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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!


128x128whitecamaross
whitecamaross's avatar
whitecamaross OP
1,499 posts
 
hi Denon,
keep in mind that the sb301 has 2 different versions. i bought the mk2 version which i heard is significantly better than the original sb301.
Biggest difference between the 250.8 and 350.8 is of course the power reserves which puts you in a better position for the future with the 350.8.
The 350.8 has more bass without a doubt. I would say that if you listen at low volume levels, you are not missing much by staying with the 250.8. If you live in a small apartment, etc i would say save your money and keep the 250.8. However, if you like upgrading constantly like i do and like to occasionally blast music, then you are a candidate for the 350.8. The sound is fairly similar on both, but the 350.8 is always going to have more market and will be easier to sell. It is an amp that you can use for 5 years and then sell it in a day. I have owned 350.5s and they sold in days after i listed them. It is one highly desired amplifier.
As far as the biggest difference between the futuras and cremonese, they sound like 2 different speakers. They sound like they are not even made by the same company. Cremonese is the new sonus faber sound and the futuras is the old, laid back sonus faber sound. Cremonese sounds BIGGER than the martin logan renaissance and remember that those are HUGE panels on those electrostatics which should just tell you the kind of speaker that the cremonese are. I do not like anything from sonus faber other than their top 3 models: cremonese, lillium, aida. These share the best of the best design and technology and every other model just shares the aesthetics but the sound is thinner, lethargic, anemic, etc.

denon1
289 posts
 
Witecamaross,
thanks much for a feedback on pass. Your comments are easy to understand and right to the point. No dealer has been explaining 
the difference between 250.8 and 350.8 that simple and well.
The new Sonus Faber tradition line is using the same tweeter and midrange found in Cremonesse. So may be it is true what some people are  saying that the new Tradition line is faster, more open and resolving.
Please keep reporting.


jafant
10,525 posts
 
Keep writing and reporting- whitecamaross

Happy Listening!
whitecamaross's avatar
whitecamaross OP
1,499 posts
 
Yes, the new sonus faber tradition line should be killer to say the least. i am glad sonus faber went away from the whole "laid back" sound. I totally hated that sound and the soundstage was narrow as well without much low end punch.
Most dealers want to make a sale and i get that. They need to make money and i respect that, but i am more of the type that does research and selects my next move very carefully and then report on what my findings are. I don’t make a dime from this thread at all and i don’t get compensation from the brands that i have praised here. As a matter of fact, sometimes i read reviews on certain magazines and i see the associated equipment that was used to present a review i realize that i have better and more reputable gear that i could use to do reviews myself. I would actually love to do that, but i am very blunt and without a filter and so if i receive a piece of equipment that i feel is terrible, i will make sure i say that because i can’t sugar coat things.
I still have pass labs, simaudio and luxman and MAYBE Mark Levinson as the top dogs as far as refinement, finesse, detail, clarity, soundstage and precision. i call this tier group the "ferrari" group.

As far as the "mustang 5.0" tier group, i would have krell, classe, bryston, belcanto, parasound halo, mcintosh. These would be those with plenty of horsepower, with punch, capable to drive anything, but do not necessarily have all the finesse and depth that the "ferrari" tier group has.

The last tier group would be the "bang for the buck". These are amps that are great and do a lot of things really well. They have power, good detail and dynamics and are well rounded, but lack the extra detail, decay, layering and bass accuracy found in the first 2 groups. I would put emotiva, cary audio, ati, theta digital, nad, parasound classic, rotel.

If you are looking for an amp to build a system upon, ALWAYS shoot for an amp that has more than the needed power when possible because this will lay the foundation of your system today and tomorrow. I say this to some of you who contact me asking for advice. Don’t skimp on amplification when possible. That said, just because an amplifier has 300 watts per channel does not mean it is better than one with 150 watts. Not all watts are created equal. REMEMBER THAT.

If you are building a system, your order of priority in terms of what you need to buy and in which order should be as follows:


1. Speakers
2. Preamplifier
3. Source
4. Amplifier

I could see why some of you would have the amplifier as #3 and the source as #4. I realized that sources are a huge part of this game. I learned this with the sonus faber cremonese more than ever before. You can’t purchase a pair of speakers that are 45k dollars and use an oppo 205 as your source or a sonos streamer or a laptop, etc. That is like buying a ferrari and buying cheap engine oil, cheap chinese tires and cheap air freshener. Really?
If you buy a speaker that is up there in terms of value, you also need to look at your front end. You need to evaluate what other components need to go and replaced. Getting better speakers do not fix all your sound problems. The right equipment also needs to be thought out in order to make the entire experience that much more real. Anytime you switch speakers, that is just the beginning of what you are about to embark on. You now need to first identify if your amp can push them (see why i said to buy a quality amp from the get go is important?) and then buy your preamp according to the flavor that you seek. If you are looking for a musical tone then go with a tube preamp, etc, etc. That should be the thought process.
jafant
10,525 posts
 
As always, very sound advice (no pun)- whitecamaross-

The pre-amp is the heart of any system and must be selected with great care.  I look forward in reading about your continued shoot-out of power amps.  Keep writing and posting!

Happy Listening!
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