Pass Labs amps and Avantgarde speakers

I would definitely use a small SET tube amp on those speakers.

To say that one needs 20 wpc on 107dB sensitive Duos is...misinformed. I can run mine on 3.5 wpc 2A3 amps with plenty of headroom; it's just that qualitatively the Lamms are the best I've heard to date, at 18 wpc.

I agree that with AG Duo's it is fractions of a Watt that are required in most situations. I have Duo Omegas and using an Atmasphere S30 OTL amp. This is fed directly from a Berkeley Alpha DAC. With the Atmasphere you can remove the driver tubes to reduce max power. With 5 tubes each side you get around 35W. The amp has an output dial that can show power per channel - at deafening levels the meter is barely moving so I reckon well less that half a Watt!

I have tried a number of amplifiers with the Duo's and all have been able to deliver excellent results, so I would expect the Pass amps to sound really good.

I have owned Avantgarde duo 2.2 speakers for the past 8 years...I am using the least expensive Prima Luna amp (35 watts/channel tubes)..and the sound is quite good..this is the combination used by the owner of Upscale Audio in his living room..and he has the choice of many amps, obviously. It is way more than enough power...my volume setting through my Cary slp98 pre-amp cannot be set past 10:00 without producing volume levels far past any level one would need in a medium sized living room: mine is 14' x 18' with 16 ft. ceiling.

Fascinating and highly informative discussion-especially for those contemplating solid-state amps with high efficiency speakers. As impressed as I am with the performance and value of the Pass XA30.5 and the hands down raves that the XA30.8 has received, has anyone with AvantGarde or other >95db speakers driven them with the First Watt J2?

I live in a co-op unit and my room is only 19 x 14 x 8.5. My speakers are well over 93db and the impedance certainly won’t drop much below 8 ohms. I have to consider the neighbors’ ears-and mine, so I’d want my average listening levels to be where my midwoofers play down to 70Hz at about 72db max. That’s because I’d want 70Hz to be equally loud to my ears as would a 1Khz pure tone’s level at between about 57db and 62db max, as per the (2003 revised) Fletcher-Munson curve.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/phon.html#c2

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/eqloud.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher%E2%80%93Munson_curves

Hopefully, I’m interpreting the Fletcher-Munson effect correctly.....??

My midwoofers are cut off below 70Hz, where my pair of Jim Salk Rythmik powered subs take over. So my mains in my size room need all but flea power. The single -ended J2 does 25 wpc into 8 ohms; 13.5 wpc into 4 ohms. But the big question is how does the J2 perform subjectively? Does it have a 3D soundstage and with extension beyond the speakers? What of its imaging and spatial placement of vocals and instruments? Do its highs sound too bright or brittle, or sweet and airy? Does the midrange have the holographic magic of a 300B SET amp? Does it do midbass with authority down to 70Hz?11

I hope to own a good 300B SET amp or even mono blocks in the near future, and by all accounts even those in the $5.5K range would smoke all but the very best solid-state amps in terms of subjective sound quality, at least with speakers and rooms like mine.

But has anyone here used the First Watt J2? And please also recommend a 300B SET power amp or mono blocks ~ $5.5K. My DAC likely be the Exasound e22. Thanks.