arafiq: Great feedback, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.
Re: the C7 v. the 30.1, those two models are very similar, identical drivers & ports (admittedly arranged differently), similar cabinets, impedance curves, etc. The 30.1 is nominally 1 dB less efficient, so when I hear that a particular amp can drive the 30.1 well, I assume that I can extrapolate that recommendation to the C7.
FWIW, Alan Shaw claims that the C7 is his personal favorite model when driven with at least 80wpc. However, the XA25 is a high-current device (10A in the specs), and I suspect that its 30-ish wpc (into 6 ohms) is more powerful than you’d expect. And then there’s Herb Reichart’s high praise for the Harbeth+XA25 combination in his Stereophile 30.2 review. But still...
Your comments comparing the Lux & Pass are interesting. But I’d be even more interested in context. What size room, the type of content you played, volume levels, mounting, powered sub crossover freq, that sort of thing. I’m sure you’d agree that in this type of comparison, those details can make all the difference. In fact, your personal C7 experience seems to confirm Shaw’s (and Reichert’s) comments about these easy-to-drive yet finicky thin-walled boxes. Reichert found that even eliminating the blu-tak attaching his 30.2’s to Sound Anchor stands degraded their sound. And Shaw claims that, despite being designed to be insensitive to differences in cabling & ampflification technology, simply removing the grill cloths compromises his design. So again, devil in the details.
At this point, after digging through offerings from Levinson, PrimaLuna, ARC, Hegel, HiFi Rose, and Ayre, it looks like the XA25 & the Nu-Vista integrateds offer the best compromise among sonics, cost, connectivity/functionality, and form factor -- at least for my particular application. Even the INT-60, great as it must be, would not fit my system & room.
Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to hear these components before buying. All I can do is have long conversations with people who have had first-hand experience. And so far, there’s been no consensus about whether the XA25 is a good match with small-to-medium sized Harbeths like the C7 & 30.2. Many people, including trusted reviewers in Stereophile & TAS, describe in detail how beautifully they work together. But others, like you and Pass Labs’s & Harbeth’s own customer service reps, recommend more power. Sigh.
One final question: Thinking of presentation, the things that the XA25 is noted for: holographic, three-dimensional soundstage, reproduction of room ambiance ("the players are in your room" v. "you are with the players in their own room"), realistic image size, Quad-ESL-like coherence, etc. -- did you lose any of that with the Luxman?