What effects soundstage more ....

The Pass gear should not sound harsh when set up properly. I agree with Sean (as i usually do) that you may want to look at your cabling and be sure you are feeding the X250 adequate power. Power cabling also can drastically change the sound of the Pass preamps. Power cables don't have as great an effect on the Amps as much as the preamps.

I use dedicated lines, but I never have had the harshness you report with the non-dedicated lines. Non dedicated lines' quality is also dictated by what else is on the line. I had nothing using the circuits, but they were open and had cabling run to unused outlets via smaller gauge than is used now on my 10ga dedicated lines.

I use Synergistic cables with the Pass gear I own and have never had anyone express any notice of fatigue or harshness with any of my sources.

Ultimately, you should mix and match components to see if you find a mix that suits your tastes. I am fairly certain that the X250 isn't running out gas unless it is receiving an inadequate voltage from the wall. Try a different set of cabling to determine if that is the incompatibility issue causing you to be discontent. Best Regards,

Plinius is "voiced" with Siltech wire. I prefer copper, myself, but that's just me.

I think I am going to try to change out the preamps and see what that does to the sound. All I want is the tone of the plinius set with the soundstage and low frequency weight at low volumes of the pass set. I do not have a lot of experience with cabling ( the ones used in this audition were Harmonic Technology IC and XLO s/c ) but what would be easier to accomplish with cabling, a bigger soundstage and low frequency boost ( this could be gainied with better placing of the speakers maybe? ) or sweetening the tone throughout all frequencies? Or is that too much to ask of cables?

I am leaning towards getting the pass setup. I do not plan on my current speakers being the ones at the final step of this process. I imagine some time down the road upgrading those so I think the pass stuff allows me more flexibility on speakers ( in the case of a power hungry speaker ).

I appreciate all of your comments. Thank you for your time. Also anyone else feel free to chime in on your thoughts/experiences.

While this is years later, my experience confirms the OP that the harshness in the Pass 2.5/250 is pretty normal. The 250 can be a bit harsch, as Nelson Pass will completely attest to and hence the move to the 250.5 which was much smoother and subsequently again to his new amps, which are even more smooth. This being 2010, there have been a lot of improvements with Nelson's amps, towards less strident or smoother performance. I does not surprise me that the OP encountered this scenario with the Pass and at the same time felt the plinius' soundstage did not hold up to the pass combo.