Which is the difference between the X150.5 and the X250.5 regarding price in your location ?
nAr
Buying the 31000 can save you 10000 on a PASS preamp and if you sell the BelCanto ... 😛
nAr
The one thing I care about is bass control. These speakers have very tight bass but it is tricky to get good control from the amplifier.
I think by essence on the Thiels going from X150.5 to X250.5 won't change things in a big manner, in the bass domain 🙂 It's all about max. output power available rather than bass control, so it mostly affects your max. SPL only
PASS designs are conservative and the X supersymmetry gives a very tight, controlled and extended bass. After that, you would try to search which is the speaker cable that gives you best bass, and overall good sound in combination with the Thiels and the PASS. All I can say 😎
Brds,
nAr
With the X250.5 if the first 20 watts are class A into 8 ohm does it double into 4 ohm? 40 watts?
Julien,
not 20, for the latest version it's 15W.
In 4 Ohm it would be half of that, 7.5W (bias current is constant, watt power is current squared times impedance)
The XA30.5 is undoubtedly superior to the X.5, and a bargain in that range if you can live with 30W/8.
(rather little power for loudspeakers of below 90dB/W/m efficiency)
not 20, for the latest version it's 15W.
In 4 Ohm it would be half of that, 7.5W (bias current is constant, watt power is current squared times impedance)
The XA30.5 is undoubtedly superior to the X.5, and a bargain in that range if you can live with 30W/8.
(rather little power for loudspeakers of below 90dB/W/m efficiency)
Oh I see. So this basically means that even at really low volumes I will still be listening in class AB with speakers like mine no?
No definitely not 🙂
The amp goes into "AB" class only on the peaks, in normal listening, and with X amps, even peaks have better sound and less "musical" distortion than many other amps 😎
May I suggest ... you to contact some of the known diyers here on the forums, the Chinese diyers I mean, the ones who could have possibly buit some XA replicas (See the Aleph-X thread, for example) so you could even bring your Thiels and / or / he brings his replica to your living, so you could have an "sound overview" of the combination before buying anything ... does it make sense 🙂 ?
Brds,
nAr
I just ordered the X250.5 actually, for the price it seems to be the best compromise. The good thing with Pass is that it's not hard to resell anyway. My guess is that I should have more than decent sound quality to start with no? I just don't believe the XA30.5 would have enough to handle the Thiels at all levels, especially with lots of bass or movies...
Probably right seen your living room / listening habits. But hey ! Please report and tell us here your final impression, when you've received the power amp and burn-in tests done in your system.
Brds,
nAr
I just read that the X.5 series did not accept banana type speaker cables ? ! This would be very annoying!
Ugly cables made by Vacuum State founder Allen Wright himself. Cost me nothing but I'd have to pay a fortune to get better. Two pairs of his interconnects totally killed the Nordost Valhallas and in my opinion sounded fuller and more open than the latest Odin...
Allen has the best tube designs in the world, no negative feedback and total transparency and bass power etc... he once told me Nelson Pass was one of the few designers who made solid state right...
Anyway I'll use WBT adaptors, no problem.
OMG don't change cables I know vacuum state founder by relation, his cables are a killer an probably are technologically and sonically far ahead all others ... despite of the "cosmetics" 🙂
Nordost are fairly high praised, but I still keep thinking Allen's cables to be better. Ribbon is all the way to go 🙂
And his tube designs are truly "without compromise".
Keep the good path, with the PASS your speaker and those cables, I guess you're one of the luckiest audiophiles from China 😎
Best,
nAr
I would pick the XA30.5 over the X150.5 for a four ohm load,
the difference being that the higher bias of the XA will sound
better into 4 ohms at ordinary levels. Of course it will come up
a little short in terms of maximum power, but not by as much
as you might think.
😎
the difference being that the higher bias of the XA will sound
better into 4 ohms at ordinary levels. Of course it will come up
a little short in terms of maximum power, but not by as much
as you might think.
😎
Thank you Mr Pass... are you saying that I should regret the choice of the X250.5… arg... I was afraid with my 87db that maybe the XA30.5 would come up a little short... with my speakers would you say the XA60.5 for instance could outperform the X250.5 all categories? (I play mainly classical and jazz and movies, but never at really loud volumes)
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