amp recommendation for Martin Logan

[bluejean]

I am a neophyte going from a defunct Onkyo and speakers my wife made me buy to the beginning HiFi world.
We have listened to Martin Logan(Ascent) speakers and like them over all others. B&W came in second.

I will need to acquire:
Speakers, Amp, Preamp/Tuner in my first pass. CD, Tape, turntable, will come next year.

I am exhausted sorting through this stuff but believe I want 200W per channel amp. Music is the primary purpose with home theater about 2 yrs out if ever.

What are the opinions/ideas on Mcintosh VS Bryston with B&K being a fall back option? Other recommendations are welcome.

 

[zaphod]

We have listened to Martin Logan(Ascent) speakers and like them over all others. B&W came in second.

Welcome

What are the opinions/ideas on Mcintosh VS Bryston with B&K being a fall back option? Other recommendations are welcome.

i used a Mac tube amp (MC60) to drive my Logos for a long while. magic. in fact i'm tempted to put it back in, now that i know how to wire a remote on/off to it that turned it on for DVD's and Laserdiscs. i always forgot and lost the center channel. Old tube Macs are expensive. expect to pay 1500 for a used MC225, more for a pair of monoblocks or a MC275 or MC240 both of which are stereo. I happen to prefer the sound of tube rectification, particularily in the bass, so i like the MC60s. You might consider some of the early SS Macs, which were aiming to match the tubey sound of their immediate predecessors.

I love my Bryston pre/processor, but about a decade ago, when i tried Bryston power amps on my CLS found them to be too dry and clinical. Just not for me. Now, that was a long time ago, and things change, but that's my memory. Bryston amps are well respected in many circles, maybe 13 years ago i just had an off day.

I don't know anything about B&K, other than the RF demodulator i use on the Laserdisc player. sorry.

 

[kach22i]

I have a mac CD player, but true to it's makers "sound" it has solid soundstaging. The Mac stuff I've heard in stores may not always of been matched well, or setup well..................."bold but cold" comes to mind.

Mac is a flavor (tasty to be sure)........be sure it's a flavor you will not tire of soon.

 

[Paul Pohopien]

I'm running a pair of 7b mono's and love them.....but that's just my opinion.

Some people like dark chocolate, others like milk chocolate.....doesn't necessarily make one better than the other.

Since this is such a subjective hobby, read the opinions on this site and buy with confidence. Both manufacturers you are considering design quality products.....and I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy your music regardless of who you go with.

Buy it, sit back with a glass of cabernet, and enjoy!

 

[bluejean]

Thanks for advice

Paul, Kach, and Zaphod. Thanks for you time, help, and advice.

IE: What we have'nt done is audition the speakers at home. The room we are trying to fill is about 25X35 with 9' ceilings. The 1st 8-12 ft is the primary listening area. Although I still want it to sound good throughout.

Thanks again.

 

[jolen1aub]

I am a neophyte going from a defunct Onkyo and speakers I am exhausted sorting through this stuff but believe I want 200W per channel amp. Music is the primary purpose with home theater about 2 yrs out if ever.

What are the opinions/ideas on Mcintosh VS Bryston with B&K being a fall back option? Other recommendations are welcome.

I've had my Ascents for a couple of years powered with MC402 in a 14x15x9 room for 2 ch music and added the Depth sub last week. The addition of a good sub is just AWSOME for me. I suggest that you consider getting a good sub with them. Audition the ascent with & without the sub with music familiar to you and trust your ears. IMHO room size plays a big role in the equation of hearing good-pronounced bass from ML Ascents especially with your room size.

I powered the Ascent with 200w/ch Luxman M117 (400w/ch @4 ohms)during the 1st year. Then sold it and got the MC402 (big improvement over the M117 possibly due to age). ML Ascents or electrosat speakers in general requires good ample power before you hear them sing... And when you do get them to sing,,,,they're just breath taking pleasure listening to.... hope this helps..

"Vinyl rules"

 

[cmos]

I have powered my old Sequels with a Krell KAV 300 i for 8 years until now, and have been pleased with this association.I think new KAV 400i could be a good match and a great value for money, unless cost is no problem to you...

 

[kode3]

Rotel, N'uf said.

Well there is more... Great power, superb sound, and price.

 

[Rouvin]

Tube amps

If you've never heard ML's with a tube amp, it just doesn't seem to me that you can really appreciate wht they can really do. I'm not saying that there aren't good transistor amps, but having heard both on many different ML's, the tubes were always superior, more sense of a live performance.
Downsides? Imaging generally less specific and bass definitely not as tight -- but, go to see an unamplified live performance of any type of music (or even an amplified one where the imaging usually isn't there at all) and the imaging is never as tight as found with transistors. If bass is your reference, they will probably never do.
I wish I did prefer solid state -- no tube changing so probably cheaper in the long run, and usually SS uses less electricity. Still, tube amps can be effectively upgraded if a new type of tube comes out that is compatible.
Having been at the ML demo at Overture with $$$ Spectrall electronics and seeing CJ amps nearby unused on the floor, I could only wonder how much better it could have been with them, especially since the ML's debuted have internal built in 500W SS amps for the woofers.
Listen and decide for yourself.
Rouvin

 

[Sky Saw]

Check out Blue Circle hybrid amps (BC24, BC28, BC202, BC204, BC206) http://www.bluecircle.com/index.php?menu_id=33 . The 2 tubes used to amplify the input stage are good for 2-5 years, and cost a total of about $25 to replace.

The BC hybrids have the body and presence of tubes, with better imaging and almost the bass of SS. They are incredible with MLs. I have a BC28 for my Ascent-i(s), and am delighted with the results.

 

[dshute]

Since I have owned my Aeons they have been connected to B&K equipment, reference 7250 power amp and reference 30 pre-amp. The sound quality is very good and was improved by upgrading speaker cabling and inter-connects, I went with AudioQuest Slate speaker cabling and Coral inter-connects.

Most definately upgrade the power cords as well especially for the 7250, it will sound bright with the factory cord. I used all McIntosh in my two channel set up but couldn't afford to go that route with home theater at this time.

I am a neophyte going from a defunct Onkyo and speakers my wife made me buy to the beginning HiFi world.
We have listened to Martin Logan(Ascent) speakers and like them over all others. B&W came in second.

I will need to acquire:
Speakers, Amp, Preamp/Tuner in my first pass. CD, Tape, turntable, will come next year.

I am exhausted sorting through this stuff but believe I want 200W per channel amp. Music is the primary purpose with home theater about 2 yrs out if ever.

What are the opinions/ideas on Mcintosh VS Bryston with B&K being a fall back option? Other recommendations are welcome.

 

[Spike]

I am exhausted sorting through this stuff but believe I want 200W per channel amp. Music is the primary purpose with home theater about 2 yrs out if ever.

In my journey with music being the primary purpose, I ended up with bi-amp configuration: tubes for the panels and solid-state for the bass. My room is not quite as large as yours (16'x30') with 9' ceiling, also, 8-12' being the primary listening area. For my room, I'm quite happy with this combination (system #27). Something to consider. I've put up several posts on this subject here on this ML forum so just do a search and...enjoy the reading. Hope you're not too exhausted yet

What are the opinions/ideas on Mcintosh VS Bryston with B&K being a fall back option? Other recommendations are welcome.

Why are you restricting your list to McIntosh, Bryston & B&K? There are more viable products out there waiting to be discovered. I noticed a few suggestions towards tubes already so I won't go there (for now). Keep your options (and ears) opened. It will also help if you specify the budget you're working with as well as the type of music you're listening to. All of these details will help narrow down your search a bit.

Good Luck.
Spike

 

[htsource]

What about Aragon amps? I was using an Aragon 2005 to drive my entire ML setup, I've since upgraded to 8008 MKII for the front Aeons and leave the 2005 to drive remaining 3 speakers.

I'm very happy with the amps but I'm sure there're better out there

Simon

 

[DavidG]

Alternatively. . .

I'd have to recommend two amps worth auditioning. On a sensible budget, in the solid state market you really should ask your dealer about the Meridian G57 power amp. This delivers well over the rated figure of 200wpc, and gives you a choice of balanced or unbalanced inputs. This amp would work well with a tube pre-amp, or one of the Meridian G series pre-amps. These new 'G' series amps use an incredibly low feedback design that gives very fast and open sound - they're amazingly musical for the price.

As an alternative, the Bel Canto eVo 2 power is a solid state class-T amp that has many of the qualities of a tube amp in terms of sound. It's only rated at 125wpc, but don't let that worry you - it will delivere plenty of power and current to drive MLs. If you want an integrated amp, check out the eVo 2i - same power stages as the eVo 2 but coupled to an excellent pre-amp stage.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Cheers,

David

 

[Anthony A.]

tubes will give you the most realistic performance, period. get a blue circle and you will be blown away. i am all solid state, until last week when i heard a full blue circle setup with cls's. i couln't believe my ears. tubes are the way to go if you want to be next to the orchestra. cheers!!!!

 

[DavidG]

tubes will give you the most realistic performance, period. get a blue circle and you will be blown away. i am all solid state, until last week when i heard a full blue circle setup with cls's. i couln't believe my ears. tubes are the way to go if you want to be next to the orchestra. cheers!!!!

Quite true - but to get 200wpc of tube power means running with some very expensive kit (like Audio Research). We don't get blue circle kit in the UK, so I can't really comment on them - what I do know is that high powered tube amps are so expensive over here that very few people can afford to run them.

Cheers,

David

 

[Reverb2009]

For those of you that would like a Tube sound with solid-state power, may I suggest ButlerAudio. They are sold-state amps with tubs in the output stages, you can get them with 2, 3, or 5 channels. With 150 watts and up.

I personally can’t comment on there sound, because I don’t have a dealer by me, but I here grate things about them. I was talking to a member on AVSforum.com that had heard the ButlerAudio amps, and his comments were. That he was very interested in getting a pair of Martin Logan hybrid speakers, but they did not sound any why like he thought they should have, so he passed on them and picked up a set of cone speakers. To make a long story short, he went into a different dealers months later and heard the Ascents paired with a ButlerAudio amp and was absolutely amazed by there sound. After hearing that combo he regretted not going for the Martin Logan’s.

The only real turn off I have about the Butler is it doesn't have XLR inputs.

http://www.butleraudio.com/

 

[kach22i]

I'm confused about their product workings, typical hybrid amps use tubes in the input stage.

No Output Transformer - be careful.

In the late summer of 2000, all these efforts finally paid off. An open-ended (ZERO negative feedback), 6SL7GT twin-triode tube-driven design operating in a near plate-saturated mode continuously, a totally unique load-mirroring circuit and employing no output transformers!

Tube Driver BLUE utilizes the Edison Effect to automatically enhance biasing of the audiophile-quality Sanken bi-polar power output devices.

All of this is possible due to the remarkable MONAD circuitry coupled to an equally incredible one-of-a-kind power supply with more than 2 Farads (thats over 2 million µF) of filter capacitance, effectively creating a storage battery for the Class-A output stage. Power supply sag and the need for outboard line filtering are virtually eliminated.

Looks like:

No output transformer

Bi-Polar transistor output

Big power supply talking up the slack.

............nice industrial design, love the blue effect - now I want to hear them.

 

[risabet]

Entire system for cheap!

Try the TAD-1000 monos by Tube Audio Design. Paul is having a sale that includes the tube pre-amp TAD-150, a pr. of the 1000's, a power conditioner, interconnects and speaker cables for $2599.00 I think. I have the whole show driving the Clariy's and this set up kicks some serious ass.

<a href=http://www.tubeaudiodesign.com>Tube Audio</a>

 

[Peter_Klim]

Try the TAD-1000 monos by Tube Audio Design. Paul is having a sale that includes the tube pre-amp TAD-150, a pr. of the 1000's, a power conditioner, interconnects and speaker cables for $2599.00 I think. I have the whole show driving the Clariy's and this set up kicks some serious ass.

<a href=http://www.tubeaudiodesign.com>Tube Audio</a>

I was about to suggest this amp myself (though I have never listened to it). Another member here, Jeff Aguilar, owns these amps. I'm sure he would be so kind as to answer any questions about them (as he has helped me out in the past). Him and his website (w/pics) is listed in the "Members List".