PassX-250 vs PassX-350

Krelldog-

I use an X-250 with Martin Logan Aerius i's, along with a Pass X-3 for rears/center. They replaced Bryston 4B-ST & 5B-ST's. The Pass amps are sonically miles ahead of the Brystons with these speakers, even though the similar specs do not suggest that they would be. I considered the X-5 or an X-150/X-3 combo before buying the X-250 & X-3, and talked to Pass Labs about the speakers I was using. They knew the Aerius well, and definitely recommended going up to at least the 250 for the front mains.

With ML's, you want current - lots of it. I don't think you could ever over-amp these things. But I find the 250 can handle driving these speakers that drop to 1.2ohms at 20khz quite well.

Would the 350 do it even better? - Probably - just as RangerAudio suggests. I just could not justify running $2300 speakers with a $9000 amp, nor could I afford it. Besides, I bought my pristine 250 used (right here on the 'goN!) for a great price. I have no regrets or desire to upgrade above it now.

FINAL NOTE : Just yesterday I replaced my Aerius with Talon Raven 2002 speakers with Khorus-X/2 CMRC crossover upgrades. So far, the synergy of this Pass amps/Shunyata Lyra cables/Talon speakers combo is proving to be quite magical and dynamically powerful. These are not, of course, electrostatic speakers, so they are an easier load on the amp.

Hope that helps,
Bob Houser

Nutella, I agree with Muralman1 - news to me. In fact, my X-250 manual indicates the opposite, that both 250 & 350 use similar levels of (meaning Zero) feedback.

However, I certainly don't deny that the 350 is 'better' then a 250 in all aspects except the obvious one - the damn thing is TOO HEAVY !!! hehe.

So, if you can get one for $4000 (I paid $2800 for my 1-year-old 250), then I would say go for it. With the resale of your X-150, you are not expending too much jack. With the speakers you have, I guarantee you will not regret such a move.

Muralman1- I have taken care of my mental block of using 2k speaks with a 6k amp - I bought 7k speakers!! (there's no audio problem I know of that can't be fixed by spending more money ;^}.

Muralman1 - NO offense taken.

"gold can be paid for, or just found, if your lucky and/or knowledgable" is definitely the main point here.

I was quoting MSRP when making this price relationship between speakers & amp, and in the case of my Aerius, I DID pay full MSRP for them a few years ago, at which point they were the best pieces of equipment IMS.

With all of my recent upgrades, I have come to the conclusion that the Aerius are now the 'weak link' IMS. I decided to stop buying stuff trying to improve the inherent characteristics that the speakers will always have and just change the speakers.

...Cut the head off the bear and he can't bite you anymore, as they say...

Don't get me wrong: I love the Martins and had serious reservations leaving the ML camp. The other speaker upgrade options I seriously considered were the ML Ascents like Krelldog has or the Odysseys.

BTW - I didn't pay anywhere near 7k for the Ravens, either - I am a true GoNNer now - I eat, live and breathe USED audio deals. The Talon dealer in Dallas (AVMaverick) sold me his near-perfect demo pair with the new CMRC crossovers, and could not have been better or easier to deal with.

Great info Nutella- Thanks for the clear definition.

..."all the X series amps are extremely dynamic, with very listenable top ends that are not forward or bright, and are very quick and responsive to musical transients."

I could NOT agree with this statement more, especially when I mated my X-250 with the Talons yesterday - the speed, dynamics and transients really stand out now.

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Krelldog wrote:
"The only upgrade I would make currently is another Pass..."

Does this mean that you need to change your moniker to PASSDOG ??? B^D