All,
As MC stated, it's coming down to personal preference.I really like the sound of the Harbeth/Pass combination. I realize it's not everyone's cup of tea and I do have limited experience. However, I can listen for hours on this system while following precise bass lines and subtleties I did not know existed. Cliche I know.
Given all the great comments, I think the path to audio nirvana is a simple one for me:
1) Sit in the chair and critically listen at highish volumes (without risking speaker damage of course). Do I achieve sufficient loudness without losing clarity and oomph? Case closed.
2) Sit there and wish for more? Go with more sensitive speakers (doubtful) or get a higher powered amp. If going this route it makes sense to me to skip an animal in the food chain and try the Int-250 with an increase from 95db to 105db at my listening chair. Looking at the distortion/watt graph, the 25 clips at 60W so I'm giving myself a ballpark of about 50W. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but pushing it to 50W may be a problem if there is a big dynamic range in the music. The 250 deserves an audition but it comes at a steep (for me) price. It may be worth it, it may not.
As MC stated, it's coming down to personal preference.I really like the sound of the Harbeth/Pass combination. I realize it's not everyone's cup of tea and I do have limited experience. However, I can listen for hours on this system while following precise bass lines and subtleties I did not know existed. Cliche I know.
Given all the great comments, I think the path to audio nirvana is a simple one for me:
1) Sit in the chair and critically listen at highish volumes (without risking speaker damage of course). Do I achieve sufficient loudness without losing clarity and oomph? Case closed.
2) Sit there and wish for more? Go with more sensitive speakers (doubtful) or get a higher powered amp. If going this route it makes sense to me to skip an animal in the food chain and try the Int-250 with an increase from 95db to 105db at my listening chair. Looking at the distortion/watt graph, the 25 clips at 60W so I'm giving myself a ballpark of about 50W. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but pushing it to 50W may be a problem if there is a big dynamic range in the music. The 250 deserves an audition but it comes at a steep (for me) price. It may be worth it, it may not.