Sonus Faber Stradivari amp: X600.5 or X1000.5 ?

I suspect the XA160.5 will have more than enough power, and is superior to the X600.5 (which I owned). The extra class A power provides the ability to play music more cleanly at a high volume. The remarkable thing about extra class A is the control at climaxes, with preservation of the soundstage. If the X600.5 can play louder, it will sound more harsh and congested, and the soundstage will collapse.

You may need to be open to try different preamps.

It sounds like you intend to listen at very high volumes. The Strads can go loud, but you're talking about volumes well in excess of 110 db. You should talk to Sumiko (assuming that you live in the U.S.) or Sonus Faber to determine whether the drivers and crossover will hold up if played frequently at those kind of volumes. I ran Ebens which use Audio Technology midrange drivers like the Strads and they do not handle power as well as a lot of other drivers (in fact, other speakers that use Audio Technology drivers, e.g., Verity, Peak Consult, Rockport, are not known to be rock and roll speakers). For those kinds of volumes, I again ask why you are not using something like big Wilsons or horns.

Raquel:

Near my Strads i'm haveing a pair of Klipsch P-39F used for my home cinema. Thats why when i need to switch to them and to my cinema i need to have a powerful amp to drive these horns. Anyway i still want the class A watts but i want to be very sure that i can listen at very loud volumes with this XA160.5 on Strads.

Johnb30,

When you listened to your Mac 501's, what was the meter indicating at your louder volumes?

Onemug:

When i'm listening to very very loud it stay at 500W and sometimes at extreme levels go up to 1000W.