Simaudio W-5 or Pass X-250 for Dynaudio Special 25

I am using Atmaphere m-60s with the superb Dynaudio Special 25s,this past Christmas I have heard the 25s with Simaudio L.E. gear.Very,very good solid state. This little speaker is really something to behold,I was set to purchase the fabulous Merlins a year ago when the 25s where shipped to my dealer,The Russian birch veneer attracted me.I compared the Merlins to the 25s using Atmaphere amps and pre,analog front end.... It did not take long to reallize the Special 25s are a better speaker and for less money....Listen to these amps if you can,driving the 25s ,you can not go wrong with Simaudio, Atma-phere,and David Berning driving the 25s.

Stiltskin,

Slightly OT, but did you by any chance audition the Confidence C1 as well? When I purchased my Special 25's the dealer had C1's on hand but he thought the 25 would be a better speaker for my room (which at the time it was) so I never listened to them. However, since then I have heard a lot of good things about the C1's.

Thanks for your imput on the amps. At this point I am leaning a bit towards the W-5, mainly because it has a good reputation of having synergy with Dyns.

Hi Tim916,Is your set up home theater?,or both, audio and h.t.? Spending money on a Sim W5 or a Pass amp to drive the Dyna 25s and using any DVD/cd player as your primary source.... You will never realize what these speakers and amps can do in a proper set up.You all ready have a truly great speaker, the 25s are far beyond the C1,did your dealer know what you are using for a front end?Tim maybe you are looking at new front end too,? I dont know? If not,maybe you should look for a better dealer.

My set up is for both HT and 2-ch. The DVD-3800 actually acts as a transport for the AVP2 which has pretty good DAC's built into it. It will work as an analog preamp but in order to do that I would have to turn off the sub output which would screw things up for HT. I realize that I am compromising 2-channel sound with this type of system but I use it for 50/50 music and movies so that is ok. Being in a large room (21 x 15 with 11ft ceiling) I figure the 25's might be able to use some extra juice.

Hi Tim,Your McCormack is a darn good amp,at a 100 watts plus it should drive the 25s silly,though it may not be a good match up for the Dynas.Aroom that size,near feild listening for any speaker of this size is a good way to start,how loud do you need it? I have heard the 25s driven with 30 watts per ,however 60 watts per and up will shake things up better.If your heart is set on a Sim amp, the W-3 will do a [very good] job, period.The money saved could go toward a Sim audio cd and or a Sim dvdcd player.There are afew members here using Dynaudio 25s,hunt them down and see what they have for system recipes.... Go slow and good luck.....