I have the Pass Labs XA-25 that doesn’t really get hot maybe a tad over warm but my speakers take nothing to drive
+1 to this. Same results and situation
Pass Labs Amps - Does the heat bother you?
I am very intrigued by pass amplifiers (NOT the intergateds). I have heard many good things about them. However, I also have heard from many people that they get really hot. I am interested in the stereo amps.... like the X350.
Curious, if you own one or used to own one... how do/did you deal with the heat? I wouldn’t want it heating up my living room where the AC runs more (which kills my music enjoyment session).
Also, I usually leave my amp on from 5:00 pm till I go to bed (anywhere from 9:00 pm to 12 am). Not sure how that would come into play if a pass labs would be a good fit for me.
When I had my pass x350.8 it was in my large basement and the added heat was very welcome. I could tell when I left the amp on vs off and walked in the room. My open basement was always cool and the amp doubled as a 550-600watt (I looked at Pass Website- it’s more than 400w) space heater. Room would nominally be around 67F btw. I also owned XA30.5, 150.8,250.8, INT60. I ran the 250 and INT and 30.5 in my smaller office system upstairs and the INT60 and 250 made a noticeable increase in room temp with the office door closed. When the sun beats on the front of the house it was a sauna in the office with Pass gear. |
@howardlee lol. You aren’t wrong. Good times. |
I have XA 60.8 monoblocks in a below-grade 18’ x 28’ x 8’ basement room that typically starts out around 68 degrees Fahrenheit before a listening session. 375 watts at idle times two yields one half the heat output of a typical 1500 watt space heater. They take about 45 minutes to reach full temp, at which point they are hot but not too hot to touch. I estimate they heat the room at a rate of 0.5 to 1 degree/hour but the room reaches an equilibrium after 5 or so hours. Totally acceptable in this environment but I can understand why others might suffer heat stroke in an attic during the summer. Obviously, other Pass models put out more or less heat. I suggest looking at output at idle and converting to units of space heaters (SH). The XS 300 puts out 900 w so their combined output would be 1.2 SH. The XA 25 outputs 0.3 SH. The X350.8 is 0.8 SH. Hope you can swing it. It’s a very nice sound. |