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
Like Guido I have heard Luxman driving Vivids at RMAF in Philip O'Hanlon's rooms, transparent, sensational imaging/soundstage/depth, nice tonally, dynamically alive, and packing weight and wallop in the bass range, great choice.
Wilson Sasha 2 vs Vivid a G1.

A very interesting duel between two audio heavy contenders. 
Cant’t wait to read your results.
Very exciting, Whitecamaross! I hoped that you would pick the Vivid brand one day.
To my ears the Giya series and Luxman pair wonderfully together. I run Giya G2 with the 900u, and it is hard to imagine a better combination in my room.
I hope your room is large enough for the G1. Did you ever consider the G1 Spirit?
Maybe next time..😉
So the set up will be as follows:
vivid audio g1 speakers 
ref 10 preamp 
luxman 900u Monos 
esoteric k1
total msrp of $155,000. 
You may just be approaching a final destination with this setup. Try to keep this one together for more than a month to get a complete picture of what it can provide. Maybe after that some mild (not to be confused with cheap) cabling adjustments to fine tune to taste. Hard to imagine any meaningful improvement to that combination short of spending a half million. Good luck!
The Vivid Audio G1s will certainly be a speaker suitable to WC, because they can play louder without breakup or losing dynamics ( relatively speaking ). Have heard the G1s, never heard the Spirits, nor the G1s with the newer tweeter, but I do believe WC will be happy. However, I also believe, WC will find a way to obtain a pair of Spirits in a not to distant future. Just my take on it. The Vivid purchase will change over this thread to the " speakers " thread ( lol ). WC, continue to enjoy the ride ! MrD.
Due to my need to sell off some of my gear in order to have funds available to purchase a few other things, I have decided to sell the krell, Wilson Sasha 2, pass labs 350.8. They will be very much missed. 

I heard the Vivid G1 Spirit with Luxman c900u and the 1000 watt Luxman mono blocks (I believe the m900u is considered better) and it was sensational. Great with all types of music. It can play seriously loud and still sound perfect.

In fact I liked it so much that I have decided to look into the Vivid G4 v2 powered by the Luxman 509x for my office. I am also considering the Vivid Kaya 25 if my office is too small for the G4. I will also keep my existing Audience 1+1 speaker in the office. 

Looking forward to the feedback here on the various G1 setups.
@yyzsantabarbara: the G4 will probably need some distance to the sidewall. If space is limited you shouldn’t rule out the Oval B1 Decade. Sound quality wise it matches the Giya series. The Kaya 25 is a two way, where the midrange must cover a much bigger frequency range, and you may find the bass response too limited with some music. The Giya is the coolest looking, though😊
WC , no they won’t be missed. Usually the  gear you miss you buy again... time will tell the truth about those 3 pieces.
Wow so a lot of you guys are really supportive of my decision to go with the vivid audio g1 and luxman. I only had one person tell me that the g1 might overload my room with bass but I already have a plan in the event that it happens: it is called the Lyngdorf room correction. I plan on venturing with it if I can’t get the bass under control. 
WC, please use caution with room correction.  I am sure all such devices are not created equal, but when I tried the RIVES device some 10+ years ago, it ultimately resulted in more damage than benefit.

I had three strong bass nodes all between 70 and 250 Hz with Soundlab A1 speakers a bit too close to the back wall and corners.  After measuring the frequency response with a test tone CD and sound level meter, I was able to plot out the data and then set the RIVES device accordingly. The unit did exactly as required as the overloading bass energy was nearly gone.  However, what also was gone were the forever decays and rich harmonic overtones that I had worked so hard to achieve with cable and tube optimization in the DAC, preamp and amps.

A friend came over and said in a matter of seconds that the RIVES had to go.  And with his help to suggest removal of some unneeded furniture and lamps, we were able to pull the speakers another couple of feet out into the room .... and this made a huge difference to reduce two of the bass nodes and cut the third at about half.  This was acceptable; further room treatments later on with ASC products helped even more.  And all the magic I had worked to achieve was back.

For a HT setup, benefits from such a room correction device would like outweigh the losses.  But for music, I highly doubt it.  It takes years and years to get the 3D to a high performance level in a room / musical system and only a matter of seconds to destroy it.  Maybe the Lyngdorf device will cause less destruction...but I'm willing to bet it will ultimately need to come out once you realize vocals, piano, saxophone, etc., are significantly flattened.   It will demote the Ref10 to an LS2.
I use the DSP EQ in Roon to tame a 40hz bass peak along with ASC tube traps in my room.  It is very transparent and doesn't seem to have any negative effects.    
Very good. I like your feedback guys. I look forward to these speakers which are scheduled to be here Friday which is my birthday. I plan to unpack them Saturday at some point and begin to play with them. 

eWhat a fabulous birthday present WC!!!


At my end instead, to celebrate my upcoming 65th, I just made me the present of a brand-spanking new Wessex Festivo 4-valve compensated euphonium.... Lovely critter was just delivered yesterday:


https://wessex-tubas.com/collections/euphonium-and-baritone/products/festivo-front-valve-compensated...


And right now I sound possitively horrid on it.... No amount of in-room treatment will ever improve that... Only practice, practice, and... More practice!


G.



RoomPerfect just might be  the only room correction that audio aficionados want to leave engaged or turned on ...or .....making its corrections.
It really is that good.
Read up on it a little and see what people think of it.
Thanks for all the bday wishes guys.  I appreciate it very much. 
I am looking forward to getting the G1s on Friday and make sure they arrive in great shape. 
WC, as an FYI I am posting this email response I received from 1 of the Vivid speaker founders.

"We have at times at shows around the world used our GIYA G1 Sprit with the rear spine almost touching the back wall of the room, due to diminutive size of the room, with quite acceptable results!"
Interesting choice. I remember some audio writers mentioned that the Vivid and the Wilson are as different as it is possible for two speakers to be.
Great audiophile review work here. Very well done and what a dedication of your time and passion! I always thought Pass were among the best around, and you are confirming it. I dont expect you to try every high end amp on the market, but if you have the opportunity, I would love to hear about the Technical Brain TBP Zero/EX2.1. They are unique and very innovative amps that seemingly have been able to go around design factors that adversely affect sound. They have no emitter resistors, no mechanical contacts, no relays, no line fuses, nor any mechanical contacts. They are non-servo, complete DC amplifier, and have no group delay from DC to 600kHz. Very few reviews of this rare product, but all unanimous about its superiority in just about all parameters. Sound as well as measurements would be second to none as per all (serious) reviews and lab tests I read. Thanks
Whilst Technical Brain is a terrific name it’s not a tube amp. For that reason I’m out.
Vivid Giya G1 is like the 4 driver B&W Nautilus - same designer. More bass.
The amount of hilarity in this thread gets better by the day.

It's a great read on so many levels.  If I owned an audio store, this would be one of my favorite threads of all time.  
Shadorne, are you saying agostino momentums is also just a krell amp? Not so... I’ve heard both and the momentum just takes it to a whole new level in terms of detail l, quality of sound, finesse etc. Krell was known mostly for outstanding bass and muscle but never for finesse. 
Whitecamaross--your reply to Shadorne made me think of ATC.  Any chance of trying an ATC 100 or 150? Also, even though an amplifier thread not loudspeaker, how about an active ATC?
Vivid birthday
Vivid birthday
Come and make my day

Vivid bithday
Vivid birthday
Resale could be nightmarey

Vivid birthday
Vivid birthday
Can’t wait to read your meh
It’s definitely a very polarizing design. You either love it or hate it with a vengeance. The WAF and room decor integration difficult but then many speakers have that problem.
It would be interesting to do a true blindfolded speaker test where aesthetics don’t come into play and you have no clue what they look like.

I have crossed over the "three year mark", enjoying a McIntosh MC452 driving a pair of Focal Sopra No2 speakers, a very good match, amp & speaker.
Just yesterday I had a conversation with a fellow audiophile, one who has never owned McIntosh equipment, but he let me know that he thought the MC452 was in the "sweet spot" of McIntosh power amps.
Though I have a stack of PS Audio equipment (P15/DirectStream DAC & transport), and am curious about how their BHK amp and preamp might sound, I am really hesitant to try something new, as the McIntosh amp and preamp I own still amaze.
@whitecamaross

Much of the design philosophy of Vivid comes from B&W(Lawrence Dickie)

https://goo.gl/images/gbnFxP

They are are not the same speaker but share almost the same design platform (driver size, crossover and cabinet structure). I would hope for you that the Vivid G1 is an improvement upon all the lessons learned at B&W and therefore incrementally better than the Nautilus. The Nautilus is a legendary design and so is the Vivid G1. At this level it is extremely positive to have a speaker designed and built by someone with such huge experience and technical know-how. You can be confident in the benefits the historical context brings. Like a great racehorse - ancestry can be important as the offspring are more likely to be great racehorses too!
@ejr1953
I agree with you about McIntosh.
May not be the last word in resolution , but very musical IMO.
I do not understand these guys that want high level detail and Resolution.
That’s good only if you play at low levels and not for very long.
I have not heard any systems that were extremely revealing , that you could listen to for very long at very decently loud levels.
They might initially impress , but not for the long haul.
I can listen to my Mc30s with Tekton Double Impacts for days on end !!
They are just Magical !

Whitecamaros and all:

In your opinion is there a performance advantage of a Mark Levinson 531H mono-block vs the Mark Levinson 532H with dual mojo block and independent power supplies? I saw you reviewed the 532H and really liked it. Thanks in advance
WC, what are your musical preferences and some examples of what albums/tracks you are using to evaluate all this gear? Forgive me if this has been asked & answered somewhere within the 47 pages. 

Cheers!
Hi,
dianal krall - peel me a grape 
Karen Souza - tainted love 
queen - dsd album with their hits
MJ- thriller dsd album
Adele
sam smith
Tom Petty - mqa 
dire straits 
lynyrd skynyrd
etc

I don’t really do any classical or boring music. Part of evaluation needs to be with music that lifts my soul. I can’t do “elevator music” like what they play at shows. 
My taste varies but above you can see that I try all sorts of stuff. Some music actually was music i never paid attention to before but I ended up liking it due to its spectacular presentation. 

Yeah...  I also hate boring music... That's why I listen mostly to classical *Grins!*




That’s the beauty of having different genres. Each person has different tastes. My personal flavor has to lift me up or get me to tap my feet. 
Post removed 
Here is some songs that are in my Demo list.
They are worth giving a listen.
Most are a good test of your speakers abilities .
Some are instrumentals, some are vocals and a lot are a good Bass test.
They are not the usual suspects
Some are obscure and quite different
I hope you enjoy
Song Title --------------------Album--------------------------Artist
Come on Home -----Come on Home -------------Boz Scaggs
Sojourn of Arjuna------Greatest Hits of 20th Century--Bela Fleck
Morph The Cat-----------Morph The Cat----------Donald Fagen
H-Gang--------------------Morph The Cat ----------Donald Fagen
Don’t Explain------- Verve Remixed--------Dzihan & Kamien
As Big As Your Face--Late For The Future------Galactic
Endless Parade------High and Mighty ------------Gov’t Mule
Sometime Tuesday Morning--Sometime Tues Morning----Johnny A
Depression Blues------ Melvin Taylor & Slack Band-----Melvin Taylor
Going Down Slow------The Blues Collection------------Robben Ford
Everything Must Go- Everything Must Go-----Steely Dan
Thanks Dub-------------Second Hand Smoke-------- Sublime
Hare Krishna(King Britt)--Verve remix------Tony Scott
Translantic--- (Quantic) Nova Soul 3- various Artists
Retreat & View ------ Born to sing no plan B ------------Van Morrison
Real Real Gone ---- Philosophers Stone-----------------Van Morrison
Flight of the Cosmic Hippo-- Flight of the Cosmic Hippo ---Bela Fleck
Asleep In The Desert----Chrome Smoke and BBQ------ZZ Top
Sometimes Thing Get..Whatever--Random Album Title---Deadmau5

I find old recordings like
Saxophone Colossus ( Sony Rollins)
Time out ( Brubeck)
very useful to evaluate a system. There is a lot of instruments going on those which I can evaluate... drums , cymbals,...

And to evaluate the reproduction of voice, I use Anne Bisson Blue Mind. Very well recorded, and known among audiophiles. There is also drums in this, along with some nicely recorded piano.

For ambiance mico details and piano, I use Tord Gustavsen. Good double bass to evluate also. African Magic from Abdullah Ibrahim is a HUGE piano live recording with double bass and drum, I urge you guys to get this one eyes closed and thank me later. :)