What are some good NEUTRAL sounding 5-channel amps? (1 Viewer)

[Charles Gurganus]

I'll second the Sherbourn. I've had the 5/1500a for a couple of years and it is neutral IMO.

Warm amps...B&K, Parasound, Neutral amps- Sherbourn, Aragon
Brighter amps-Outlaw, Bryston, ATI...JMO.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

To me, a rolling off the highs which results in a dull, midrange-heavy presentation on movies and music is a bad thing to do.

I hate rolled off highs as much as the next audiophile, but I must make one comment here:

You can have warm sounding amps with great sounding highs (not rolled off).

You can also have amps that are so neutral as to be clinical in nature which also distracts from the accurate reproduction.

Just be careful out there and audition stuff in your own home.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I'm very happy with the sound of my Sherwood Newcastle AM-9080.

 

[Yogi]

Acurus, Anthem, ATI, Outlaw, Sunfire, Bryston would all fit your taste quite well. Of the list Bryston would be my top choice. Very transparent to slightly forward, plus built like a tank and legendary customer support from the manufacturer.

My 2 cents.

 

[Darrel McBane]

What neutral source equipment will you be running to your neutral amp? And what neutral cables, interconnects and speakers will you be using with the neutral amp?

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Nice try Darrel, but I'm not going there.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Lee, that's an interesting point you bring up - one that I haven't thought of before. Are there any amps considered warm that don't roll off the highs?

 

[Claude M]

hey Darrel, don't forget neutral utility power and recordings

 

[Shawn Solar]

I find things like warmth a description of midrange and detail, air,shrill and bright all descriptive of the highend. Thin, cupped, muffled or edgy could all be used for both. then there is soundstage which uses a whole new bunch of adjectives

Another point was that the speaker can sometimes change the sound character of the amp by its resistive load. What speakers are you using? with mixing bright/edgy speakers with a warmer amp might get you closer to nuetral.

 

[RichardHOS]

People have a hard time distinguishing a $1000 amp from a $7000 amp. I don't understand the purpose of chooing amps from very similar price ranges based on illusions like "warm, detailed, open, airy, etc." Why not just choose them based on power supply and capacitors, warranty, price, looks, etc. I.e., things that can at least be quantified and distinguished between two different models?

 

[John Royster]

Why not just choose them based on power supply and capacitors, warranty, price, looks, etc. I.e., things that can at least be quantified and distinguished between two different models?

One is doing one a dis-service by paying attention to things like that.

OH - thats right, all audio gear sounds exactly the same. My bad, i'll retreat now. All receivers, pre-amps, DVD players, cables, everything sounds the same.

-edit- and now for some helpful advice...don't worry too much about a neutral amps. Get the one that works well with your speakers and speaker wire.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

My speakers are Paradigm Monitor 7's driven w/ a Sony DA4ES. If I went w/ a warm sounding amp, I might have to go w/ horn loaded speakers such as Klipsch to balance things out.

 

[John Royster]

Kevin,

In all seriousness, save your money and get the speakers you like. Then get an amp.

Your 4ES isn't having any troubles with you monitor 7s.

Are you looking for more volume? If so then any of the more powerful amps will help you out.

If you're looking for something else then maybe start looking at speakers/room first.

 

[RichardHOS]

A disservice? Please. It's much more logical to base buying decisions on concrete factors rather than gobblledygook pseudoscience. No, not everything sounds the same - tubes introduce more distortion and have an accordingly distorted sound, as do some really poorly made solid state amplifiers. But well designed and well manufacturered SS amps? Stereophile (the modern locus of audio pseudoscience) did a test years ago trying to prove that different amps sound different, objectively. As much as they distorted their results and explanations, as well as test methodology, the inescapable conclusion is that it is exceedingly difficult to discern any differences, if at all possible.

A disservice? When advice can save someone money and prevent second-guessing and lack of sleep over their purchasing decision, I'd hardly call that a disservice.

 

[Darrel McBane]

Kevin, I use to have a Sony 30ES receiver that I used with my 12 year old Klipsch Forte' speakers. I added a Rotel 1095 amp with the receiver. The Rotels power showed me everything that was wrong with the Sony receiver. I replaced the Sony with a Acurus Act-3 preamp processor. Sometimes adding an amp to a receiver isn't the way to go. I've of course changed everything in my system since then. But, did learn that I'm done with receivers as a main HT processor.

If the Sony works for you. I'd suggest trying an amp into your system before you purchase. It could save you in the long run.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

What I'm looking for is improved 2-channel music and more intelligible dialog from my center channel on movie playback.

 

[Philip Hamm]

more intelligible dialog from my center channel on movie playback.

I got this benefit bigtime when I replaced my "center" channel speaker with a speaker that is identical to my L/R mains. If you're not running tower mains, this may be a better avenue to explore than an amp.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Why not just choose them based on power supply and capacitors, warranty, price, looks, etc. I.e., things that can at least be quantified and distinguished between two different models?

This gets into a religious debate Richard. Suffice to say that many of us who work in audio understand that measurements do not do a good job of describing the sound of an amp. There are many things only our ears can pick up.

 

[John Royster]

What I'm looking for is improved 2-channel music and more intelligible dialog from my center channel on movie playback.

Gotcha. Have you played around with speaker placement? You really can work wonders just by moving a speaker a few inches. On the center, can you point it to your listening position? I don't know if you have the center on a RPTV but you can tilt the speaker downward. On the mains can you move them into the room more and keep them away from side walls and corners?

As much as I like amplifiers and talking about them I believe (MHO) they are the last place to look for improving sound. Unless of course you are stressing your sony as it is now and want more volume...amps can indeed help there.

 

[RichardHOS]

This gets into a religious debate Richard. Suffice to say that many of us who work in audio understand that measurements do not do a good job of describing the sound of an amp. There are many things only our ears can pick up.

And suffice it to say that I've never seen any test using real humans as subjects with real ears and real brains that could distinguish between two well made SS amplifiers under controlled conditions. It's one thing to claim a thing... it's quite another to prove it.

But, to address your point... it has been proven for decades that test instruments are much more sensitive than human ears. It is our brains, not our ears, which seem to be responsible for the never ending nuances we believe we hear between amplifiers, cables, green colored CD's, purified water vs. spring water, etc.