Pass XA30.5 enough power for Wilson Sophia 2?

I have a Pass Labs XA30.5 currently driving a pair of B&W 802Ds and it drives them OK. I could use a little more power but the 802Ds have a very steep impedance curve. However the midrange and highs are glorious and the bass is very deep and tight. It just not play as loud I would like at times. It can get a little loose on some passages. The Wilsons are much easier to drive than the 802Ds and the impedance curve is not near as steep. The XA 30.5 is the finest amp I have owned sonically speaking. I am barrowing the 802Ds until get my my Apogee Divas redone by Rich Murry at True Soundworks. I will be selling the XA30.5 and purchasing a set of Pass Labs XA100.5 monoblocks within the next month or two.

In many rooms and depending on typical listening levels I suspect it is enough power, but there will be times in some settings, with some music, when it might make you wish you had the XA-60s. When it comes to the Pass line, I would by the amp with the fewest watts that are sifficient, I just think the lower the wattage the better the sound, IF, it is enough to drive your speakers. The XA30s are borderline and I can understand it being a difficult decision which, unfortuantely, you can only find the answer by trying them in your home with the music and volume levels you enjpoy.

Pass may rate it at 30 wpc (its pure class A rating), but looking at Stereophiles measurements, it puts out 130 watts into 8 ohms and 195 into 4. It's transitioned to A/B but more important, it's not clipping. So on paper you might not think it's enough power but under the hood it's more than you think. Still might not be enough for "you", we don't know how much spl you like.

According to this list of specifications at the Wilson site the Sophia 2 has a sensitivity of 86db/W/m, rather than the 88 mentioned above. Based on the assumptions of 195W max amp power into its 4 ohm nominal impedance, a 4-meter (13 foot) listening distance, a 6db reduction in spl for each doubling of distance, and adding 3db to reflect the presence of 2 speakers, I calculate that maximum spl at the listening position will be 100db.

That is certainly good enough for most music at reasonable listening volumes. But ime it is roughly 5db too low to adequately handle music that has very wide dynamic range, such as a lot of classical symphonic music, if the recording is well engineered and minimally compressed.

Best regards,
-- Al