Originally posted by retrodrive
In any case, we are doing some cool amp auditioning at Image Dynamics listening room with all the level matching etc. We should have one of those top of the line Audissons, japanese Phass amp, TRU C7, TRU T03, a Zapco and a few lesser amps. That should be pretty interesting event, I'll post the results once we do it.

First of all, I have to disappoint many of you.
Originally, I will have the 2 massively built amp I have ever seen in this test. To bad, they all have problems. The Phass RE2 and the Audison HR-100 couldn¡¦t make it to the review. The Audison had 3 caps leak and caught on fire when the owner (mvt10) powered them for 2 hours in his car. The Phass RE2 was measured and the distortion was way too high and we suspected the amp has some kind of damage.
One more thing, the Monolithic that Werewolf sent me both have massive background noise and we were not able to determine what went wrong, so it¡¦s out too.

The Equipment: Same as before, Edgar Horns (Titans), same cd player, same cables, but we use a 12¡¨ IDQ Sub this time. All amps are properly level-matched at .64 Volt (Less than .05 watt at approximately 80 db listening room). No crossovers.
We decided to do the scoring uniform scoring from now on with the IASCA CD, track 7, 9, and 16. We use track 7 for TONALITY, 9 for IMAGING, and 16 for SPECTRAL BALANCE.
The judges: SQLRanger00, Terry_Worm, Sqphile, and myself. (Damn Retrodrive didn¡¦t show up ƒ¼).
I only slept 2 hours, so I¡¦ll keep it short
1st amp: McIntosh MCC602TM ($3500, 300 watts * 2)
2nd amp: Phass RE50 ($2,500)
3rd amp: Zapco C2K 4.0
4th Tru C7
5th Tru C72T
6th Milbert Pure tube class A

SQLRanger00 (I hate typing for this guy ƒ¼)
Track Mcintosh Comments
7 6 Left Sister Too Far Left
9 6 Piano hard to locate
16 6 Vocals Way Forward
Phass
7 3 Vocals Fine ¡V bit narrow, Guitar dead center (should be on right)
9 4 Piano is too big, Brass&woodwind section too wide
16 4 In your face vocal, pronounced midbass, loss of mid and high
Zapco
7 7 Proper Placement, Extended the width of speakers, sterile.
9 7
16 8 Nice Balance
C7
7 5 Rich Tone. Guitar centered.
9 6 Deep Stage. Great tone.
16 7 Good tone, overly rich vocals, very localized.
C7T
7 8 No Problems
9 8 SOB
16 8.9 DAMN!!!
Milbert
7 7 Better tone than most, bad placement instrument
9 8 A little shallow
16 7 ******in Rain Stick, Muffled vocals, wide

Sqphile
Track MC Phass Zapco C7 C7T Milbert
7 5 4 7 7 8 9
9 6 5 7 9 10 9
16 6 5 6 8 9 8

No comments (I like this guy )

Terry_worm

Track MC Phass Zapco C7 C7T Milbert
7 6.5 7 6.5 7.5 7.5 7
9 7 7 6.5 7 7.5 7
16 7 7 7 7.5 8 7

Comments:
Mcintosh: Well Balanced, Stage width so-so
Phass: Wide stage width, vocal skewed to the right
Zapco: Bright, Stage width narrow
C7: Controlled top end, solid bass
C7T: Soundstage wide open
Milbert: no comment.

Myself
Track MC Phass Zapco C7 C7T Milbert
7 7.5 7.5 7.5 8 8.5 8
9 7 7.5 7.5 8 8.5 8
16 7.5 7.5 8 8 8.5 8.5

Comments:
Mcintosh: Great overall balance, but soundstage is abit narrow.
RE50: WIDE staging, focused, but skewed to the right, vocal on track 16 is hollow sounding.
Zapco: Very well balanced, good detailed, focused.
C7: Very nice top end and midrange, centered mid
C7T: No comments.
Milbert: Great detail, laid back on vocals, natural sounding, lacks oomph.


Thank you for Idtech for his time (he was at the plant from 6 AM to 6 PM) and energy.
Thank you John Yi (Tru) and David Polur (phass usa) to send me the amps, Werewolf for his Milbert and Monolithic (Sorry, but your mono amps got problems )
And also for sqphile for his Zapco and McIntosh and Terry_worm for his C7.
PICS

Sorry for the scoring format, I copied and pasted from Word, and it's all screwed up