Mcintosh 601's vs Classe CA-M600's

Don't those Mac 2301's put out a a lot of heat?

I live in the Southern Calif desert area. We get hotter than you but you have the
humidity on us.

Even with "our" heat, I'd recommend the big Pass. I use the
XA100.5 monos and yes they put out some heat so our air conditioning works
a little harder for a few months in the Summer and that is just for the hours
(maybe 2-6) they are on.

Do you leave your amps on all the time? A nice thing about the Pass is their
standby switch. It keep the caps charged with NO heat and draws only a few
watts. When I switch the amps on, they sound pretty good right away and get
better during the first hour so I don't leave them on 24/7. Their XA.5 amps
aren't really limited to their power rating, that's only how much they put out in
pure class A. Even the 100.5's may be enough for you (and less heat than the
200.5's).

Yes, they put out a lot of heat. I read that the xa200.5 put out nearly 1400 watts of heat at rest. Yowser! The 2301's don't put out quite that much.

Have you ever compared the xa's to something like the Bryston 28SST2's or Classe CA-M600's?

Mike

The JC-1's are absolutely in the same class as the amps you mention. Don't let their price tag fool you.

Yes I am a current JC-1 owner, and have owned amps from Mark Levinson, Classe, Linn, Pass Labs, Ayre, and a few more I can't think of at the moment.

They are outstanding amplifiers, period.

Is heat from these Class A amps an issue? Can you see them heating up a room worse than my tube amps (Mc 2301's)?

Mike,

Haven't compared those exact models you named to my XA's but have heard other amps in those lines and the Pass was much more to my liking.

I had a Mac MC2000 (4 KT88's per side) and it put out a lot more heat than my Pass. I would bet your 2301's put out more heat than Pass. Yes, the XA200's "draw" 1400 watts from the wall but the actual temp of the heat sinks is about 50 degrees above room temp (same for the 100 or 200 watt ones). Again, that's at the tip of heat sink. When I measure the top of the amp it's around 110 degrees. I just measured one of my 300b tubes at a little more than 200 degrees. Thankfully I only have 2 of them. I would imagine your KT88 are similar and you have 16 (?) of them.

The Pass amps do not put out any heat when they are on "in standby". When you switch to operate they start to heat up. To my ears they sound good in just a few minutes and continue to improve for 30 mins to an hour. No need to leave them on all the time.