Thoughts of Pass XA30.5, 60.5

Samhvcc,

You are right on in the comparison of the 30.5 & the 60.5.
I own a 30.5 & I continually consider buying another.
My Avalon Avatars & my Apogee Stages are biwirable/biampable. Both speakers would obviously sound better with more power.
There are a consistent number of 30.5s for sale here simply because the owners want more power. They're happy with the 30.5 sound, they just want more grunt.
From a purist standpoint, the 30.5 should sound better, because you are dedicating a discrete channel to the hi/lo section of each speaker. As long as each 30.5 is biased the same, you can use one amp on each speaker (vertically biamp). This allows short speaker cale runs - you can place each amp very close to each speaker, like a monobloc.
If you're not sure each amp is biased the same, you can just use one for the tweeter section of each speaker, and one for the low frequency (horizontal biamp).
I've done all this before, on my Magnepan 3.3Rs.
I used Adcom 555IIs and Parasound HCA1200IIs. I had my dealer bias the Parasounds, they did sound better/stronger than the Adcoms because by definition the vertical biamped setup allows more power to each low frequency section,
simply because the tweeter section draws less power & leaves more of the power supply for the low frequency section.
All these details become moot on a speaker like the Wilson, with only one set of speaker inputs. This speaker type requires that you use one stereo amp or two monoblocs..

One thing to be careful of is the load impedance that would be seen by the preamp. The XA30.5 has an input impedance of 30K balanced and 20K unbalanced. If the preamp were driving two XA30.5 inputs, and if the preamp has two pairs of outputs that are not individually buffered (as is often the case), it would see only 15K balanced or 10K unbalanced, the same as if a y-adapter were used with a single pair of outputs. Many preamps, especially tube preamps, cannot properly drive that low an impedance.

If the preamp provides two pairs of outputs that are individually buffered (as opposed to simply being wired together inside the rear panel), that would not be a concern (although the 30K/20K is still low enough to be a problem for some preamps).

Regards,
-- Al

You also need a very, very good Xover such as the Pass XVR1 which costs $4,000.

You are talking an additional $9,500!!!

Don c55,

All the speakers I mentioned do not need an active crossover.
It is an optional luxury.