Upgrade my Sonic Frontiers Line-2, or buy a used solid state Pre?

Well, I've had my rig put together for 5 days. The amount of detail is exceptional. I think at this point, my room is the weak link, so I begin the process of trying to treat our main living room while maintaining the WAF.

There is some fine grain, and if I were a betting man, I'd point my finger at the preamp. That aside, it's still really good. I do have some background noise when the preamp comes online. I'll probably send it in for the Signature Plus upgrade some time in the future to lower the noise floor.

I'm liking the XA30.5. The speakers could handle more power and sound even better, but I can't afford 150W per channel of Pass XA quality amplification. It might be my imagination, but when I turn it up loud enough that it starts moving out of class A, it sounds a little more lively and powerful. I noticed this particularly on "You can call me Al" from Paul Simon. However, if I listen at much lower volumes for awhile, some louder instruments or passages will give me the illusion that what I'm hearing is actually loud. I think that must speak to the dynamic ability of the amp. I'm really pleased that it sounds dynamic at lower volumes.

I wonder how something like an X250.5 (approachable) or X350.5 (a reach financially) would sound in my system at low to moderate volumes. Does a 350.5 sound similar to an XA.5 when it's in class A?

Maybe, but I suspect the XA is a little more refined regardless. My Aerial's require a lot of power so I'll stick with the X series. Can't recall if you're running balanced cables from the SF to the Pass as that will lower the noise floor. My X250 is a little noisy but not much even running balanced; it's not my preamp. If you're running a shielded PC on your Line 2 see if you can get a non shielded PC like a Kimber PK10 Gold or whatever they renamed it. The Kimber works great on SF preamps... you'll be amazed.

I am running balanced all the way through. I never noticed the noise on my old system running single ended, but maybe the 6db boost in the balanced circuit has brought the noise to light. The background noise was always very noticeable on my line-2 through headphones. It's definitely the pre. Everything is dead silent until it engages its output circuit. Parts Connexion told me it isn't uncommon, and that the new volume controller will zap the noise.

Interesting. My Dad has a Line 1 and running it through his ARC VT50 tube amp, no matter how far you ramp the volume up it is dead silent with ones ear right up on the tweeter. He runs NOS tubes so maybe they're lower noise. No doubt sending it into to Parts Connexion will be well worth it. Great to hear you're enjoying your Pass.

The hiss is exactly the same at both the lowest and loudest volume levels. You can hear clicking noises as you turn the volume knob also, so I do think it has something to do with the volume chip.