What did you like about the Pass...and what was it lacking that you would like to get with a different product? How much gain do you anticipate you will need? Would you like a unit with balanced ins/outs?
There seems to be much praise over the new ARC PH5. I have not heard this. I had the PH2 for many years and liked it a lot as it was extremely low noise, very tonally coherent and with the bloomy ARC LS5 line stage, there was a very good 3-dimensional presentation. When I brought home the PH3, the sound was too fatiguing and forward to me.
If you can afford a BAT VK-P10, that is a mighty fine unit and goes for around $2k on the used market. This replaced the PH2 as the BAT had more gain. They were very similar tonally but the BAT had a little more dynamic authority; when you take the top off a BAT unit and see the power supply, you can see why this is the case.
If you can go up a little more, and you really like decay of the notes and awesome portrayal of space, the Aesthetix Io comes in. It is more susceptible to a higher noise floor so you have to put a lot of effort to find low-noise tubes and try many types. The Telefunken 12AX7's work beautifully here. The standard (non-signature) unit sells now and then in the $3k range.
The highly praised Counterpoint SA9 also comes around now and then in the $3k range but these don't last long at all on the market either.
So there's a handful of models to consider in the $2-3k range.
John
