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AR LS 26 and Pass Labs X350.5 Compatible?

Hello to all the audiophiles here on Audiogon. Being new to the high end of audio I was wondering if some of the more knowledgeable experts could give me their opinion on something I've been thinking of.

Recently, I upgraded my venerable Ohm 4s to the 4.5 S3 and I wanted to pair it with an Audio Research LS 26 and a Pass Labs X350.5, both of these choices after reading some of the forum opinions here.

I contacted Pass Labs and a gentlemen named Desmond said there would be no problems with the pairing. However, after reading some opinions on mixing solid state amps with pre amp tubes would they really be compatible or would there be a better alternative? Thanks in advance for any replies!
aurelius
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dpac996's avatar
dpac996
734 posts
 
Bob,
I am somewhat troubled by those findings as well, but when you realize the output capacitance it has to be that way. But it seems odd that ~18k for a sota preamp... this should not be the case. To get the most potential from your system specs like this sort of force you to use amps with at least 50K ohms nominal Zin. There is no getting around it.
dpac996's avatar
dpac996
734 posts
 
Bob, that x10 multiplier "rule" is not something I put much faith in. To actually calculate the drop in dB for this kind of case you simply apply the voltage divider principle at a specific frequency. For example if at 20 Hz the output impedance (what the up stream impedance looks like to the downstream element through same ground return) is 4,800 ohms, and the input impedance at that same frequency is 22,000 (it could actually be different, these are frequency dependent) you get a basic voltage drop of 22k/(22k+4.8k); if it is 1 volt pre divison we are talking 1 v x 0.82, or in dB a -1.7 dB loss. Audible? probably not a whole lot, but that is using these figures. Personally I would rather not like to incur these losses when spending this kind of bread. I would hope that after spending thousands of after tax dollars my electronics can stay razor flat between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. My speakers and room interact to mess the rest of it up but nothing is perfect, eh?
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