Ayre K-5xe Pre + Pass Labs X250.5 Good match?


Hi all,

need some input on the compatibility of Ayre passive K-5xe Pre with Pass Labs X250.5.
The Ayre has output impedance of 55 ohms. The Pass has input impedance of 22 kohm balanced, 11 kohm unbalanced. So on paper they looks ok....do they?

do you guys foresee any problem?

Thanks
pingpong
Hi. As far as I know both companies are often displayed together at shows. The German distributor normaly matches the Pass power amps with Hovland Pre´s (which are according to him better - as they are in my experience) and uses Ayre digitals as the source. Probably this helps?
Frankpiet,
Thanks for the info. The reason why i trying to avoid Pass pre is because their per volume step is 3dB. and methink Hovland also uses 3dB per volume step in their pre..

Cheers...
No. Hovland uses 1 or two db steps. why don´t you go for a Jeff Rowland Synergy - 0,5 db steps?
Frankpiet,

Thanks for the clarification, I just checked Hovland site, it is indeed 2 dB steps.

Thanks u.