Mcintosh 601's vs Classe CA-M600'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.

I heard the xa160.5's today and was BLOWN AWAY. I hate to say it, but I preferred them to the xa200.5's.

Mike,

There are those who think that smaller amps have reasons they sound a little better than their bigger brothers. I lean that way as long as you are NOT anywhere near clipping.

Nelson has figured out a way to make this less of an issue if someone does need the power. One thing that's nice is that nice blue meter that just sits there doing nothing UNTIL you start leaving the class A. You still have lots of power after that but if you like to bathe in pure class A, it's a sign you need more power.

Case in point: My first XA was the 30.5. It drove my Magnepan 3.6's easily and only on the louder peaks the meter would wiggle but it still sounded great. Being a mono block fan, it was an easy jump to the 100.5's and that became a match from heaven and the needle hasn't moved.

btw, my 30.5 went to work driving the little brother to your Strads, the Guarneri Homage.

Onemeg - here is my rational for the 160.5 as well (over the 200.5). My 4 ohm speakers can only handle up to 300 watts....so with the 160.5 being 320 watts of class A into 4 ohms....I'm thinking that could be a really good match. Agree?

I'm just not sure the added expense of the 200.5 will give me a lot more with my current speakers.

Mike

I'm running Symphonic Line Kraft 250s that are Class A. They get warm but not hot - and actually run cooler than the Class A/B Plinius SB-301 stereo amp they replaced in my system.

The Symphonic Line website lists Sonus Faber as one of the manufacturers that use SL amps to design their products. They are not as well known as Pass here in the U.S., but they are in the same league as other top European amps like FM Acoustics, Gryphon, Dartzeel etc.