How would you rate/rank these amp-makers? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Treinen]

How about a handful of Norh Le Amp or the new Le Amp II's? $300 each new and 180wpc monoblocks?!? VERY interesting...

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Long time ago, I looked into the Marantz mono-blocks. With a 7.1 system, I came to the conclusion that it was too many AC cords to worry about.

Something to check out though, I'm not very familiar with their stuff.

 

[Rich Wenzel]

Al, don't know which sunfire amp you have, but im sure the Sunfire will power any speaker quite nicely...


Rich

 

[Al B. C]

I have a Sunfire Cinema Grand with a set of B&W N802's as my main speakers.

Believe me - it does a nice job of making my 802's come alive.

I like it!

 

[Yogi]

How could I have forgotten one of my favourite amps, Classe:frowning: Also Sunfire amps are great in level I of my classification. As someone mentioned earlier, I would stick to the amps in level I since they get you over 90% of the performance of the most high ends for a fraction of the price. Unless you have money to burn or unless you find a really good deal there is no reason for anyone to go to any amps beyond Level I. Or atleast unless the rest of your system is at par with the kind of amplification that you are looking into. For example I would only look at Mark Levinson or Krell FPB amps if I had speakers that are in the same cost range like Mahlers, Amati's, Salons, Nautilus or Signatures. I have seen people powering 2K speakers with 10K amplification and that to me makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But thats just me.

 

[Chu Gai]

makes no sense to me either Yogi

 

[Albert Damico]

When looking at quality amps, I don't understand why NAD doesn't get mentioned more often. So I will mention it. NAD

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I have seen people powering 2K speakers with 10K amplification and that to me makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Well you should hear my system. I have $1700 Maggie 1.6 speakers driven by $20K retail of electronics. The old rule of "half the money in speakers" doesn't apply today in this age of trickle down technology.

When speakers are this good, they reveal the upstream electronics. High resolution speakers like Maggie are even more particular since the ribbon and quasi-ribbob tweeters are among the most accurate our there.

Also, some speakers require more amplification so it is not uncommon to have more in one mono amp than the entire speaker setup. Add-in a nice SACD player and good cables and you quickly get to a multiple of speaker price for the whol shebang.

Bottom line is the music however and my system has been well received by the locals and some big industry pros who stop by from time to time.

I do plan to get the Maggie 3.6s soon.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Nice Patton quote Chu.

 

[Chu Gai]

thanks Lee, although today I think George would want them in front of him . I see you've got the PF prism. I saw them several times before Dark Side came out when they were still screwing around with the sound...most notably at Carnegie Hall. The good old days

 

[Myron]

I'd disagree with RichardHOS's comment that all the list is tied for first. Yogi's classification is more realistic in my humble opinion. I doubt that you can classify Krell FRB, Mark Levinson in the same category as Sherbourn or Rotel. I'm not knocking the latter. Both are good. But I don't think either would be what a true audiophile would buy to drive some high end speakers such as Thiel CS 7.2s or Martin Logan Prodigy's or even more exotic, the Martin Logan Statement E2s with the sherbourn or the Rotel.

I also wouldn't put the Proceed's in level III. I think they're more like a high-end level II. They're slightly more expensive than most of the Level IIs. But seriously less expensive than the rest of the Level IIIs. When Mark Levinson's can go for $10K and up per channel new and 4-5k per channel used. That's a level of distinction that is starting to get extremely fine. And only the really true audiophile that wants every single inch of performance and money is no object will consider.

I too was strongly considering a Proceed HPA3 but with the new statement by Madrigal, I'm not sure. On the one hand, the used prices should drop a bit. But for sure, I wouldn't buy a new one unless I got a serious discount. It'll be real interesting to see how Madrigal integrates these into the Mark Levinson line.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Parasound makes some good stuff.

 

[Serge Ch]

Good thread!
Could anuone classify amps within the Lavel I?

 

[Ricky T]

One amp on my lust list is the Bryston 6B-SST 300x3! But if a Proceed HPA3 250x3 falls under 2k....danger, Will Robinson, danger....

 

[Kevin C Brown]

This thread generates serious upgradeitis.

I have next on my list (for now): Bryston 3b-sst + 9b-sst (or maybe even the 9b-st). (If I could get an extremely mint set of the Nak NT's at a really good price, I'd look at that too.) Or Proceed BPA2 + Amp5. I simply cannot afford "deeper" into category II/III. Even with the above, I have to go "pre-owned." I'm hoping for some discounts on Proceed too as they get integrated with Mark Levinson.

Oh, yeah, I'd be mating them with *only* $1500 Vandersteen 2 CE Signatures. I've thought about the 3A Sigs, but I wouldn't be any better quality sound, just deeper bass extension.


I even dug out an extra spade log of the type I use, just to bring to a Bryston dealer and see if they work with their (strange) binding posts.

Too many smilies in this post... :rolleyes

 

[John Tompkins]

On a different note,

Kevin..Congrats on your published note in Stereophile magazine !!

I wonder has anybody actually compared the sonics of the sst series to the st ? ..man, I shouldnt read these threads as my credit card is already maxed as it is

 

[Kevin C Brown]

John- I just printed out and read all the reviews at Bryston concerning the 3b-sst and the 9b-sst. *Somewhere* in there, is a guy who had in succession, the 3b-nrb, the 3b-st, and the 3b-sst. He said some stuff that implied he liked the sst version better, but I can't remember the details. If I come across it again, I'll let you know. I *did* get the impression that the differences between the 3b vs the 9b re st to sst were larger for the 3b. (Mostly I think because the 3b-sst is up to 150W/ch.)

You and Ricky are a bad influence on me...

 

[Yogi]

You and Ricky are a bad influence on me...

Everybody is a bad influence here.

 

[Miguel Stanic]

Interesting thread.

I am now the proud owner of a Bryston 6B SST and 9B SST THX (4 channel) to go along with my AVM20. I had the MCA 20 and MCA 50 previous to the Bryston's which I just got two weeks ago.

Impressions/Differences:

Build quality is second to none. Anthem makes quality stuff but the Bryston's just have a look, feel and weight to them that cannot be compared to the Anthem MCA's. These things are TANKS and ready for BATTLE.

Bryston's customer service is AMAZING. These guys email you within minutes literally. All questions are answered and I was able to follow the order of my AMPS from start to finish. If anything goes wrong, I have every confidence that I will be taken care of quickly and fairly. After all, I have twenty years of worry free warranty.

I LUV the way these things turn on. That touch sensitive MEMBRANE power switch is pretty darn kewl. However, I prefer to use the 12V Trigger relays (from the AVM20) to turn the AMPS on/off in sequence with the AVM20.

SOUND:

I found the MCA's to be lean, thin and harsh but particularly at high volumes. I believe they were not the ideal match for my speakers.

I'm not good at this review stuff and I don't want to sound cliche but it's like going from a finely tuned four cylinder to a finely tuned 6 cylinder. At higher speeds/power, the sound from the vehicle/amps is quite obvious. You can tell which vehicle/amp is coasting and which one is struggling.

With the Bryston's, I find a fuller, richer sound. High volumes don't take on any harshness and these things are just waiting for more. I don't really listen at high volumes, and my room is relatively small, so I doubt that I would ever tap the full potential of these amps. BUT, it's nice to know that you can accelerate confidently into the higher speed/volume.

The resale value of these amps is amazing but I don't suspect that I would ever replace these. They're anchored into my setup for a good number of years. They are not cheap but they are not the most expensive amps either. I think I have reached the pinnacle of amplifier nirvana with these amps. Bryston breaks them in for a 100 hours so I am not sure if they will sound better, in time, then they already do. If they do, well then that would just be icing on the cake which is already delicious.

 

[John-Tompkins]

I would love someday to be lucky enough to have the extremly high end amps in my house (krell, Levinson,proceed etc.)..but that will probably never happen. I have had the pleasure of listening to most of these amps in high end shops but you cant get a real feel for what the difference would be unless its in your own system. I can say that I really am in love (dont tell my wife) with my lexicon amps..of all the amps I've owned (moderate to lower ended,except McCormack) the lexicon is really the only one that blew me away, noticed a difference in about 10 seconds.

Its funny as I was always worried about the brystons/lexicons being to bright with my nhts but to my ears its just not the case. It has a strong,dynamic in your face sound but never harsh and somehow manages to be smooth at the same time.