Thanks! for sharing- whitecamaross
Happy Listening!
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!
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!
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hi guys, i have just listed my luxman 900u amplifier and 533h mark levinson 3 channel amps in order to make space for the 1.2kws and for the future amplifiers i will be ordering. The luxman 900u amplifier is HARD TO COME BY so grab it before it is gone. Quick review on both amps: Luxman m900u: The best 150 watts i have ever owned PERIOD. insane layers of of sound with a HUGE soundstage. I don't think most people would ever need an amplifier with more power unless they own something like my crazy Dynaudio Temptations. The luxman m900u is in my opinion more refined than any simaudio amp, any Krell, any levinson, bhk300, theta digital, classe audio, and even some of the pass labs amplifiers i have owned. This amp is a true giant killer and built better than just about any other amp i have owned. The most lethal, intoxicating musicality i have heard. Mark Levinson 533h: Incredible amplifier that has some of the best highs and mids i have heard. It is the most logical choice for a person that wants a musical amplifier for 2 channel and then also as an excellent multichannel amp. It runs cool and does not need a ton of clearance space like pass labs and krell do. I love the mids on this amplifier. |
Mcintosh 1.2kw monoblocks in the house!! I decided to pursue a pair of these puppies. What a massive amplifier that feels extremely solid upon picking it up off the floor. It actually makes the mc601s look like toys. My initial impressions after about 2 hours of play time: 1. HUGE improvement in terms of soundstage. Music feels as if it covers the entire wall. 2. Midrange now feels more "focused" and just effortless as if it was injected with more clarity. 3. GOBBS of low end oomph. These amps can swing dynamics far better then my hegel h30 which is no surprise since it is 4 times the horsepower. 4. Runs cooler than any other amp i have ever owned. With all that said, the speakers feel larger than ever before. These amps have so much power on tap that you feel as if the room gets pressurized as the volume goes up. Zero hint of any sort of compression as the volume goes up. I am still trying to switch back and forth between my audio research ref 6 and luxman 900u to see which preamp is a better match for these amps. Both preamps are magical with these monos and it is so close at times that you could live with either one. however, with certain songs you will hear that one will outshine the other or vice versa. No preamp is perfect and i believe it is a matter of what you listen to that determines which one best suits your needs. I will continue to explore here and see what else i can discover. Stay tuned! |
Update: i repositioned the speakers closer to the wall, moved The left speaker away from the corner and spread the speaker about 7 feet apart. Wow, what an insane difference that made. It’s like everything sounds better, more detailed and tighter. I also decided to try both of my stereo amps in mono mode just to hear the speakers with more juice and i couldn’t bel the |
Update: last night I took delivery of the Dynaudio evidence temptation. These are in better than new condition. Impeccable to say the least. anyhow, my initial impressions are: 1. Huge speakers that immediately dwarf room. Extremely heavy and hard to position 2. I threw them in the room more or less where the clx were just to hear them and get immediate impressions so they probably aren’t where they need to be. They sounded just ok. Not the same level of high frequency detail from the clx or Dynaudio c1 platinum. Could it be that these use Esotar 1 tweeters and not Esotar 2 as the platinum? 3. Huge soundstage. Speakers disappear from the room the moment they turn on. 4. Far larger width and depth in terms of musicality when compared to my former c4 platinums. 5. Speakers fall flat on their face when turning down the volume. They appear to need to be cranked up to come to life. Again this was supposedly the reason why the new tweeter was designed. 6. Crappy recordings will sound like trash. My clx panels sounded awesome with just about anything i played. Think of these Dynaudio speakers as what an OLED 4K tv would display if you were to play a movie from the 80s on vhs..no detail or crispness. Very blurry 7. Crappy amps need not apply here. These will make most amps sound as if they have no balls or juice. Those with emotiva, Parasound, Rotel, b&k, etc need to just forget about it. I believe this speaker needs amps like Mcintosh 1.2 kws, boulder 2060, Krell 900e, etc. Heavy hitters with massive twin turbos in them. This could be the reason why I feel they fall apart when turned down. Maybe my luxman 900u and Hegel H30 aren’t enough. 8. These will also expose your room issues. I’m currently dealing with one speaker feeling as if it has a little more mids and highs. This could be because this speaker is the speaker that is not in the corner but rather in the open space of my room. I have a feeling the speaker in the corner is getting “cornered “ and not allowed to spread the sound as it should. Luckily my preamps have the “balance “ feature so I can even out the sound. with all that said, I’m just starting and haven’t had more than 2 hours to play with these. I still need to position them better, move them, tilt, toe. Etc to see if I can make things better. I’m also looking into potentially buying either a boulder 2060 or the new Mcintosh 1.25 kws monos. I won’t give up on these until I try different things and if all fails then I may have to just try to get my clx back. I also wanted to know if anyone here has had to tilt their speakers forward more than their spikes allowed and if that was the case, what did they use ? I’m looking for ideas to tilt them more than what their spikes allow. Let me know guys ! |
whitecamaross, What a fantastic thread. So much info to chew on! Have you listened to an Audible Illussion preamp? I haven't tried many preamps but this is a stellar unit. If so, how would you compare it to the ARC REF6? thanks mike |
luxman 900u/ ARC 6: Excellent combination. I love everything about it and i really can't stop listening. That said, this combination sounds good really good on just about anything type of music, BUT there are times when the 900u amp/preamp combo hits one out the park with certain songs that leaves the arc 6/900u combo in the dust. So far, i can’t stress enough how important system synergy is. I loved the hegel with the CLX panels and the luxman not so much, but now that i have dynaudio c1 platinums, things have just turned around and now i find the luxman combo much more cohesive and "tuned" for these speakers. In short, the amp you have today MAY NOT be the best amp for your next set of speakers. No amp/preamp combo works for every speaker out there. This is why i let go of my 350.8. I felt it didnt have much synergy with my sonus faber cremonese. It is actually almost a rule of thumb to simply own 2 different amplifers at all times if you are changing speakers every 2 years or so. If the deal goes through tomorrow without any hiccups, i will be posting about my new speakers, but if it falls through then the CLX speakers will make their way back to me. One last thing, i have been listening to the luxman combo with the c1s for the past 3 hours straight at approximately 90-92 dbs and i have zero fatigue. i can sit there until dawn and i have zero desire to lower the volume. Incredible. |
Nebob- Try connecting your amp directly to an outlet preferably with no other things used by that outlet. Ditch the power strip. I use for the amp power cord that came with the amp. On the pre amp and interconnects Wire World. I did upgrade power cords with my speakers, to Wire World, I used with Martin Logans and there was audiable difference for the better clearer sound. |
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So I did a bit of listening last night with the C1 Dynaudios and the Luxman pieces along with the Hegel H30 and audio research ref 6. First up: Luxman combo, amazing detail and great midrange. Highs are world class along with a level of depth that I simply haven’t heard before. Layer of detail upon layer of detail. I can honestly say I could live extremely happy with this combination for a very long time. No real weakness in my opinion and by the way I LOVE LOOOOOOOVE the loudness button on the Preamp. It just makes things come to life when listening at low volume levels. I’m really digging tone controls on preamps. Yes I’m clear that it’s not for those of you that are purists. That said, I think the awesome thing is that you can change speakers and other things and make the adjustments on the Preamp. HUGE SOUNDSTAGE. JUST BEYOND BELIEF. This is an excellent combo for those of you wanting to hear female vocals with a level of a reslism that’s hard to believe. Adele, Sam Smith, Diana krall etc all sound as if they are in your living room. Second: hegel h30/ Luxman 900u: great slam and dynamics. I still enjoy the big soundstage although it’s less than the Luxman amp. If you want bottom end, this will fix all your issues. End of story. This combo has just about everything that the Luxman combo has but it loses on the last ounce of detail and soundstage but we are splitting hairs here. For the money the Hegel H30 will kill many other amps out There. I find this combo better with music that has lots of swings and slam. It’s edcellent at that. Coming up next: Luxman 900u with audio research ref 6 preamp. |
Just got done listening to the Luxman combo with Dynaudio c1s and it’s outstanding . a level of clarity that is almost unreal. That said, this wasn’t the case when i had the clx panels. I felt the arc ref6 hegel h30 had the edge in terms of slam. However, I’m about 2 days away from just buying another 900u amp and run them in mono mode... this has never been done by any reviewer or anyone at all. i am just also looking at the massive amount of money involved and that I could be tapping into xa200.8 territory in terms of dollars spent and i highly doubt that the Luxman 900us in mono mode could best the xa200.8s. For right now, the Luxman and Dynaudio c1 is one hell of a combination. We will see once my clx speakers return in about 2 weeks. These monsters seemed to benefit from the massive power of the Hegel which is why i thought the 900u In mono mode would be ideal. |
Ottablue, thanks for sharing your experiences with the 900u combo. The pair produces a truly amazing sound that is so full of texture in a great 3D soundstage. In an attempt to solve the hissing problem, I bought an Isotek Corvus power filter this week to which the whole system was connected. There was no change to the level of hiss running the M-900u in balanced mode. In single ended mode and with the C-900u set to “external pre” (I also use the combo with an Anthem processor in an Atmos setup), the speakers emanated a continuous buzz. It seems that the Isotek and both the Luxmans are a bad combination! I then connected the M-900u to another power strip that I use for a router and a laptop power supply, and to my big surprise, most of the hiss was gone! The hiss is still there but it’s very faint and almost on the level with the Bryston. The Brystons are even more quiet, though. I can conclude that the Luxmans are quite sensitive to less than optimal power conditions. My dealer is going to let me try some power cords from Transparent, but I’m not too happy with having to spend time on experimenting with those, because I find cables so extremely boring, especially power cords. But I acknowledge that power cords can affect the system in a bad way, if they are not properly magnetically shielded. In EU the 900u are sold with a cheap generic cord, probably due to a missing CE Marking on their cords. Which power cords do you use? Interconnects are from Luxmans ultimate series. |
Nebob, you should not hear any hiss while luxman m900u and c900 is on and no music is played. I own the combo and love the craftmenship and the sound that comes through makes me not think of upgrades on that front in the foreseeable future. If I were you check your interconnects I bet you picking hiss somewhere along that path. |
yes, i have owned anthem p5. Excellent workhorse and very heavy. It is up there in terms of quality, but nothing close to the plinius odeon. Please note, i will be giving a shot to the simaudio mc8 in the near future. I just need to figure out how i am going to do it since this is a 220v unit. They never built it 110v. |
@whitecamaross Without a doubt Pass Labs is a winner and thats whats gonna be my next amp, most likely a X350.5. Didnt go through the entire thread/your entire post but read that IYO, you lose details in a 5 channel ( rephrased) amp that you get in a dedicated two channel. I’d agree that it is true in most cases and to the same logic can be applied to two channel vs mono blocks. Having said that, did you give the Anthem P5 a try? My knowledge may be limited but I havent found a more work horse type 5 channel that weighs over 140 lbs and has not one but two power chords not to mention 325 watts RMS. I am running my ML Theos and plan to by amp them making better use of multiple channels. The other interesting choice could be Classe CA 5300. |
Hi, it is tough for me to hear any hiss because i own electrostatics. i might try a pair of small dynaudio bookshelf speakers and report back to you. Yes the amp runs hot, but so does pass labs, plinius, etc and any other exceptional amp i have owned. i wouldnt worry about it. I still love the luxman combo and will report back once my speakers are 100%. The hegel is no slouch though and sounds amazing with the audio research reference 6. Incredible sonics to say the least. |
Thanks for your input, robd2. (Sorry whitecamaross, I have no intention to hijack your thread). It's the M900 that produces the hiss, because it's there even if it's disconnected completely from the preamp. Maybe the noise floor is not as low as with the Bryston. I noticed this hiss with an M-700u and my two M-200, but luckily it seems to be less with the M-900u .There is a faint hiss from the Bryston as well, but it's almost inaudible even with my ear very very close to the tweeter. The Luxman 900u combo is still incredible, though. |
Wonderful thread, whitecamaross! Thanks for sharing your vast experience with us. In the reviews of the Luxman M-900u and Hegel H30 at Soundstage.com Doug Schneider compares the M-900u with the H30. While he thinks the H30 is very good, he finds the depth of soundstage to be lacking a bit with the H30. Is that your experience as well? I received the Luxman 900u combo a few days ago, and I must say that both the sound and build quality are amazing. I use them with Merging NADAC and Vivid Giya G2. I find the M-900u to run a bit hot, though, and there is a bit of a hiss coming from the tweeters that can only be heard when putting the ear close to them, With my Bryston 14B3 the speakers are dead quiet. |
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My wife and i did some listening between the 900u amp and hegel h30 a few nights ago. On one night, she had the luxman as the better amp and i had the hegel h30 so then we decided to try again another night and she chose the hegel the next night and said something very interesting to me which was that she felt like the luxman sounded amazing with certain songs and the hegel with others. I find this comment very true and i can really understand where she is coming from. The one thing i love about the hegel is that it runs cool as cucumber and it is very powerful. The luxman runs warm after extended listening sessions and it sounds best when left on all the time. |
The no585 sounds amazing when you consider the money you are spending. Is it better than the luxman combo or hegel/arc 6 combo? no it is not, but you can't expect it to be when you consider the prices of each. That said, it is the best all in one box i have ever owned. I feel like it gives me about 80-85% of what the luxman or hegel combo gives me. That is A HELL OF A LOT of return on your money. The only reason why i can hear that it is 80%-85% is because of my MASSIVE ELECTROSTATIC PANELS that allow me to clearly hear the differences. That said, if you had more "normal" speakers then it makes no sense to spend the kind of money that separate components are when the you probably won't hear a big difference if your speakers are not of this caliber. Yes, i totally feel like the 585 would the the integrated that someone can own for the next 5 years and be perfectly happy with it. |
