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RE: Yamaha vs. Pass

Posted by AbeCollins (A) on February 14, 2014 at 20:04:50

In Reply to: Yamaha vs. Pass posted by mikepittarelli on February 13, 2014 at 14:32:35:

I wonder if power was a limiting factor with the Pass XA-30.5. As good as some of these amps can supposedly be, if you don't have enough power for the speakers, it's going to sound not so great.

Not that I'm defending Pass as I have owned a few items from Pass. My 30wpc Aleph 3 and the newer Aleph 30 were both similar sounding in my setup. I don't know if it was typical Class A 'softness' or what but neither of these amps were very dynamic or transparent. They were smooth yes, but other than that, I found them lacking. This was with my Tannoy Definition D500 speakers. I wouldn't even attempt using these amps with my Thiels.

On the other hand, I've had pretty nice setups based on the X150.5 and the X2.5 preamp, or a nice tube preamp driving the X150.5. Of course this was a much more powerful system which took better control of my speakers and dynamics were much improved.

I am now running the XP-10 driving a pair of Spread Spectrum Technologies Ampzilla 2000 2nd Edition mono amps. I like the combo a lot.

Thanks for your comments on the Yamaha A-S2000. I might have to try that integrated someday.

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