Pass Labs amps. Help me choose.
Completely agree with Bill (Audiofeil). For your stated application the XA60.5 will offer the most refined sound for the dollar. The key is the tame impedance curve at 8 ohms coupled to the high sensitivity... You get 60 wpc rms clean class A power (120 wpc peak) versus the ~20 of the 250.5 or ~40 of the x350.5. Visit the website to learn more specs. The XA.5 amps are the pinnacle of Pass Labs and will have a leg up sonically, given appropriate system match. In your medium room with those speakers the XA60.5 should be the bomb. |
French fries, I had a ML 333 for 8 years driving a pair of Thiel 3.6s. I had thought it was a good combo, but slightly veiled. For 3 years, I had thought maybe the Thiels were the weakest link in the system, and that they would be the next item for me to upgrade. My 333 had suffered blown capacitors three times during those 8 years. Twice under my ownership, and once under the dealer's care (I bought it as a demo, and found out last year from Harmon that the dealer had sent it in for repair once for the same issue). Harmon had switched their capacitor supplier after taking over from Madrigal. And the amp sounded better with the new cap. But after the third incident, I was ready to part with ML amps. (I still do have high regards for the 33 and 33H. I think they are miles ahead of the regular 33x series) But the 33x series is nowhere near the Pass X350.5. I was in awe when I first hooked it up to the Thiel 3.6. With the X350.5, the Thiels had bigger soundstage, deeper (and more) bass, and the midrange sparkle. It made the ML 333 sounded like veiled, flat, and uninspiring. (And the amp has not even been broken in) I had a few friends come over to listen. These guys are very familiar with Thiel 3.6s, either through listening to my and other friends', and/or they had lived with a pair of their own. Everyone was scratching their heads, as they had all thought before that I had pushed the Thiels pretty much to "its limit" with my old setup. For a while, I had seriously thought about keeping the Thiels longer. But my upgraditis was acting up, so I traded them in for a pair of used Parsifal Encore. (After 15 years of Thiels 2.2 + 3.6) The Parsifals are easier to drive than the Thiels, and sometimes I think the X350.5 is an over kill. But it's better to have more power than not. FrankC |
Thanks all for the recommendations. I was under the impression that 1037BE is not an easy load. Just how does one determine whether the speakers are an easy load or not? The impedance curve at stereophile web site looks pretty nasty to me. The average impedance may be 8 Ohms, but the impedance swings from 3 Ohms to 19 Ohms. |
Jylee, The impedance is frequency dependent. Which of course is music dependent. Given your favor of classical (and not pop or rap with high rms (average) energies of 30-40 hz) and the fact that we are talking about Pass amps (very stout) the recommendation still stands that the XA60.5 would be more than enough power for your application. 3 ohms is not a big deal; it's not like its the average. In fact the average is higher than 8 ohms. But they have to dial it in to an industry standard for marketing. Again, the key is (mainly) the higher than market average sensitivity and relatively benign impedance curve. The only TRUE way to know is to buy the amps and see if you have a match in your system (acoustic space), but I would bet real money they have enough juice to satisfy your listening habits. |
