Tannoy Everyone?! with Leben CS600 or Pass XA25/30.5?


Wow. 200 hours and the Stirling are sounding really great!

My Leben cs600 seems to run out of juice though - especially on the digital side. The gain from my phonostage leaves some room, but the 2mV output from my DAC not so much.

I'm thinking Pass Labs w/a tube pre and am curious if an XA25 will drive them? Or an XA30.5 might be better? Any experience would be helpful. Gracias, amigos.

budburma

Ok, I have settled in and see two options, both keeping in mind that if a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 3's show up, I want to be able to accommodate them. In the meantime, I'm loving the Tannoy sound and the Stirlings are staying for some time.

1. Supratek Cortese (I've wanted one for 15+ years)

+ amplifier TBD 

Pass XA25 and Rogue Stereo 100 are both contenders (I know, I know...it's tubes), but I feel like they're sort of temporizing.  

- a Gamut D200i might be the things down the line if/when Dynaudios appear.

2. Accuphase E480 w/phono card.

I may be discounting the PL and maybe I shouldn't, but it also feels like a temporary solution.

 

"From looking around, the 30.5 seems a little rounder than the .8 with the 25 being the warmest of the three. Hopefully, someone's tried one or more of them with some tannoy Stirlings or Turnberrys (Turnberries?) and can weigh in."

I can weigh in. I had a Pass XA-30.5 and Pass XP-10 with Turnberry SEs. It was not a great combination. Not very dynamic. Much better results (with Turnberry) using an MC-275, Yamaha AS1200, and Benchmark HPA4/AHB2 (amp in use now). Maybe there was something wrong with my Pass amp. But I sold it to an audio engineer at Apple and didn't hear back that he was unhappy with it. Don't know what speakers he was using .....

!I had Pas xa 60.5 with kensingtons and it wasn't a great combination either.  

The best Tannoys are those with Alnico magnets and the pepper pot tweeter. Unfortunately  you will need to mortgage the house to afford, at least I would have to. I'll have to be happy with the Eatons for now.