Plinius Hiato

The Martin Logan’s can go down to 1ohm load, with very high - phase angle from 1.5khz to 15khz
The best is the Halo for these impedance’s as it uses Bi-Polar output devices which are better for this type of low impedance, the Pinius I believe (check) uses Mosfets, not so good for low impedance’s. Don’t bother with tube or Class-d.
https://www.stereophile.com/images/912Montisfig1.jpg

Cheers George

Thanks George,  Off hand what brand/model would be a good upgrade from the Parasound Halo?  I was also considering the Pass Labs 250.8.

Thanks

Off hand what brand/model would be a good upgrade from the Parasound Halo?

Pass is also Mosfet, I think.
Seeing now your looking at poweramps, a step up would be the JC1 Halo’s in high bias Class-A mode.

This is Stereophile's quote to the load the Montis present.
" Either way, that this speaker is a difficult load for the partnering amplifier to drive is compounded by the high electrical phase angle" 


Cheers George

Um, I think that's a really nice integrated. I'd suggest you look into your room acoustics if you haven't already. Contact GIK for great advice and products.

For the price of a new amp  you could get some serious improvements. :)

Best,

E

the X250.8 is awesome and will drive anything...way better than the Halo Integrated or the Hiato...way more expensive too, but a used one will hold it's value for a bunch of years...

The Hiato is also way better than the Halo integrated   Haven't heard the JC1

As a former Plinius dealer,completely wrong.The Plinius sounds great with the Martin Logans. 

The Plinius amps are very high current and that is the difference. They can easily drive very hard to handle loudspeakers.

They also compliment the tonal requirements beautifully as they are slightly warm sounding as well. 

We have a demo Hutonga and its 200 watt into 8 ohm will handle your speakers beautifully.

Troy,   What was your impression of the Hiato specifically?  I appreciate your first hand knowledge. Anything you can share would be very much appreciated.

Never had a Hialto which is just a bigger version of the Hutonga.

I will sum up the Plinius sound as very rich and engaging and one of the great matches with ML, way better than Hegel, Sim Audio, and many others affordable near reference class amplifiers.

I would still prefer a Coda CS IB at $6k over a Hialto or Hutonga and a T+A PA 2500R which costs $11k if that was in my budget. The T+A gear is simply the best solid state out there but unfortunately is quite expensive, but boy it has the PRAT thing down pat.

However if I was looking at sub $5k then I would strongly consider the brand new Anthem STR which is $4,500.00

https://www.anthemav.com/products-current/model=str-integrated-amplifier/page=overview

We just got our display sample and all I can say is this integrated amplifier is going to shake up the market at is price point it is un-beatable.

The STR adds a really good dac which handles all sampling frequencies, has a massive 200 watts 8/400 watts 4 and 550 2 ohm, power amplifier pure class A/B, some kind of high tech/high resolution preamp stage, MC/MM phono and adds in Anthem Room Correction for ultra tight deep bass.

We just put out our demo this morning, and I am already shocked after a few hours of playing how musical this integrated amplifier is.

Another neat trick with the STR is is has a load matching circuit which compensates for difficult loads.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor

I have esl too and looking into adcom 565se! Currently using Nad c390dd Roger Sanders recommend I try a beefy class A/B amp!

KW6 not in this lifetime would i recommend an Adcom, which are anything but silky. 

The Adcom is a good cheapie amp but as with all cheapie amps they  lack refinement and usually have a less then sweet top end. 

I will try and let you guys know!