Pass Labs xa - .5 amps

Lots of Pass fans here. I haven't heard the XA30.5 or XA 60.5 but I had the Aleph 3, 5, 2, XA 160 and now have the XA 100.5. Sorry if this post deviates a little from the origial question.

With the exception of the Aleph 3, all of these amps drove my Eggleston Rosa which is 87dB, 6 ohm nominal and 4 ohm minimum. My room is 16.5' X 15.5' X 7.5' for a total of 1918 cubic feet. I find the XA100.5 to be by far the best of the Pass amps that I have had in my system. Having gone from 30 watts to 60 to 100 to 160 and back to 100, I have concluded that in my room with my speakers the extra power made a very noticable difference, especially the extra current and doubling of power with the halving of impedence of the XA.5 - 200watts at 4ohm load.

The impovement is in greater ease and flow of the music and much better grip and impact of lower frequencies. The noise floor is lower and focus/staging are better, but this is because of the improved circuit, not power I think. Also everything became quicker. If I could have afforded the XA160.5, that would have been even better at 320watts at 4ohms. The Egglestons love power, even in my small room. I listen at an average 85 dB with peaks above 100dB.

Having said all that, I bet the XA30.5 with a 91+dB efficient speaker would sould incredible. Hope this helps and congratulations.

Mozvz,
I second Tvad's suggestion to contact Reno HIFI. If you do not have a local dealer to audition the amps directly, Mark at Reno is an excellent option. His prices are fair and he allows in-home auditions for 30 days. He is very pleasant to deal with, but he is not local.

RmRobinson,
Sorry I did'nt see the second part of your original post. As far as speaker cables are concerned, Pass recommends short lengths and thick cables with their amps. I use Harmonic Technology Pro 9 plus cables 1.5 meters long as recommended by my dealer, and they work great with my XA100.5s. With monoblocks you can use shorter cables by placing the amps just behind the speakers, but my dealer recommended nothing shorter than 4-5 feet. Hope that helps.
Peter

My XA100.5 is room temp in standby mode, warm after powered on, slightly warmer after a few hours of music. The XA160 was warmer still, but never hot, the Aleph 2 was VERY HOT. There was a photo circulating on the net of the Aleph 3 with a fried egg on top of it.

Soren,
I have the XA100.5. I used to have the XA160. In my system, Eggleston speakers 87dB/6ohm, the 160s were a little slow/heavy in the bass as you describe. The XA100.5 has much faster, more articulate and defined bass and are better balanced overall. Great control over the woofers. The mids on voice and strings are exceptionally involving - lots of body and presence. I have not heard the XA30.5 or XA60.5. Matching a pre to Pass amps is very important. I auditioned a very well regarded tube preamp which sounded terrible in the bass region with my amps but great in other systems.

Chashas 1,
I have written a fairly extensive review of the XA100.5 which you should be able to click to next to my username. I don't know how to create a link, sorry. It is very similar to Tvad's desciption of the XA30.5 above, which I have not heard.

I could definately see where a Pass amp could take care of any perceived brightness......they certainly are market savvy.

Chashas1, what do you mean by this comment? Have you noticed a particular characteristic of the XA.5 line? Or are you referring to Nelson Pass' marketing efforts? Thanks.