Pass labs x350.5 VS. McIntosh MC402

Thanks for the responses and input. I have a pair of Infinity Kappa 7 speakers that I am currently running with the Levinson amp. I also have a pair of Kappa 9 speakers that I am in the process of re-foaming (waiting for the foam kits to arive). I live in Alaska and we do have a McIntosh dealer here, they have told me that I can bring my speakers in and demo them anytime. A demo with the Pass Labs amp is pretty much out of the question. On my next trip to Seattle I will try to locate a Pass Labs dealer and give a listen on some demanding speakers if possible.

This is yet another example of the compelling differences amoung sonic tastes!! Both are exquisite for sure. A while back I had a Pass X250.5. It was driving my Dynaudio Contour S3.4s. A friend had the MC402 with his Dyn s3.4s. We swapped amps. I would say the Mac was tipped to the warmer side of the spectrum, and the pass, cool neutrality. Depending on program content, each trait of these fine amplifiers would show off it's potential a bit better over the other. If I could get an amp that has the best of both of these amps, I would probably stop writing about the sound so much.

This was the X250.5. I have not yet heard the X350.5, which I hear is a bit better than the X250.5 (perhaps the 'better' translates to a bit more liquid and good tone sounding in the midband, perhaps it means more frequency extension. For me I did not see how this was possible as I felt that the X250.5 was ultra resolving)

I did feel that in my setup they were sonically closer though, than different, but I have to say the Pass has more ass in the lower octaves (in the dyns 4 ohm nominal load, Pass rated for 500 wpc, mc402 being autoformer remains the 400 --but I would not get too hung up on the numbers). Where the MC402 excelled was its laid back warmish perspective of the music. It seemed to pull me in and was ultra easy to listen too. My latest trend about the sound I am going for is taking me away from the ultra resolution sound. I find this tiring and actually boring, as it seems more mechanical in nature than fluid, realxed and inviting ('musical'?). To that end you would be surprised at how the little Audio Research 100.2 makes this a reality.

Get both in your house if possible. Spend hours and hours. Its the only reliable way to know if you have a keeper or next weeks big shipment.

Thanx for your input Dpac996 and for the referance to the Audio Research 100.2. Unfortunately I cannot even entertain the thought of an amp less than 400 WPC. My Infinity Kappa 9 speakers (or K-9's as I like to call them) are very demanding to say the least and would more than likely send most 200 watt or less amps to the recycle bin.

Bear with me while I make a comparison, A good friend of mine has a pair of the Kappa 8 speakers that he is running with a 400 WPC Denon amp. This set up will get extremely loud while maintaining pretty good sound quality (though not captivating) all the way up to "run and hide levels" in his listening room. When he walks over and turns on his 15 inch Velodyne sub things get real. The pictures on the walls rearange themselves and I could swear that there is a standing wave in the toilet bowl that could capsize the "tidy bowl" man's boat. Ha, Ha! I couldn't resist that one. That is deffinately pushing his amp to it's limits, things get very hot and sound quality suffers. You can just sence the Kappa 8's desire to have more power behind them to maintain sound quality.

My K-9's are more demanding than the Kappa 8's are, they drop down to .8 ohm pluss have an extra 12" driver and extra tweeter over the 8's along with a crossover from h&!!. I am aware that the correct power match for my K-9's would be a pair of mono block amps in the 500+ watt range but unfortunately I am a working man with teenage kids and the stereo budget has limits for the time being. While I do not usualy listen at volume levels that will shake your house off the foundation and make your ears bleed I feel that one of these 2 channel amps (or something similar) will be up to the task with some respect shown for the throttle knob.
I have enjoyed my Levinson amp paired with my Kappa 7 speakers but it simply wasn't designed for the type of load that the K-9's demand.

I could be wrong so if anyone out there has tried running a pair of Infinity Kappa 9 with a similar 400 WPC amp please tell me your thoughts or the results of this set up.

Goodwr3nch

If you are serious about driving your speakers to those levels from time to time(and I think you are), you should be thinking minimum McIntosh 501 monos. The pass x350.5 would be pretty sick (as in good) as well. Methinks the McIntosh MC402 will not have the drive you are looking for.