Ribbon cable inside amplifiers

Nervous Nellie here, lol

The Pass XA-25 came today after weather delays from California to Washington State, I am 70 and my goal is to phase out my tube gear so it’s easy for my wife to handle my system when I pass on,she is a young hottie lol., the Pass amp is the first step…plus I have been having major tube amp problems…I think reading what everyone says about this stuff can really mess with your head…good reviews bad reviews…my review while am sitting here listening to all my music with a different amp…everything is way more intense and not in a harsh way but a exciting way…that’s right out of the box today with 4 hours of listening…from what I have read when this thing gets some hours it really shines..I am a happy camper right now..right now the preamp is a Primaluna Dialogue Premium which is going away with the Primaluna amp..was thinking about getting the Pass preamp to make a good marriage….wow this thing rocks…Playing a real intense song with hard bass and it really grabs you in a good way..the song Diamonds by Malaa very intense..

I would welcome preamp recommendations…I was worried this would make my Forte IVs bright, not even close..a nice sweet sound in the mids and treble…not harsh at all, the Fortes have a nice bass but this amp makes it better..no complaints…

@audphile1 my pass is about 3 yrs old.  It was a demo, but brand new condition.  I miss Reno Hi Fi. It took about a week to break in and it takes an hour to fully warm up.  I think it has a very smooth, accurate, neutral and nice bass.  I am set, my last amp.

I ran XP12 and XP22 with XA30.8 and X260.8. Good synergy. Recently compared XP22 and Audio Research Ref6. The ARC preamp is a good companion to Pass amp, but you’re sticking with solid state…so Pass is a good choice. 

Thanks…my wife can’t handle messing with tubes…I can’t go wrong with the Pass Preamps…This Primaluna preamp with all Mullard tubes from the 1960s is sounding good…anyone who likes Primaluna will get some awesome tubes..I have a matched set of 8 EL34 Mullards from the 1960s for the amp that came from Andy at vintage tube service…

@daledeee1 yup about an hour to come to temperature and start to really sing but even cold my X260.8 monos sound great.