Best Solid State Amp w/ Avalon Eidolon Diamonds


I'm about to receive a used pair of Diamonds, and already have a CAT JL2 amplifier and a pair of Classe Omegas. I've heard that the CAT has great synergy, but don't know about the Classe. Typically I've heard good things about Spectron and Roland amplification with the Diamonds. Are there any other SS amps that people know work real well with the Diamonds?

Thanks, Peter
peter_s

Showing 1 response by glai

I have tried many amps with the Avalon Diamond & Isis. The more expensive ones includes: Boulder 1060, Rowland 312, Vac phi 300.1, Spectral, luxman M800a, ayre mxr, levinson 432, MBL 9008, conrad johson 140 (monos), Jadis da88s.

The lower prices ones includes: antique sound 1009 a& the hurricanes, vac phi 110, musical fidelity kw500, pass x350.5, naim 250.2, rowland (small switching ones) , classe 2200, Mcintosh 275V, nuforce, atma m60s.

My real surprise is that Rowland and Spectral did not work that well in my system. Many dealers in USA and Asia showed Avalons with these two. It could certainly my own room issues/personal preferences.

I could not make good sound with any of the switching amps that I tried. I really wanted to like the Rowlands because I had been impressed by the older Rowlands designs. I think stepping back to class AB design in the 625 is the right direction. The switching amps sounded bland and were unable to portray adequate tonal contrast among different instruments. None of them are bright and microdynamics are OK. The 312 had decent macrodynamics but the Boulder, Luxman, MBL are much better in all aspects for me.

Of the lower price tiers, the Pass x350.5 striked a good balance betw a liquid, natural midrange, detail, bass control and macrodynamics.

Of the more expensive ones, they all sounded very different and tough to guess what your preference would be. What you would be looking for is an amp with very liquid yet detailed midrange (possibly something to do with low global FB) and yet with good bass control and macrodynamics. The CJ had a very high noise floor and lacked detail and had notable dynamic compression. Jadis has a unique sound but not very neutral or transparent, transients seems a little slow. Vac phi 300 had great midrange, bass control was not the best but acceptable (may be a real winner in monos). Levinson sounded a little dark and opaque but otherwise not too bad. The ones I like are Luxman/MBL/Boulder/Ayre.

I used to have a pair of quad 2805 along with the Avalon Diamonds. The midrange of the quads is truly unique. I ultimately stayed with the Avalon line for better dynamic realism.

Good luck on your journey.