detail avaible, while not sounding harsh or bright, starts at the top, goes through the mids and all the way down to the 20hz level with superb layering. What sounds like a low bass sound, or thump, on many speakers, sounds like a bass guitar string being plucked, you can hear the fingers actually plucking the strings. Assuming a decent recording and decent, though dosnt have to be world class, supporting equipment. I haven’t had the chance yet to listen to them with that level of equipment, and can only imagine that it would get even better. I haven’t been able to compare them to my Wilson’s or BW 800s yet, but I’m thinking that the Tektons are likely to do very well, will be fun finding out for sure.
viber, I was thinking about purchasing the Double Impact, thank you for pointing out that
Perhaps the single array models are brighter than the double array models, which may make certain bright recordings less enjoyable to you than the double array models would.
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