Pass/musical fidelity for focal scala

"07-13-14: Didi1606
Really nice of you two to share it.. I know every equipment must be equally to get a "better sound.. Right now my budget for something around 5-10k.. So my priority is getting the amp first, later to get everything else done.."

I just want to clarify my last post. I wasn't saying you need to buy everything right now. Very few people have the means to do it that way. One piece at a time is perfectly OK. When I say you are going too fast, I mean that you are going to buy expensive, specialized equipment, without the knowledge and experience you need to make a good choice for yourself.

Here's a good example of a very common problem. You buy the JM Labs speaker and a Pass amp. After a month or two, the high frequencies start to bother you. They're a bit harsh and unnatural sounding. You don't enjoy listening to music anymore, and you now find that you need to fix the system so you can listen to it. At this point, you start a thread here on Audiogon asking for suggestions on what to do. Here's a list of recommendations you are going to get.

You need to buy a tube preamp.
You need to change your cables.
You need to clean your AC up by running dedicated lines to your system.
You need to buy speakers that don't have metal tweeters.
You need to buy a tube amp.
You need to buy a better source.
You need to treat your listening room with various acoustic products.

You may get other recommendations, as well, but the ones I list above, you'll definitely get. So looking at all this, what would you do? Where would you begin?

I think he needs a lot of money :)

Options to get a lot of money soon.

You need to robe a bank
You need to win the lotery
You need to find a new job
You need to find a rich woman

Or......look for a cheaper hobby!

Perhaps you should try contacting both Focal and Pass support and asking what each thinks of the synergy between the two components. Pass support is very good and will tell you if they don't think the two are a good match. I don't know about Focal, but with those two perspectives, you'll probably be in a pretty good place to make a decision.

I think this thread has been a little over-the-top on the cautious approach. Not necessarily wrong, but you've got to start somewhere...

Hi Didi,
Zd has a point. Especially with the speakers that you have
bought. Scala (I'm not sure what you have is V1 or V2) but
nonetheless, it's a well-built, sonically wonderful speaker,
provided it has "equivalent" gears along the
signal chain to support it. Or else, it will sound quite
bright and fatiguing. Zd said a month or two, but I'd go out
on a limb to say, by week #2, you'd want to throw them away
without necessary supporting act to make them really sing.

To answer your question, I think XA60.5 will do fine with
Scala. Pass matches well with Focal. Although I have a more
humble system than the one you supposedly trying to build, I
do have a hands-on experience. I have Electra 1028 Be and
Pass XA30.5. However, getting back to the point I tried to
make above, you won't be able to tell if the matching is a
good one with just Scala + XA60.5 + Oppo. You'll need a
"matching" pre-amp, source, cables (including
powercords) and possibly a good power supply. (I'm not a
cable craze like some of the people here, but I do agree a
mid-fi/hi-fi system needs a decent set of cables. And
powercords DO matter.)

Just to give you an idea, it took me more than a year to get
the sound that I'm satisfied and comfortable with out of my
system. And I confidently know that I have not provided my
Electra the necessary gears to make it sing at 100%
potential. But it is now personalized to my taste and good
enough to give me chills now and then and I can listen to it
for hours without fatigue. When I look back right now, the
cost of Electra is only about 20% of the whole system. I'm
just trying to give you an idea of what you're embarking
upon.

I do not know how to give advice on what you should do next.
That is solely based on you and your situation. To be frank
and do pardon me, you are not even in a situation to do any
home demo yet (I wish I had someone who told me that when I
started my rig. I could have saved a lot more time and money
for the marry-go-around).

But if I must, just to throw a suggestion out there, and
again this is your money and your decision, get the Pass
amp. Then, if you're more into music, get Pass XP-10 pre,
but if you're into HT, get a nice pre/pro (not the typical
Best Buy junk either) and a good source. And go from there.
You might be selling back some of the gears you will buy,
but in this hobby, I think it is inevitable. Experience must
be learned with pain and there's just no other way around
it. We all have our own personal taste and no one on this
site will be able to pin point the "correct"
system made just for you right from the start. It will be
your journey.

Note: I'm jealous of you being able to afford the Scala for
your first rig.