Amp with best bass control

Damn Wolf you're an old war horse. Did you ever build your own plywood cabinets in the early sixties? I had great success with a pair of D-140E 15" JBL Scoops powered by a Marantz 8B right up until the 360 came out. You still playing?

My Bass cabinets: 1969 2011 acoustic 360/361s paper cone, Bergantino 322 paper cone, Bag End D2-10, ELF-18 paper cone, reinforced 1970 Ampeg 8-10" Tone Tubby's Hemp cone, and the rig I use most these days is an Acoustic Image FocusR with a DIY shallow 12" wedge paper cone and the trusty Avalon U5 DI which send my signal to the house speakers which are usually paper cone.

Mbovaird, Hartke uses aluminum cones with good results but are hardly the mainstream of back-line Bass amplification. Chances are every concert you attend your listening to paper. Hi fi is a whole other world.

@ Audiolaybrinth - I flip gear - a lot. It's what I do. A year ago, I had a pair of Sonus Faber Stradivari's and all McIntosh gear. Then I sold all that, and moved to Pass gear. Then I sold all that and moved to ARC gear.....now.....well....you get the picture. I have two systems going and I'm constantly swapping gear in and out.

People who aren't gear swappers have a hard time understanding those who are! I like to switch gear. That's it. No secret. No voodoo magic. Just love to try different things. Whenever I post an ad for something, I get these PM's "why are you selling this?" or "why are you selling that?" I'm not sure people believe me! I like to try different things - that's all.

I have audiophile friends who are similar (and some even worse!) - and others who take years and years to make a decision and upgrade or buy something. There is no right or wrong - whatever floats your boat.

There is very little gear I've had over the past 35 years, that I wished I had kept. Maybe the McIntosh 2301's. They are pretty special, but below average bass control. If you can live with that, oh my, are they good!

Hell, I've bought and sold the Classe CP800 three times! The Classe CAM600's twice! I'm definitely a little nutty! :)

As for D'Agostino amps - I really like what I hear from both Soulution and D'Agostino. Although, admittedly, I was so overwhelmed by the sheer liquidity and musicality of the D'Agostino amps, I was completely awash with emotion to pay proper attention to just the bass!

But I'm between the Soulution and D'Agostino. With the Soulution, I hear more of the music. It has this uncanny ability to sort everything out with no blurring, smudging, muddying whatsoever. Crystal clear. And absolutely the best bass control I've heard - yet.

However, I can't think of two amps that are more opposite - but yet both were incredibly pleasing - but for different reasons. Its almost like a heart vs head battle!

Other than those two (and maybe the Vitus), everything else I've listened to, seemed like more or less, the same or a slight variation of the same - and truthfully, the Classe CAM600's I own remain right up there with many of these - and exceeded many of them too is speed and smoothness. Not sure why they don't get the respect they deserve. Maybe if they were still made in Canada and cost 3 times as much they would! :)

But I digress...I desperately want the D'Agostino's to pair perfectly with my new (just ordered) Raidho D3's, but I'm afraid they may not. The Soulution/Raidho pairing I think will be a much better synergy. The owner of Raidho uses Soulution amps in his home (501's). That says a lot.

Just because I love the D'Agostino amps and the Raidho speakers doesn't mean they will work well together.

My research for pairing with Raidho's has showing the best three are:

1. Soulution (high priced)
2. Jeff Rowland (moderate priced)
3. Sim Audio (most economical)

Mike

Thanks Mike, however, if you are in the market for speakers to go with the Dan D Agistino amps, Look no further than the JBL Everest DD 67000, these speakers will open a whole new world to you with High-End Audio!, You may not take my word on this, Go ahead and listen to these JBL speakers, Pair them with the Agistino amps, Likly, you will never change systems again!, And do the Taralabs top cables with this set-up, Its la,la, Land for sound!

I already bought the Raidho D3's.
If you go to the Raidho Acoustics Facebook page - the speakers they are building "for a customer in Florida" are mine! :)

I'm still considering Soulution, Audionet, Viola and D'Agostino. Maybe Sim, Jeff Rowland and Burmester too.

Open to other suggestions. Amps need to have a high damping factor (north of 500 is best). Soulution and Audionet are both over 10,000. Wowser. High damping factor is one of the important specs for control of the difficult, hard, diamond woofers.

The D'Agostino doesn't have a high damping factor, but damn do I love the sound! May not be a fit on my D3's though. TBD.

Vicdamone...I still play, mostly guitar and songwriting.