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!
I threw them in the room in front of the dynaudio c4s. They are about 5 feet out into the room and I am about 9 feet away from them. They were 9 feet apart and slightly toed in. No spikes yet but I will be playing with the tilt once I have played with them. The bass is OUTSTANDING in my room. I had my wife listen right now and she thought I had subwoofers playing the entire time until I told her I didn't. Merrill audio 118s will be taking center stage on Saturday and that amp has far but FAR better bottom end than the cam600s I'm using now. The esoteric will also add more oomph as well as soundstage. I have also just ordered the new shunyata 6000s version 2 unit and will be installing audioquest outlets this weekend on my 20a outlets. There's more to come in terms of fine tuning things. However, if all i had was what i have right now, I would be totally happy too. Let me ask you, what's better on the evo than the sopra 3s? I have my own opinion.
Hello WC. I received the Scala Evo 2 weeks ago upgrading from Sopra 3. Definitely a big upgrade. i am curious your positioning. How far apart are they, how far are you and how much toe in? I'm still moving them around but now I'm 8.5 feet apart. 9.5 away and minimal toe in.
Hi, I listen to everything but classical music, funeral music, hotel lobby music. These were the main genres they played at axpona last year. I also remember hearing the focal grande evo and I selected it as the best speaker of the entire show. Why ? Because those focal reps had BALLS and played everything through those speakers. They didn’t shy away like other companies there. I totally loved that approach and that stuck in my head. I will also say that I personally select the focal scala evo as a superior speaker to the magico s5 mk2 and Wilson sasha series 2. I can’t compare to the sasha daw but i have a gut feeling that the Wilson daw is still a speaker hard to place and that relies on a good room to have accurate bass. I love everything about this focal and I can’t seem to find one bad thing thus far other than the fact that I am finding myself listening at louder volumes than normal because I want more and more of what they already do.
@whitecamaross I am curious, and you may have said it in one of the earlier 156 pages, but do you have some goto reference music you are using? I'm just trying to understand the types of music you like, as I suspect that affects which equipment you prefer. Those Focals are certainly wonderful. I've heard the bigger brother, the Stella Utopia EM Evo (So many variants), and was impressed for sure.
I am going to say something to you all: if you are sick of trying gear with your speakers in order to make them sound good, buy The focal scala utopia evo and be done. I am not kidding either. They sound incredible with just about anything you throw at them. I am even trying mp3 files (yes I did) and they still sound amazing. Its really an insane sounding speaker. Yes, it kills the sopra 3 in all regards. They are not in the same conversation which is why they are double the price. Don’t say I didn’t tell ya’ll....
Thanks Riaa. Yep the oppo is turning out to be my go to back up preamp when I am shuffling other components around. Don't worry, there will be serious firepower coming soon. You know I am only teasing the speakers with the oppo :)
Ladies and gentlemen, The focal scala utopia EVOs arrived today and I am totally shocked at how amazing they sound. Wow. There's so much muscularity, detail and air that is simply too good to be true. I am using the oppo 205 as a preamp and the classe cam600 and I can't believe what I'm hearing. They are not even broken in and I'm already happy with what I hear. The dynamics on these is awesome and reminds me of Wilson audio. Guys, I gambled buying these without hearing them and I'm floored. Who said they need subwoofers?? Hell no they don't. Stay tuned... I've uploaded a pic of them !
This is my first post I have a bit of a mixed system and mainly use it for home theatre and some 2 channel listening Here is a video of my system https://youtu.be/BuUO1bswXik
I am about to get the Focal Utopia Evo Centre for my centre channel but not sure what amp to get to power it as I don’t think the Pioneer AV receiver SC-lx901 will give it what it needs. I have the set of Edge G8+ mono blocks that you can see in the video so I was thinking of using one of those which currently power my back Focal Electra 1008be surrounds and put the surrounds on the Pioneer 901. My fronts which are Focal Electra 1038be are powered by a McIntosh MC452 and my side speakers are Focal Utopia l&R which are powered by another McIntosh MC452.
Any other suggestions for a mono amp that would work well with the Focal Utopia Evo centre ?
Love the discussion and hopefully one one day get the Audio Research Reference 10 If funds ever allow
@whitecamaross did you ever try any of the newer Boulder amps like the 2160? I know you didn’t love the earlier generations but was curious how it compared.
Belcanto is awesome as a system. There’s no need for cables or dac or trying to play the damn matching game. It’s one system that works and you’re done. You don’t have to drive yourself crazy. The Merrill cables work spectacularly with Merrill audio gear.
@WC Thoughts on Bel Canto Black system compared with the new batch of amps? I know it's been a while and you had the Black paired with different speakers as well.
Hi, the Rowland preamp with the matching psu unit sounds INSANE. very musical and smooth with incredible clarity. That said, the Merrill is faster, sounds a little more punchy and great muscularity. They are very different sounding and it is hard to say one is better than the other. It totally depends on what kind of music you listen to. Do you like 80s music ? Or music that perhaps wasn’t recorded with high resolution ? Then probably the Rowland will add sweetness that will indeed make everything sound satisfying. If you want nothing but the truth then the Merril is your ticket. However, be mindful that this is not going to forgive you. For instance, I’m not a fan of the Dynaudio c4 with the full Merrill set up and nordost Odin 1 speaker cables. I detect slight brightness on the music that is totally absent if I use wireworld platinum speaker cables which is exactly what I am saying to you all: be ready to change cabling, sources, etc in order to dial in the sound to your liking. One thing that has impressed me with the Merrill Monos is the tremendous bottom end with zero bloat or overhang. It just kicks and then disappears and then kicks and then disappears instantly. As good as my Rowland 925s are, they are no match for the bottom end of the Merrill. No contest in that regard.
Hi, yes they are keepers. Without a question. Best FULL class d amp I’ve ever owned. I had quite a few people listen to them here with the room lights off and they always chose the Merrill Over whatever else I played here. That said, there’s another big name amp that will hopefully set foot in my room in about a month or so. I’ve never owned this amp but I think it is going to be a reality now. No this amp isn’t 15k or 20k on the used market. It’s more than that.
Hi @whitecamaross - Any further thoughts on the Merrill 118 amps? Are they keepers as compared to the Roland 925s? I couldn't tell if you felt the amps were musical enough for your tastes...
Focal scala Evo will be here next Tuesday or Wednesday. Stay tuned for my first listening impressions. I will most likely be crossing over subwoofers with these speakers but I want to hear them first.
I would like to recommend apollon audio amplifer. They are the best implementation for class D based on Hypex power supply and amplifier acheving 1200watt in 2ohm. And they cost a lot less compare to other one you tried. With option to go multi channel also in small size with a lot of power. https://www.apollonaudio.com/hypex-nc1200-based-class-d-amplifier-apollon-audio-nc1200sl/
The focal scala Evo will be here next week. My plan is to break them in for about 400-500 hours and then begin to see if I might bring a pair of REL no25 subs to help with bass for 2 channel. Journey is about to get started very soon.
I dare to say this, but I do not feel, WC, can settle for a speaker, as of yet. Too much available, and he will need to go through many, as he has, with amps. Again, just my opinion, and I hope, for his sake, I am wrong. Whatever he gets, he will be settling, with something. I am surprised he sold his Neo’s, based on all of the things he enjoyed about them. No speaker is perfect, and he has not figured that out yet. Has wc figured out yet, what his priorities are ?............WC, please, forgive me. Always, and Enjoy ! MrD.
If the $4.5K Moab sounds that good stock......just imagine how much better it would sound if you used great xover parts, wiring, internal damping, driver damping and felting around all the tweets ($1000+) and hardwired it!!!!!! Yikes! Now how about adding the $10K Beryllium tweeter upgrade.....Yikes times infinity!
Whitecamaross should listen to Audio Physic speakers . Being a stat owner and dynamic speaker collector I can say Audio Physic will be right up any stat lovers alley . The highs are very close to stats and the imaging and sounstaging is better than any panel speaker I have heard . Worth a audition .
WC, I just had a lovely conversation with Merrill W. I will meet him at the 9/29 event at the VPI house in NJ. He likes the smallest Genesis model which is just over 4 feet tall, has lots of body with clarity throughout the freq range. Most important, it is very adjustable with many drivers, enabling tailoring of the sound to your liking.
Ask yourself why the Dynaudio C4 doesn't satisfy you. If you still have the Paradigm Persona 3F, it might give a fuller sound in the new room with the low ceiling. I still say that the ML CLX with REL subs would give the purest full range sound that is reasonably dynamic although not like the Neo. You will soon get bored with any dynamic speaker whose clarity is no match for the CLX/REL. The CLX is the right height for the new room.
We have since added some custom diffusion panels to our rear wall. I’m hearing sounds and layers I have never heard before in songs I’ve enjoyed for 20 years.
I am totally satisfied with this speaker and I can’t believe it’s not Tektons top model. I can’t imagine “better”. As I said before.. room treatments are immensely important.
I know people have room and financial constraints.
My magnepans were magic. These are another level that I didn’t know existed. If they don’t sound good to you, whatever your gripe is (soundstage, bright.. anything) It has to be your room or your equipment. Two of my wife’s friends have cried listening to Stevie Nicks. It’s eerie.
My thoughts are, I’m very very happy.
Ray. Report thisgawdbless1,225 posts09-17-2019 7:37pm Sounded rather good to me at the RMAF 2019.
Hi, it was a combination of a financial and room space. The ceiling is about 8ft and there was only going to be about a foot above the Neoliths. I thought it was just too small of a room for them so I am now looking for a speaker that will hopefully somewhat satisfy me. Yes this might mean I need to have about 3 shots of tequila before each listening session so it doesn’t allow me to be in much of a shock each time. I don’t expect the same wall of sound though. It’s something I’ll have to deal with. Right now, it’s looking like the new focal scala Evo will be my next speaker. It will be my first rodeo with their utopia line so im excited to be honest.
Prior to Daryl Wilson voicing their speakers I agree with adamwest, but since he's taken over including the Yvette and DAW, Wilsons have been much better voiced, more engaging, less analytical, more "musical", and fuller.
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