Neutral sounding amplifier

[jan123]

Hello,
So I am Jan, am from Slovakia and I just joined this channel because I like hifi.
I am trying to choose my first amplifier and I didnt think it will be such a challenge for me so I need a bit help because I am a bit loosing self confidence in evaluating amplifiers.
The first one I tried was rega elex mk4 but I returned it very quickly. To me it sounded like the sound is too much edited, influenced by amplifier it self.
Than to find out som right amplifier which scales the tonality or lets say neutral, and have some soundstage and certain level of rhytmic ability should be easy task, yet it is not.
For reference now I am with atoll in80 and I realy like its sound tonality. To me it raly makes the sound so real which hits with very right way, and he doesnt play forward which I like too, but I am finding it to have too long decays and I do not know if it is only my perception or it is realy one of those amps they do that. Then the sence of rythm is mixed with too log decays and I do not like this.
Would anybody here could help me to choose the amp which sounds somthing like atoll, but with shorter decays?
Actually I am thinking about naim, but this one plays forward and missess the soundstage depth. Anyway could be good.
Any Ideas very appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[heliumflight]

Bryston and Cyrus are dead neutral

 

[reignofchaos]

Try and listen to Exposure - my favorite entry-mid level commercial amps.

Atoll is another great amp - sounds quite neutral. However exposure has more body to the music.

 

[Nitin K]

Hello,
So I am Jan, am from Slovakia and I just joined this channel because I like hifi.
I am trying to choose my first amplifier and I didnt think it will be such a challenge for me so I need a bit help because I am a bit loosing self confidence in evaluating amplifiers.
The first one I tried was rega elex mk4 but I returned it very quickly. To me it sounded like the sound is too much edited, influenced by amplifier it self.
Than to find out som right amplifier which scales the tonality or lets say neutral, and have some soundstage and certain level of rhytmic ability should be easy task, yet it is not.
For reference now I am with atoll in80 and I realy like its sound tonality. To me it raly makes the sound so real which hits with very right way, and he doesnt play forward which I like too, but I am finding it to have too long decays and I do not know if it is only my perception or it is realy one of those amps they do that. Then the sence of rythm is mixed with too log decays and I do not like this.
Would anybody here could help me to choose the amp which sounds somthing like atoll, but with shorter decays?
Actually I am thinking about naim, but this one plays forward and missess the soundstage depth. Anyway could be good.
Any Ideas very appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I am not an expert, but what if the issue you are experiencing may be also due to the speakers.
I guess the decaying you are referring to pertains to the bass which may be due to the low damping factor of the amp.
I guess the experienced FM's can advise you more on this.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

Hegel, Yamaha, Bryston, Rotel, Electrocompaniet, Karan.... and probably a lot more

But apart from neutral, Yamaha's also supposedly have a natural tone. Not surprising because Yamaha is the largest producer of musical instruments, and apparently their gear is tested against real instruments before being ticked off for production. Just out of curiosity, what speakers are you running.

 

[RRR]

+1 for Hegel and Bryston.
What is the budget in mind.
What are the speakers in use ?
Hegel is easier to match than a Bryston.

 

[Analogous]

Hi,
Do try the Karan Acoustics KA I 180.
I had an Atoll IN80 and the Karan is better in my opinion or my preference. Good timing, lovely tone, neutral, solid build, powerful enough for any speaker.
An audition would be good whichever amplifier you choose.
Good luck

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Hello,
So I am Jan, am from Slovakia and I just joined this channel because I like hifi.
I am trying to choose my first amplifier and I didnt think it will be such a challenge for me so I need a bit help because I am a bit loosing self confidence in evaluating amplifiers.
The first one I tried was rega elex mk4 but I returned it very quickly. To me it sounded like the sound is too much edited, influenced by amplifier it self.
Than to find out som right amplifier which scales the tonality or lets say neutral, and have some soundstage and certain level of rhytmic ability should be easy task, yet it is not.
For reference now I am with atoll in80 and I realy like its sound tonality. To me it raly makes the sound so real which hits with very right way, and he doesnt play forward which I like too, but I am finding it to have too long decays and I do not know if it is only my perception or it is realy one of those amps they do that. Then the sence of rythm is mixed with too log decays and I do not like this.
Would anybody here could help me to choose the amp which sounds somthing like atoll, but with shorter decays?
Actually I am thinking about naim, but this one plays forward and missess the soundstage depth. Anyway could be good.
Any Ideas very appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I had a Atoll IN 50 before, and I know what you are talking about. The low bass isn’t fast on them but that overall slowness makes it sound natural somehow. It’s almost impossible to get something which is natural and uptight fast at the same time. Try vintage amps from Luxman - L410 and above - they sound natural and fast at the same time. Being in Slovakia, it’s easy for you find them somewhere in Europe easily through hifi shark.com

 

[jan123]

Dear all,
thank you very much for your ansvers. I did not even know that something is happening here. Will definitely check if I have
something in spam,..or if there are notifications being send. My appologies for late reaction,...I am very happy to see that
it is well worth make a post here, thaks again.

Bryston and Cyrus are dead neutral
About atoll I did like its black bacground, till then I did not exparience with such a bachround, contrast, but I have
to say I like it. I know from revies cyrus as well es naim doesnt have it, which doesnt mean anything bed. But since
I experienced atoll I would like to find something simmilar. Will check Brystol.

Exposure
I am a bit sceprtic with Exposure, and there is no seller in slovaskia,...it has only good feedbacks from audio comunity
but I am a bit afraid it will have its personality which translates to all music, ...this might be mistake from my site but
as there is no distribution in Slovakia, nor Czech republic now I will not give him try

you are experiencing may be also due to the speakers
Honestly, yes, triangle borea br2 was very bottom of hify,...now I have css torii are much better but still some basic, But I
belive considerably better than any entry level bowers or monitor audio. However what I am looking for, and thats one of
my goals is to have amp which will alow me to experiment with speakers.

Hegel, Yamaha, Bryston, Rotel, Electrocompaniet, Karan
Rotel is oposit of atoll in haigh frequencies, while atoll was was like bell somtimes, rotel is a bit cutting them to my ears.
Will definitly check other listed ones.

What are the speakers in use ?
want amplifier which will allow me to experimet with speakers. I do not like wery much complicated speakers,
as well as amplifiers. Currently, css audio torii, but wil lupgrade for sure, maybee to css 1tdx, or tektons, or philharmonics,
I do not know yet.

Karan Acoustics KA I 180
Isnt this like 20K $ amp ??, will check

Luxman - L410 and above
right today I started to check luxman, there are nice used pieces on the market, how ever in one youtube review was told:
"this is definitely luxman sound" I do not like very much this statment so I will have to check well how they are before ..


Currently I am thinking about denon pma-1700ne, which seems to be nothing special, simple, nice and it seems he will give me the chance to try wide variety of speakers, but I am seriously thinking to kill my budget and buy kinki EX-M1 which seems to check all boxes which I wont, apart of it can be a bit lean in a midrange but this is only caveat I found from reviews. It has good powersuplies, so hopefully it will not feel like musical fidelity m3si which I experienced,
Hegel makes me wander a lot. You will find review on youtube, comparison hegel vs naim. Very embarasing. The guys says that thos amps are like day and night,...I do not like idea to have amplifier which is extreamly on some site with its sound,
but I belive one day I will have to try both of them,

 

[Analogous]

Hi Jan,
Karan KA i180 is definitely not $20k… more like 5k I think. It’s also made in Croatia with a lot of German parts and so after sales service should be easier should you require this. You may find used ones at reasonable cost. Do audition if you can.

 

[jan123]

I am not an expert, but what if the issue you are experiencing may be also due to the speakers.
I guess the decaying you are referring to pertains to the bass which may be due to the low damping factor of the amp.
I guess the experienced FM's can advise you more on this.

Thank you for your reply. I was not concerning about the bass. Acually the bass of atll to me sounds great, is not as resolut as cambridge cxa81 (no bid difference) but is tighter. What I was concerning more was a bit of upfront soud, so maybee and the midrange is a bit like a belllllllllll, a maybee yamamha has a lot of this.

Hi Jan,
Karan KA i180 is definitely not $20k… more like 5k I think. It’s also made in Croatia with a lot of German parts and so after sales service should be easier should you require this. You may find used ones at reasonable cost. Do audition if you can.

Thank you, I am definitely going to dig deeper into this possibility as I am a nbit out of shots in price range 1000 - 2000.

 

[chander]

Thank you, I am definitely going to dig deeper into this possibility as I am a nbit out of shots in price range 1000 - 2000.

Neutral amp - Give Audiolab a try if you have any dealership near you. I can personally vouch for 6000a & 8300a as they are fairly neutral with almost no coloration to the sound.

The AL 6000a also has a version called 6000a play which also integrates streaming via DTS Play Fi app. Though no great shakes (the app) it is a very good AIO solution for well under $2K.

 

[jan123]

Neutral amp - Give Audiolab a try if you have any dealership near you. I can personally vouch for 6000a & 8300a as they are fairly neutral with almost no coloration to the sound.

The AL 6000a also has a version called 6000a play which also integrates streaming via DTS Play Fi app. Though no great shakes (the app) it is a very good AIO solution for well under $2K.

Thank you,

yes those are,...I will have to consider 8300a, I fell like with 6000a I could run out of power one day soon.