Aesthetix Calypso compatible with Pass amps?

Hi Darrin,

That impedance match should not be any issue whatsoever.

I know BAT says 10/1 is fine, and more conservative companies like ARC/Aesthetix recommend 20 or even 30/1. Your Calypso has a 600 output impedence, the Pass' 22K input impedence represents more than a 36/1 ratio.

I don't think impedence will be any factor at all in this situation. FWIW, I currently am using a tube preamp with an output impedence of 600 ohms into my amps with an input impedence of 18K ohm with no issues at all.

Regards,
John

I had tryd the Calypso with my Pass 250.5 it was a nice match. But a little to layed back for me & The upper end was a little (and I mean a little)on the dark side. Bass was real good not to fat & real tunefull. Midrange was open & transparent really really good. My speakers are Totom Forest. Hope this helps you.

Rhythmace4218, e-mail Pass with all the specs for your preamp and asked them if there may be any issues. They're pretty good responding to e-mails.
Calypso has 29db output gain, which may be pretty high for the Pass amp. I have adjustable gain on my preamp with 600ohms out-impedance just like the Calypso and when I set the gain to 24db in balanced mode, the amp is getting driven too hard I think. I end up using either 12db or 18db output gain, depending on what I'm listening to.
But I never use the high-gain setting.

But as I said, you better ask the people who build the amps.

I've used this very combination, and there is no impedance mismatch if run in balanced. I totally disagree with Ben954. The Calypso is not dark in any respect at all. If anything, it can be a bit brightly lit in the top end with this amp. The Pass 250.5 is hardly laid back in the high end either. It is a decent match, though I would not recommend this combinaton with metal tweeters, only soft domes.