Pass Labs XA- ".5" ???

gandme, that is an interesting question. I personally believe that unless the speakers are really inefficient and dips down to less than 4 ohms and the user listens at pretty loud volumes (>90db), most people do not need a whole lot of power. I do not mean to start a war over this but I just happen to believe in quality of power over quantity. I wish I could actuall measure the amp output but my theoretical calculations for my listening conditions shows that I do not really ever need more than 140w. Empirically, I have listened to other Pass amps at very loud volumes and have never seen the meter ever move (according to PAss that means the amp is still operating in Class A).

Anyway, just my opinion...

Tbooe, you can't be serious that you haven't seen the meter move on Pass amps. On your XA amp, that series the meter should never move. But on the X series, the meter moves on my 250.5 when I play above anything approaching high medium volume levels. So, I cannot believe your claim that you have listened to other Pass amps at very loud volume and never seen the meter move. What, with 100db horns?

The meter thing is sure weird. I have 87Db 4ohm speaker in a 25x 18 ft room and play at medium level. The x350.5 meter only moves when I play double bass or organ stuff very loud. I barely shakes a hair on loud orchestral passages. I think the meter moves only when I switch out of class A to AB and I guess 350.5 is at least 50W class A.

With the same speaker, if the Mac meter is correct, I rarely exceed 30W.

kevziek..calm down dude...no offense meant. I heard the x350.5 with Vienna Acoustics Mahler and at what I consider loud, the meter did not move. And yes, I know that the meters on the XA do not move (I do own them after all).

What speakers do you have? The Mahlers are 90db at a nominal impedance of 6ohms.

Anyway, as I said in my post, this is just my opinion and my experiences....