Pass X-150

I too am utterly amazed at the quality of parts used on some of these "hi-end" products and how they are laid out.

What i really love is when you have horribly small binding posts mounted very closely together. On top of that, you can't fit any decent sized wire into them. On top of that, they are mounted right above the IEC jack / power cord, which makes things even tougher. This is not to mention the problem with the AC field being right next to the speaker cables, etc...

You really have to wonder if "engineers" design this stuff or if these people actually use the stuff that they design ??? Like i've said before, if some of these guys were designing RF gear, we'd still be using tin cans and strings to communicate with.... Sean
>

While I don't have a new Pass amp, I do have 2 older Threshold S series. They had pathetic binding posts. They don't accept Banana's, as you mentioned, and the posts are quite thin. I have replaced them with Cardas copper binding posts and am quite happy with them.

Sean, I am with you, why do they put the IEC plug so close to the binding posts? Why are those posts so close and weak? Fortunately for me, I have my equipment in a large enough area that I can route the cables so they stay away from each other, but not long ago, it was a problem. While I am not an engineer, I think putting the IEC plugs in a rear corner or perhaps on the side towards the back. I know, the cooling fins wouldn't be as pretty and there may be a space issue with it on the side, but......

I love my old amps, glad you like yours too. If you are so inclined, try to change the binding posts, you just might be very glad you did!

Best regards, Matt

Odd, I used both banana and spades on my X-150. The power cord receptor was several inches to the left, not directly above. All connectors were gold plated and sturdy. Perhaps the garden hose cable manufacturer is at fault here. You don't see those much anymore.

I agree that changing binding posts can be beneficial in more ways than one. The problem is that this too can be a bigger chore than what one expects, especially if the internal cabling is soldered to the post rather than connected via some type of eyelet or ring terminal.

As far as i'm concerned, the power cord / IEC jack should be located directly in the middle near the bottom of the back panel. Since the transformer(s) should be centrally located between the amplification circuits, which are normally mounted on the left and right sides of the chassis in most modern 2 channel designs, this would allow the manufacturers to install the input jacks in their respective upper corners and the binding posts measurably below them in their lower respective corners. This approach would achieve reasonable separation of input to output signals, minimize crosstalk between left and right channels, reduce contamination from AC cords to signal cables AND allow easy connection to each of the respective jacks.

This seems SO simple yet how many manufacturers get it right or even think about such things ??? Sean
>

There are no rules that apply to amp design. If one looks at the Pass X-150, you will see all connector locations are well thought out. Nelson Pass is not going to spend years on circuit signal purification, and then mess it up with neglecting something so elementary as "cross talk" isolation.