2. amps-preamps
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What's a good alternative to Pass Labs?

Owner of the x250.5 (pass labs). It's a remarkable amplifier, it just doesn't seem to synergize all that well with my speaker. Something a little less bright (a little more forgiving) and something slightly less warm. It seems to get warmest in the mid-bass (bloat), and brightest of course in the higher treble. The mid-bass warmth/bloat exists at lower as well as higher volumes, the brightness starts to get bad at louder volumes. I think they that Pass is a warm neutral, so perhaps i'm just looking for something that's just neutral. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

budget less than $10k. used or new ok.
coloneltushfinger
bo1972's avatar
bo1972
2,789 posts
 
When you still own the T&A loudspeakers I would sell them
directly. They are very poor in crossovers. To be honest I could
not sell this to my clients. In this price range there are
enough better speakers. The biggest limitation in audio is that
over 90% of all products is not worth their money in my personal
opinion.
jafant's avatar
jafant
20,114 posts
 
Colonel-

you may want to re-think your preamp. Any preamp is going to be the heart of any system. If you do not get this right, nothing else matters...

List your cables/powers cords as well. IMO, this is the 2nd most over-looked aspect of any rig. Keep me posted!

Happy Listening.
melbguy1
1,438 posts
 
Colonel, Classe gear is neutral sounding. If you like your Classe CP-800 pre, for synergy I would consider a Classe CA-2300 which you could buy new for about $7k. Alternatively, you could move on your Classe pre & look for a good 2nd hand Vitus RI-100 which would be a nice upgrade for about the same coin.
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