You never said how expensive . There are a lot of world class amplifiers out there.Vacuum tube, as well as Solid State. Each system will sound different, for cables, source preamp, and digital ,turntable will give each amplifier it's own sonic perspective their is to many variables
To just pick one,and depending on loudspeakers. For Solid State
Pass labs $80k units I am sure are great, Vitus Audio also.
In Vacuum tube Audionote Japan, Angstrom . At this price point
They are all Very good. Win the Lottery then make the call. |
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That joke was covered by the first responder (Stanwal) of this thread. |
I knew a guy in High School that got mono about once a month. Would that qualify him as the King? |
TRL Samsons at 300/500 watts each. Very smooth, no noise, no heat, very neutral. |
The XA100.5 costs 2 times more. I cannot say the X250.5 has more drive. what I can say is that I prefer the X250.5 over the XA30.5. XA100.5 is more musical and more refined compared to the X250.5. It is difficult to judge because I have a different system compared to the past with the XP-20 and XA100.5 |
Thanks Bo, any difference in bass and power between the XA100.5 monos and the X250.5? |
That time I needed the money. Cause of my work they did cost me half of the new price. I could sell it for a lot of money. I have had the XA60.5 and 30.5 as well. And I liked them all. I bought the X250.5 a few weeks ago. To be unnest it is great as well. XA is more musical, more emotion compared to X. X serie is more drive and it looks if it is a little easier to give higher resolution. I could live easily with both. These days I am spending a lot of time with Audessey Pro. It is really awesome. For the first time in my life I use a subwoofer also for stereo use. I never liked it, because it was always too slow and not one with the speakers. But Audessey pro sets new standards. My PLW-15 with a 15 inch unit and 2000 watt peak gives a full stealth sound with my PL-200. I seldom heard such a 3d holographic sound in my life.My subwoofer starts at 16hz. Monitor Audio makes very exeptional filters. This gives me with Pass an extreme 3d holographic sound most people would die for. The platinum series is extreemly fast speaker which can play very loud without stress. These days I use my PLW-15 from 16 hz till 120hz. This sets everything to a new level in sound. The PLW-15 is very fast ( superior in speed compared to Velodyne) in respons. Wenn you use the subwoofer to 120hz voices and instruments are better focussed,there is more depth,nicer musical sound. I call the sound stealth. Many of my clients call it voodoo. Because they never heard a subwoofer so integrated in there whole life. Many of them still live in the old Rel time. In europe Rel is not that big anymore. They are so slow and there are enough better brands these days! |
Bo1972, you earlier mentioned that prior to your Pass X-amp you were using XA100.5s. I was wondering if you prefer the X-series to the XA or why did you replace the 100.5s?
I am intersted in both for my Magnepan 3.7´s. |
Lenvinson sounds dull and almost 2-dimensional. I said a violin sounds in real so much warmer then wenn played on a clinical Levinson. The newer ones are improved in sound compared to the older ones. But still compared to Pass it still sounds boring. |
Mark Levinson warm? I don't understand it...
My vote for KRELL |
I listend a lot to Mark Levinson amps in my life. I still don't understand why people would want to buy it. Holographic sound is the most important part in highend sound. This is a part were brands like Pass are superior. Let's take another part, focus. Many times I was stunned that clients who use Levinson are not able to let me hear the right dimensions of instruments and voices of a simple acoustic recording. I think they do not know how small and direct a voice or instrument should be. Sound, all classical cd's I played at Lenvinson sounds far from real. A violin sounds so much warmer and is better focussed than I ever heard from a Levinson. Use a recording with two different acoustic guitars. The levinson is not able to let you hear the difference. But a Pass can. The last years I heard many tiems the new Classe amps. To be unnest it does not do anything wrong. I think many peole could live with this for a long time. Compare it with Pass and you understand the difference. The sound of instruments is a lot different. Pass labs gets closer to the real sound of instruments. I think XA series I would take a listen at and compare it with your own music with the other ones. |
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Jadis JA500. 350W, 240 kilos |
"No one wants to hear “They all sound the same.” Don’t waste our time. These boxes have magic inside"
This should have prevented any response to this thread.
I think I'll start a thread 'The moon is made of green cheese' I wonder how many well reasoned and thoughtful responses I would get.
Cheers |
Damn it! I researched it and it is GREEN. I hate always being f...ing wrong. |
I tried typing "red", but my response had an "error", which was highlighted in red, ahem, so I'll go with my second choice; BLUE. |
I have read most of the replies and can't figure out why this is very little discussion about SET amps. I am currently using a 2 watt per channel mono amps which are the best I have ever owned. And yes there was a time that I had to own a huge heavy SS mono amp but my system now sounds like music with 2 watts. |
karan kam2000, top soulution monoblocks and dartzeel monoblocks, top lamm etc. cant tell which one is the best but they are all superb. |
MBL 9011 monoblocks weigh 223 pounds each.
They are gigantic.
[/]http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_1/show-report-ces-2007-page-13.htm[/] |
SimAudio Moon Rock Mono blocks.
There 1000 Watts each and are like 220 pounds each.
Here's a pic of them. The pic is at the bottom of the page.
http://www.shows.soundstagelive.com/shows/ces2002/daily_jan_10.shtml |
No Question about it FM Acoustics. I have the the FM Acoustics 115 Mono's and if anyone would like to come hear them you are welcome. They are by far the best amps we have ever heard. and we have had many including the 811 MKII and most of the amps that are said to compete against FM. You may think we are biased but I will challenge you to bring any amp you wish to compare.. |
Husk01: "Are there any Class A amps that do not run hot?"
The answer is no. An amplifier biased in class A at it's theoretical best is 50% efficient. This means that 50% of the power delivered by the amplifier is dissipated as heat. In the real world however, efficiencies run from 15% to 25%. The worst case for a class A biased amplifier is when there is no input signal where all of the power is dissipated as heat. Such is the price we pay for zero crossover distortion. |
On a related note, I sold the fantastic sounding CAT Jl2 because it raised the temp in the room 5-7 degrees in the summer, I can only imagine what their mono-block would do in terms of heat. That is the price you pay for Class A, but it does sound great. |
05-08-11: Husk01
Are there any Class A amps that do not run hot?
None that I know of, but of course some run hotter than others. For example, the Pass Aleph 3 seem to run considerably hotter than the XA30.5 -- don't know why. |
Convergent JL 3 mk 2
I would add this one as i recently bought a convergent pre and find it formidable , although i never heard the power amps |
Audio Research 600 Mk111 mods tops all |
The bose wave radio times two. How come i am the only one. |
Are there any Class A amps that do not run hot? |
I wish i knew than i would by them .
The krells have the biggest power supply as far as i know so they would be the choice maybe for the most difficult speaker .
I would maybe add Halcro dm 68/ 88
or the old Ml 33
I find personally the newer models not always better than some old designs, if you read what sort of technologies went into the 33 s nice , the 33 s or halcro s are also on my wish /try list |
Rockitman, there are more class A amps on the list than Pass Labs. Well, at least *one* more anyway. |
Viva Audio Aurora NEW of course is the best. |
I should also note that there is no such thing as a Pass XA600.5(As the OP listed). There is an X600.5 which is class AB. The highest wattage output for Pass Labs Class A monoblocks is the XA-200.5, which is 200 wpc into 8 ohms and 400 wpc into 4 ohms, pure class A. |
First off, you can eliminate all the amps in the list that are not Pure Class A power. Does that leave Pass as the only choice in your list ? I have the XA 100.5's. Best SS amps I have ever heard. |
Who is the king of monos? Tarzan. |
how about mice that ROAR? Prince of monos?? |
The best I've heard is an amp that was built, in believe, in the late 1930's to early 1940s. I don't remember the details, but, it probably was a Western Electric. Each amp filled a large vertical rack. I was told that good working copies go for something like $60,000 each. This was a very dynamic, lively sounding amp.
I also liked the pair of Audionote (uk) Sogon amps. These were also quite lively and had a really nice, extended, top end. To me, they sounded better on top than the Audiononte Gaku-On, though if one is looking for a warmer sound, the Gaku-On would be it.
I have not heard a lot of the solid state contenders in systems I know very well. But, I've heard nice sound from systems with Dartzeel amps and the Soulution amps. |
It would have to be the BAT Rex Monoblocs, or perhaps something by Crown. |
VAC has a pair of 450 Statement monos that are said to greatly impress all who hear them. That has not been me, yet. The price of admission is not inexpensive, so I am saving my nickels.....
Obviously, there is no King, as there is no Best - but its interesting to hear others' recommendations |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLrsXH4XLck&feature=related |
DAH KING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRt8CoZT35k&feature=related
REGARDS, |
For lower powered tube amps, the best is the Coincident Technology Frankenstein's, at about $5,000. It has the strongest 8 watts per channel you're ever likely to hear, plus it is the most true to the incoming signal I have ever heard--and not by an inconsiderable margin.
At tube amp at 75 watts per channel that is almost as good as the Frankenstein is Coincident's The Dragon. But being about second best is nothing to cough about.
Dehavilland makes some good tube amps as do the much more expensive Wavac's. Einstein makes some fairly expensive top drawer mono tube amps.
Greg |
How about the Pivetta Opera amp
The amp weighs 500 pounds is 6 feet tall is 20,000 watts.
What the heck is this amp supposed to power?
An apartment building.
The amp lists for 650,000 dollars.
That is a steal. lol |
0461,
"NEUTURAL". I love it! Is that both Natural and Neutral? Best of both worlds. |
I consider many of the lited amps as vorthy contenders, but two less known brands/ amps comes to mind.
Tenor Audio HP 350 monos. Wow.... wonderfull to look at, and wonderfull to listen to. They are hybrids and the tubes make them sound very organic, but perhaps not 100% neutural.
MSB 202. You will either love or hate the design. Personly I love it! They are not the most powerfull among amps ( 200w/ 8 ohms ), but they are the most neutural sounding I have ever experienced. Hifi Choice in the UK tested them in 2009, and Chris Bryant stated that they were the very best he ever tested. And he has tested hifi for quite some years now! Not to say that because he says so !!!! But Pass, Krell yes even Lamm sounds congested in comparison ( my oppinion ). State of teh art air, timing and finess are keywords discribing the M 202´s. |
So which mono should I buy? |
I respect tubes. A lot. I respect your information. I dont have the experience with tubes that I have with SS. SS versus tubes is a whole other debate.
The MBL looks good. One of the few I have not heard. I will make it a point.
Harsh speaker. Well, I like smooth speakers. That being considered, I have run into some paradigm, klipsch, and Monitor audios that were a little raw to me. Im sure they would have all been better with better/proper electronics running them. Im not saying any of these are Bad speakers. I feel they need very careful matching or suffering may result. For instance, I once heard a Klipschorn on a tube amp. A low powered tube amp. Hated Klipsch till that day. It was impressive.
Thank you Cajunpepe for the comments on the Mac. Im Looking for the King of smooth to run my speakers. I have heard from many people, whether they like mac or not, say that Mcintosh owns smooth. |
No, I prefer my amp because it can handle speakers beyond the simple benign impedance. If an amp is "rated" at much higher power output, but then falls apart when trying to drive the speaker that the much lower rated amp can handle, then Houston, we have a problem. And such a higher rated amp has no business ever to be rated as your status of King. As for amps with wimpy output transformers, I have no doubt that some low-power SET amps on high efficient speakers would easily result in higher performance than my CAT amps. I notice that there is not a single SET amp in your list. And yet, these are often the most expensive and most highly coveted/respected amps in the audiophile world. Comparisions are a great way to draw and learn from others' experience. I could not agree more with this. I would be interested as to what qualifies as a "harsh" speaker. A few "odd" speaker loads out there that are often discussed here include the MBL 101 series (low sensitivity), Apogee Scintilla (1-ohm load), Sound Lab (higher impedance in the bass). The CAT amps can be configured to handle the Scintilla load. And it is one of the few amps that drives the MBL speaker with aplomb. I don't think there is a single amp in your list that can match it with these three speaker systems. Oh, you might want to add the MBL 9000 amp to your list. 8-) |
I really like my MC 501's. I have driven an array of loudspeakers ranging from $1500 to $23,000 and these amps have risen to the task without running out of gas. Great amps for $11k.
Pepe |
I agree with your thought pattern. In a way you also agree with mine.
You prefer your amp because others have crappy little output transformers. This makes them inferior in your opinion to what you have chosen. You have a preference. I respect this. Your experience could direct someone away from these lesser products. Surely you agree that we can compare and contrast even it it is based on opinion?
I think there are a couple amps in the list that would sound good with a broad range of speakers. The Mcintosh is a gentleman. I have heard the Mcintsoh reign in many a harsh speaker. It will likely sound good on a wide spectrum of speakers. It is a polite and forgiving amplifier with good manners. It is built well, has a strong reliability record, and resale value is very high. In many respects it is a King.
Comparisions are a great way to draw and learn from others' experience.
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