I have been fortunate to own both the Colosseum and the Antileon EVO.
The Colosseum is a wonderful amplifier,but the EVO is superior in many ways.
The grip and control it exerts on a speaker is phenomenal.One other owner felt like he had new speakers when he installed the amp.
Bass control,quality and musicality is significantly improved over the Colosseum.
Transparency with a wealth of new detail is another improvement.
I know of one person,whose opinion I respect, thinks the EVO sounds better than the Mephisto.
Hope you get to hear it.
the Antileon Evo has "Limited" negative feedback. Is this global feedback? Presume so?
I owned both Antileon Signature and Mephisto with Wilson Alexia and Magico Q3 speakers. I also heard EVO many times. Antileon and Mephisto are two different perspective on sound. They are both great products but the choice depends on your tastes and rest of the gear.
Antileon line sounds warmer, darker, more musical with bigger stage than Mephisto. Mephisto sounds more transparent with better bass grip and more detail on higher frequencies with realistic stage size.
In contract Antileon has a tendency to round the high frequencies and soften the deep bas but that is not a fault, that's a conscious design choice. I'll come to that.
Antileon line is romantic. Mephisto is a realist.
Antileon can replace a valve amp easily. Mephisto can compete with the best solid states such as Boulder and Soulution on resolution and speed.
To give an example, being a past owner of both, with Alexia I would choose Mephisto without thinking. The bass will tighten up with maximum resolution and Wilson's silk tweeters will sing without a sign of brightness and fatigue.
With my Magico Q3s Mephisto was not really sounding its best. It was great on audiophile recordings but put a less than par recording and you get relatively thin and bright sound with dissatisfactory, too tight, unnatural bass. Antileon line is the perfect choice for Magico Q3 on this case. It will smooth out the potential hardness on Q3s tweeters and blooms the already tight bass. On mid frequencies because Q3 is naturally (world class) crystal clear, Antileon's tubey presentation won't hurt. But if your speaker is already a little bit on the "got the flu" side on mids (I won't name an Italian speaker) Antileon will make the matters worse.
These are all personal conclusions. I am not an expert. Please take these info with caution. Listen to these great amps yourself and decide.
Love and respect.
Cagdas
I will soon (when my MSB Premier arrives) be testing the Antileon Evo Stereo against my Diablo. Can’t wait!
Still waiting for my MSB to arrive - hopefully end of this month.
What you are describing is partly due to the double the size of capacitance in the power supply of the Evo vs. the Collosseum.
Being a Gryphon dealer, I am contemplating which amp to purchase for my demo - I am leaning towards the Evo.
Have always been a big fan of oversized power supplies in amplifiers.
Fantastic! Most curious...do you know WHY the person prefers the Evo sound to the Mephisto? Thanks!
I would not like to misquote him unintentionally,but i would direct you to Soundstage Ultra's review of the EVO which reached a similar conclusion.
antileon evo is a great amp. as are the other antileons'. the diablo 300 is nowhere near it. not even close.
the new one just feels like it is a little more dynamic on transients and resolution is turned up a notch.
personally, i am not very fond of the helipad on top, and i prefer the brutish, angular designs and heatsinks of the original models.
the handles on the front of the first antileon are just so useful!
I am a big fan of the Colosseum, and used to own the older Antileon. I cannot speak to the new Antileon Signature. I hardly think you will go wrong with either, and the price differential is actually not as great...certainly not when comparing different 'levels' in a number of other higher end brands.
The Antileon has historically had a slightly warmer overall presentation...the Colosseum overall perhaps cleaner, more 'disciplined'...and then I am told (as expected) the Mephisto holds the intensity of sweetness of the Antileon with even greater precision, power, effortless than the Colosseum.
I am told the new Antileon is fantastic and even heard from 1 person who preferred it to the Colosseum. Sorry i could not be more helpful. Hopefully Phil O'Hanlon can weigh in here as he is the US Distributor (which is fantastic news by the way).
Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |