Xa 100.5 x xa 160.5

[PlanarSpeakerFan]

Originally Posted by MadFloyd

This is going back over 2 years ago and I went through a bunch of preamps at that time so it's hard to say. I had both tube and solid state. One of them would have been an H20 Fire. I had the XP-20 at one point, but not sure if that was back when I had Sophia 2's. Tube pre's that I might of had at that time were an Audio Valve Eclilpse and a Joule Electra LA-150 II Signature.

Ken, I'm not saying that the XA-100.5's are not capable of delivering good bass on a speaker, I'm saying that ( in my opinion) it's not an optimal match for the impedance challenged Sasha or Alexia. Heck, right now I'm using a tube amp with my Alexias and while it does an admirable job of driving the bass, if I switch to a well matched solid state amp there's a huge difference that is very enlightening.

Hi Floyd,

I was just curious about the preamp because I read that JPSpock was successfully driving his Sasha's with the XA-100.5. I think my Revel Salon 2s are probably easier for the XA-100.5 to drive than the Sasha's.

Ken

[MadFloyd]

Originally Posted by PlanarSpeakerFan

Hi Floyd,

I was just curious about the preamp because I read that JPSpock was successfully driving his Sasha's with the XA-100.5. I think my Revel Salon 2s are probably easier for the XA-100.5 to drive than the Sasha's.

Ken

Yes, I would guess your Salon 2's are much easier to drive.

[ALFA]

i am revisiting this issue. my Xa 100.8 drives Sasha 1. the meter stays fixed at 12 o clock at my max comfortable volume. does this mean that the amplifier is sufficient for the Sasha.
i believe the Sasha dips to 1.8 ohms in the upper bass and low mids making it a difficult load. one person said he could not hear any difference between the Xa 100.8 and Xa160.8 with Sasha 1. unfortunately i cannot demo the Xa 160.8. please post your experience

[Mr_Sukebe]

Originally Posted by ALFA

i am revisiting this issue. my Xa 100.8 drives Sasha 1. the meter stays fixed at 12 o clock at my max comfortable volume. does this mean that the amplifier is sufficient for the Sasha.
i believe the Sasha dips to 1.8 ohms in the upper bass and low mids making it a difficult load. one person said he could not hear any difference between the Xa 100.8 and Xa160.8 with Sasha 1. unfortunately i cannot demo the Xa 160.8. please post your experience

The volume control is not the issue. It's about low end control.
For example, I presently run a pair of fairly high efficiency horn loaded speakers (94db/w). A 1watt amp would probably be able to run them at my typical listening volumes.
However:
- I've tried a variety of valve power amps, and whilst some had sublime mid-range, none of really had the depth of low end frequency capability or anything like the control
- I'm presently running a tripath powered Bel Canto power amp and that has awesome low end control

It's more about how the amp handles low end frequencies than it's outright gain capabilities and unfortunately that's difficult to ascertain from just specs. The only way you're really going to know is to listen.

[ALFA]

Mr Sukebe thank you.
unfortunately my dealer does not have the Xa 160.8 for a demo.