Pass XA160.5's or XA200.5's ??? ...

[slowGEEZR]

Originally Posted by joeinid

Mogami Gold Stage cable is great.

Funny this topic should just come up, as I was doing a little cable testing this last month. I've been using a 20 plus year old Audioquest pure silver interconnect in place of the Mogami between the DAC and the preamp. I've found the bass is fuller, deeper and more natural (or my interpretation of natural), voice seems more real, as if a little more complexity shines through. With the Mogami, the bass is a little tighter, but more one note and voice is a little veiled, in comparison. I was surprised at this finding, as the last time I had tried a silver cable it was disastrous, as it sounded thin and seemed to tilt the sound spectrum to a higher frequency range. It was also curious to me that the long Mogami interconnect from the preamp to the amps was still in place and I heard these improvements. So, it is not a matter of the Mogami cable not being able to exhibit the improvements, rather it shows me that cable matching between components is necessary and an all one brand of the same type of cable for all interconnects may not necessarily be the best solution.

[pdough]

Originally Posted by mbovaird

I'll throw an idea at you .... Jim's x600.5's are for sale here at a great price. They might be a better bet on 8ohm speakers. They are Class A for the first 80 watts, and then you would have over 520 watts more into Class A/B. The best of both worlds if you will. Just a thought.

Mike

Mike...good idea. That's definitely something I'll have to think about. Do the X series amps sound like the XA series amps when they are running in Class A? If so, that may be a real option for me. Unfortunately I'm not in the position to buy yet but that is a great price for the x600.5.

Patrick

[joeinid]

Patrick,

From my experience, the XA amps are a litte sweeter and not quite as tight, have a little more 3D and bloom. The X.5 amps are a little faster, more neutral and have a firmer bottom. It just depends on what you prefer, no right or wrong.

[pdough]

Originally Posted by joeinid

Patrick,

From my experience, the XA amps are a litte sweeter and not quite as tight, have a little more 3D and bloom. The X.5 amps are a little faster, more neutral and have a firmer bottom. It just depends on what you prefer, no right or wrong.

Thanks Joe. That's very helpful.

Patrick

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by pdough

Thanks Joe. That's very helpful.

Patrick

You are very welcome. A faster more neutral speaker will benefit from the XA series and a warmer more forgiving speaker will benefit from the X.5 series, in my opinion.

[Down Under]

Originally Posted by joeinid

Patrick,

From my experience, the XA amps are a litte sweeter and not quite as tight, have a little more 3D and bloom. The X.5 amps are a little faster, more neutral and have a firmer bottom. It just depends on what you prefer, no right or wrong.

That is an excellent concise appraisal of the difference between the 2 ranges of amplifiers.Even though the XA series gets more press ink,don't write off the X series until you have given them a listen.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by Down Under

That is an excellent concise appraisal of the difference between the 2 ranges of amplifiers.Even though the XA series gets more press ink,don't write off the X series until you have given them a listen.

Thank you.

Absolutely, all the Pass Labs amps are wonderful. The nice thing is that each is slightly different and you can pick your favorite.

[Penthouse-D]

The second best thing is they are built by a man and his company that wants to build the best amps they can rather than pumping whatever they can out just to make $$$$.

[mbovaird]

The part that spoke volumes to me, was that they took the time to understand my speakers, room, musical tastes and then DOWN SOLD me on the 160.5's (I was all set to buy the 200.5's!) They could have easily said, "yeah, the 200.5's would be better...." But they didn't. They really took the time to understand my needs. Coupled with the fact that I loved the 160.5's when I heard them - it was a no brainer.

[Penthouse-D]

Do you think they do that at Magnolia???