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

You are right WCSS.... And my bad habit is to start "conducting" when there is a piece that really excites me... And subvocalize the bass line to boot.... All fine when I do it at home, but you can't believe how annoying that was for ppl at RMAF.... I had to learn PDQ to curb my enthusiasms and be still and quiet like a real serious&respectable audiophile *Grins!*


G.


You will be shocked by the ZZ Top one , if you have not heard it,You’ll be impressed by the Guitar Tone of Johnny A and the Bass of Hare Krishna ,Quantic ,Thanks Dub, and by the overall excellent sound of Sojourn of Arjuna , Everything must Go.
Like i said these are not your usual test tracks, but instead they are interesting and different... to me anyway


Whitecamaros - Listen to Bela Fleck - The secret drawer   Crank the volume !! I am sure I did not need to tell you that though !
About the speakers. Kef makes the Uni-Q driver, and a lot of audiophiles swear by that design in the Blade 2. Coherent point source philosophy.

On the other side, Vivid makes 4 way speakers like the G2 and they swear by that design. More driver philosophy.

Both are opposite designs.... Somebody has got to do something right and the other something wrong...?? They can’t be both right in their approach.....

I sometime feel we are being framed by a lot of speaker makers, the thing is it is very difficult to know the ultimate truth behind the curtain...


techno_dude - There's usually more than one way to engineer a design, and it's rare when one approach is best in all aspects. Trade-offs are generally involved and in audio it's further complicated since subjective preferences are so significant. So it's not a matter of right or wrong in engineering decisions, but coming up with effective ways to address specific problems. Take turntables for example, there are low mass designs which some companies specialize in while others choose to use high mass. One is not inherently better than the other, but we can all benefit from the many choices in the wide range of products that we have available.
I'm in 100% agreement with bill_K's post. Not right vs wrong but rather which design's strengths/compromise package  suits a listener's taste best. Numerous approaches to achieve excellent sound quality. 
Charles 
@techno_dude   

It is too hard to do concentric speakers with multiple drivers as well as individual drivers each perfectly designed for their frequency range - too many compromises. However, a large multi-driver speaker won’t sound integrated from 3 feet away. So large multidriver speakers are limited to farfield listening.

Horses for courses....
Vivid birthday, Vivid birthday
When will we read your reviewey?

Vivid birthday, Vivid birthday
If they re connected surely soon yeah!
Grey9hound
Johnny A -Two Wheel Horse really stretches those speakers out as well!
Plus,he has a really cool Gibson Johnny A  Artist Series Guitar out.
His Jimi Jam is really a tasty song as well.

Bela Fleck-Sinister Minister gets them speakers going too!
and
Mark Letteri's cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World is pretty sweet.
@axeman
Love Johnny A. .His tone is fantastic. So smooth and Wonderful sounding. I have the "Get Inside " and the "Sometimes Tuesday Morning "Albums.
I have 90% of Bela Fleck albums also .
Here is some of Johnny A’s Guitar collection
https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitaraficionado/johnny-a-reveals-his-gorgeous-gibsons-and-gretsches
Please check out Robben Ford’s "Going Down Slow" with Jimmy Witherspoon Singing.
If you are a Guitar Guy, you gotta love that one and probably Robben Ford too !
Yes Sir !!..The Joe Bonamassa and Jimmy Barnes doin Deep Purples Lazy is very Kool too!..Joe and Johnny..the 2 best guys you,ve never heard of!

whitecamaross hasn't checked back in since before the weekends setup of the Vivid speakers- Is this good or bad ?
@maplegrovemusic 

Maybe he is lost in the music with no want to update the thread!
So this exhaustive addition has been done with one pair of speakers, the Martin Logans? I always thought that amp/speaker matching was a big deal but fail to see how matching one speaker has overall relevance. Am I missing something?
Maybe there was a problem with the speakers and he is trying to get a return. Maybe he did not received them yet because delivery was delayed or he wasnt home to accept shipment.

Maybe he took a little vacation week end for his birthday and his wife said no forum typing please for a couple of days.

Maybe something I or someone wrote frustrated him. ( hope not)


austinbob, he has changed speakers 5 or six times. He had the Martin Logans, Revel Salon2, Monitor Audio PL500, then Wilsons Sasha I think. The Vivid's are the newest audition.
Or he joined the dark side, and bought a Sony Walkman.  Only one cable for the headphones.  Am I subtle or what?
@spinaker01 
I want @whitecamaross to compare the Martin Logans, Revel Salon2, Monitor Audio PL500, Wilsons Sasha and the Giya Vivids. 
Lots of wishes here... lol. The vivid audios are spectacular. On another league from
what I’ve owned. The best bass I’ve had in my room by far. It’s a 68k speaker for a reason. They don’t compress, don’t sound congested, never bright, and the most massive soundstage I’ve heard that unfortunately my room can’t accomodate. They need more space than what I’ve given them. They already present a huge picture but when you use the 900u in mono mode, they open up even more but this actually becomes too huge for my room to accomodate. If I use the gryphon 300, things actually sound better because the soundstage isn’t as huge with it so it fits better in my room. Luxman works beautiful with it but it adds even more size to the soundstage which isn’t needed with this speaker. Yes, the speakers have been sold along with my Wilsons. I need a dedicated room for these beasts and that won’t come
for me until next year. I’m sitting too close to the speakers and they need me to go back even more than the 8-9 feet where I sit. 
Once my room is built hopefully next year, I’ll bring back another vivid audio. It’s something quite special. 
For now, and in the interim, I’ll be using a focal Sopra 3 once I lock in a deal. 

WC, if you can, get your hands on Canton reference 3k. I recently got one and in my room/system they are better than the Sonus Faber Serafinos.  Great speakers , especially considering their price.

Those side firing woofers can present a big problem with some rooms. 
Shame you can’t try some Magico M3 with the Diablo 300....or the Luxman.....you won’t find deep discounts on current Magicos usually.

WC, based on your past reports with larger speakers overwhelming your room, I wish you had chosen the Sopra 2.  I suspect the 3 will overwhelm your room as well. 
I heard the 2 last month against the SF Futuras in a huge 20x25x10 room with both speakers 10+ feet apart.  The Sopra 2 were amazing and fun. Much boogie factor.  Oh my I loved it.  Not at all the refinements or clarity of the SFs but I immensely liked the Sopra 2 .  After hearing the 2, a return to the SFs was so mellow. I would love to own both!  I don't recall another time where I heard two very different speakers and that I liked both so much.
I can imagine the Sopra line to be an awesome fit based on your comments and I suspect it's not so picky about amplifiers like the SFs. But the 3's bass will likely be too much for you after hearing the 2 pump out so much energy in the large room. 
I had a feeling there was something about the Vivid WC would not like. Why, I don’t know it was just that they are apart from the sound philosophy speakers he got before those. Hoping we will know more about the reasons they just passed , in the near future...
@whitecamaross
If you get the Lyngdorf Room Correction, it should solve the issue with the Vivids .I am using the Tekton Double Impact speakers in my 10x11 room.and sitting about 8.5 to 9 feet away
Without the Lyngdorf they are way too big for the room. With the Lyngdorf they are just fine .
The speakers are incredible but my room doesn’t allow me to hear them how they should be heard. I realize in my room I need speakers the size of a Sasha or focal Sopra 3. I could try Alexia but I can’t do anything bigger. 
WC I am myself considering the Sopra 2 to replace my current set of Verity Audio. So I look forward to read you if you get the Sopra 3, and how they compare to the best you’ve heard so far. Are they bright, or a little  thin in the mirange like the older Focals..., etc.
What is your room size ? I'm thinking you should apply some room treatment and that will elevate your room musicality.
You can contact https://www.acousticfields.com/ , they are the best and there carbon absorption is also the best bass absorber https://www.acousticfields.com/product-category/sound-absorption/acda-series/.
If you want a speaker to fit your room try TAD COMPACT EVOLUTION ONE. http://www.technicalaudiodevices.com/compact-evolution-one
Which you can set very close to them. They have 1.3 Beryllium tweeter with composite midrange, all they drivers specifically made to it :)
@whitecamaross

Yup. Just as I stated. Vivid are like Nautilus but with a lot more bass - too much bass by your account and actually no surprise to me.

The Focal Sopra 3 is a step backwards from Wilson Sasha 2...the waterfall plot says it all - unwanted resonances everywhere. Nice even dispersion though. Definitely a great speaker but a step back nevertheless.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-sopra-no3-loudspeaker-measurements


Yes, the speakers have been sold along with my Wilsons.

Are the Vivid speakers already sold?
I have to agree with shadornr, much as I respect the Focal Soprano line, they are likely a step back from the Wilsons. I would look upward in the Focal line to the EV Utopia stable
@whitecamaross 
I don't get it ?
You said you were ready to try the Lyngdorf. I am totally surprised that you did not or will not. It will fix your problems .

Focal Sopra 3 is an excellent speaker.

If I didn't love the Martin logan sound,they would be my box speakers of choice.

The orange ones sound the best....lol
mikepaul , agreed the orange ones really sound the best.

Second best are the white ones. 

;)
a connection of mine is praising the magico s5 mk2 constantly. He keeps telling me to just buy them and be done, but magico is Russian roulette in terms of used market value. You never know if you will have to take the bullet to the head in order to get rid of them. Magico is 10 times harder to sell than Wilson. Plenty of dealers have warned me about them. They are good speakers, but take their retail price and split it in half and that should be the price IF IT IS A CURRENT PRODUCT. This means if you buy lets say a 40k magico with a 20% dealer discount, you are paying 32k. Fast forward time about 12-16 months and get ready to take a massive bath in order to unload the speaker. The magico fan tends to be like a "corvette" owner. They buy mint shape, little miles, squeaky clean, full service records, clean carfax, blah blah blah AND THEN you can begin to talk price. That is why magico owners tend to be which is why they end up buying from a dealer instead.
I do want to hear them in my house, but that is an expensive trial. Imagine if i paid a dealer 32k for a pair of magicos that retail for 40k (again, current models) and i don't like the speaker? that would cost me in excess of 5,000-10,000 dollars just to try them because i would have to sell them for about 22-25k to unload them. 
WC, if the Vivid G1 are the best speakers you eard except that they don’t fit your room. Why don’t you just get smaller Vivid G3 or G4 ??

I beleive I already know the answer, there are some other things you don’t like about the G1 you do not wish to share on this thread. I understand this, perfectly normal for reasons that are your business only. We, experienced audiogoners, can read between the lines. We well know that someone experienced like you absolutely won’t make the mistake of buying overloading speakers...it is not rocket science...its room size vs speakers size... surely your conections will give you that information before you buy... also dealers are supposed to know that...it is the reason we pay them huge markup... to guide us in selecting  the right 30k or 60k speaker to fit the environment in which it will be playing and getting us satisfaction.
I can’t get a deal that’s worthy enough for g3s and I don’t want to buy a g3 to sell again once I have my room ready PLUS I DONT WANT TO USE SUBS EVER with music unless it’s a Logan with the built in powered woofers. I don’t want to deal with stupid subs for music. I was offered the rel ref 25 for a steal and I passed many times. If I have to use subs with speakers then let it be because I own bookshelf speakers and not massive 250 lbs speakers. To me, a speaker that’s huge and weighs a ton and can’t Push bass out is a complete turd. I can’t understand why some people buy 100k magicos and still need subs. That’s ridiculous unless you have a room the size of a dance club then sure. Else, there’s zero justification for that.
Lastly, why are you surprised that I’m selling them ? They are still in my room
FYI. I also sold the Rowland’s and I still think they are the best amps I’ve owned. How many times have I sold luxman ? 4 ? And I have it again. How about the ref10? 3 times? And I have it again. How are the G1s any different ? I sell my gear all the time... 
Find you a pair of Q5, power them with the M900u.
You'll be happy for awhile. 
Not too big and they don't requires too large of a room.
They will completely disappear when you have them set up just right.
Why consider Vivid G3?? The G2 is the greater alternative to the G1 in normal rooms.
Good idea ysound.

Find you a pair of preowned Q5 at a price you will feel good about. They will work now , and most probably in your future room also. When the room is done, you ll have option to sell or keep depending on your goal of the moment

nebob, I think even if the G2 fits his present room, WC will not want to keep them in his future bigger room...because the G1 would  be the better speaker for that new room.
A ballroom is needed for the G1. The same goes for G1 Spirit. However, the Spirit is not so tall, so I guess the listener will be able to sit closer. The G2 will work well in larger rooms too - without subs. The bass is a bit faster and tighter on the G2 compared to the old G1. That was one of the things that was improved on the Spirit. 
The Spirit would be my endgame speaker, provided I had the room for it. I will have to settle for the G2.😁 
Any pics of WC setup? I am starting to have trouble believing this thread. Nobody buys Vivid G1 and then unloads them in less than a week or at least nobody with sanity. Along with all the other changes since 2015 it just seems too crazy to be credible. Like a drunken walk - somewhat random. The only thing that would make sense is if WC is a dealer - maybe I missed that somewhere.