Pass X150.5 vs. X250.5

I have owned two Pass amps. The meter at 11:00 isn't pushing the amp all that hard. So I'd be a little surprised if the harsh peaks you are hearing are attributable to the amp being overtaxed. I therefore think you should look elsewhere in the system for the source of the harshness, before you consider changing amps.

Bryon

Perhaps not. There is not much more class A headroom between those 2 models. You would be going from 10 watts to 15 watts into 8 ohms. You'd probably need to go to the XA60.5 to get an improvement, but it depends upon the size of your room. With a big room, you may even need to get the XA100.5, or a more efficient speaker.

Kind of figured there was not much to be had by going to the 250.5. The speakers are average efficiency, around 6 ohm if I remember correctly. The room is roughly 13x18x8, so about average too. Ww carpet on floor, some absorbers at first reflection, no real furniture to speak of other than 2 cabinets on side walls. Using Pass X2.5 pre, all balanced Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference, Kimber 12TC double bi-wire to speakers. Playing with speaker position and tilt forever! Guess that is the direction to go for now!