Who makes the best amp?

As requested

There are so many amp manufacturers though, those are the main ones in Europe off the top of my head and all the big japanese manufacturers....also its hard to judge. Are we talking stereo (2 channel) or surround as well?

 

i have too many so im not voting

but

for ultimate high end class A (class A is the highest class amp, runs hotter than a radiator)
sugden

then Naim basically cos they are the best but the price is scary

yamaha & technics both have a layed back sound so they get my vote if thats what you want (i have a technics amp in my setup [ok its multichannel but still good])

marantz have a very very refined sound that suit classical stuff better (bit too smooth for my linking)

NAd, dont need to say a word, they are the dogs danglys in the budget arena

sony are good for the money (my £104 sony tafe370 is fantastic)

not easy when there is such a broad price range is it

 

well i mean who makes the best amps over all bryston makes amps for full dolby digital or just 2 channel sound, but i don't mean recievers because they are more of a video switching box too, i mean true amps. I have a bryston pre amp and 2 channel amp running on a par of reference series kefs, I also have a set of reference series paradigms both tower speakers.

 

what price range and what for??

 

well how about over all sound quality per dollar, say a 5.1 / 2 channel setup and pre amp / amp makers.

 

MF has my vote, even though theres loads of good amp manufacturers up there....

ie Arcam, NAD...etc

 

i've got Technics but what i'd dearly love would be a Cyrus amp, but i'll never be able to afford

regards

g

 

Krell.

 

Personally I would like to hear the DM Power amps from Halcro

£25,000 per pair.

http://www.halcro.com/

 

Carver

 

Im a fan of naim but as sam said they are v expensive otherwise id go for arcam they make very nice amps not sure when it comes to 5.1.

 

I like the sound of hand built TEAC amps..

 

personally i like the looks and spec of the krell master reference power amp, but its the $120,000 price tag that is a little inaccessible, 16kW is nice power tho

 

Surely 16K systems require serious dedicated extra power lines, there are very few speakers/subs that can take 2k plus power.

I remember rerading about the new SVS B4, they were finding it hard to find a good 5k amp to run it full tilt.

 

i will be reasonable, Denon is my choice unless i win a lottery.

 

Quad looks and is supposed to sound great

 

Linn and Naim are nice, but in my price range (and hope to soon get) I'd go with Cyrus.

 

im choosing other:
if we are talking pure amp then its gotta be mark levinson or mcintosh
if we are talking amp/receiver then i am going with what i got, the marantz avr 8000..

now are we talking home theater or music. cause that makes a bit o difference

 

Quoting an email I got from Krell (Irv Gross) a while back when I asked them;

"The ideal speaker would be the Krell LAT-1. Other top-of-the-line speakers such as Martin-Logan Statements, JM Labs Grand Utopias, Wilson WAMMs, and Dynaudio Evidences would also work with the Master Reference Amplifier."

So there you go.

 

You have proved my point, there are very few speakers which have that kind of powerhandling without significant power compression on the drivers.