2. amps-preamps
  3. 150105-87630

Pass amp paired with audio research pre?

 Wondering if anyone has had experience matching a pass labs amp with an audio research preamp. Do they make a good combination?  Thinking  about audio research reference 5SE matched to one of the X series pass amps. I have Harbeth 401.2 speakers...kind regards 
128x128fanotunes
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
fanotunes OP
Been thinking about audio research reference 5SE, Audio research reference phono 3, pass labs 250.8.
This AR pre is what my figures were based on above, and this would be a fine match, with the Pass amp.

Cheers George
Post removed 
monoogan
55 posts
 
Ref 5 into a Pass X350. The X350 input is actually in parallel with a crossover used to run an SVS sub. So load on the Ref 5 is about 15k ohms. I think you'd have to go below 10k to really start seeing any degradation in response or output.

I think the ARC/Pass combo will give you the best of both worlds. Plus you can run the whole thing balanced and it's hard to beat the versatility of the AR preamps.

Audio Research has been changing output caps over the last few years so while I doubt they would go cheap some may have a different output impedance than others.

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
So load on the Ref 5 is about 15k ohms. I think you’d have to go below 10k to really start seeing any degradation in response or output.


Like I said above the AR Ref5 will have no problem. It’s 300ohm SE or 600ohm BAL outputs, and into 20k amp that’s no problem at all, and the coupling caps at 10uf and are fine down to -3db at 0.57hz also.

Worst case the AR Ref5 would be fine even seeing an amp load down to 3k SE or 6k Bal and the 10uf cap into the 3k would be still be only -3db at 5hz still ok.

Cheers George
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,420 posts
 

@fanotunes, Tim deParavicini's EAR-Yoshino electronics don't get much love here (though they do elsewhere, including at Positive Feedback by Robert Levi, and in the UK press, especially Ken Kessler in HFN&RR. Ken loves Tim's stuff), but his 868 and 912 pre's are designed to drive a 600 ohm load. Paravicini does a lot of work in pro studios (including Pink Floyd's), where 600 ohms is the standard.

Those pre's have no trouble driving a 10k ohm power amp input. They also are fine sounding, the 868L being noticeably better imo than the ARC LS-16 (I've had both). It had better be, costing over twice as much new, and twice as much used! It is a pure-tube design, the LS-16 a ss/tube hybrid (as are all the LS models). By the way, your RM-200 is called by some a hybrid design, because of it's bipolar input stage (the driver and output stages pure tube), which po's Roger Modjeski. But that's a story for a different thread ;-) .

More to discover