pass labs xa30 to valve amplifier.

Thank you for the advice. I appreciate your honest views. Thats been in the back of my mind too- going downwards or sideways. something i want to avoid, of course. in fact a dealer who i contacted regarding an almarro 318b, hinted the same, so am considering options carefully. it would be great if one dealer carried a range of likely candidtates, but this is not the case so comparisons are difficult to make. i was considering a valve/tube preamp too to add to me pass. if anyone has suggestions and views, id really like to know.

and thank you to everyone with their contributions. it has given me a good start in a subject i did not know much about.

may i take the liberty of drifting. my speakers are also 4 ohm and 91dB sensitivity.Audio Physic Scorpio ii. the XA30.5 is excellent but sometimes i feel PERHAPS i need more power. i would rather consider changing the speaker. so what is a great speaker for this amp. a speaker that can play all genres.

my zingalis go really loud. they are 92 db and 8 ohm. i really cant imagine anyone playing louder, unless they have a very large room. i play all kinds of music from soft female vocals, electronic,jazz instrumental,pop, quality hard rock ( queens early hard rock years still one of my favourites, not to say their later stuff was not good, just different) to european dance and alot inbetween. surprisingly , the zingalis replay dance music incredibly well with the pass.

I have difficulty with 92db / 8ohm speakers running out of juice with the 30.5 which runs to 130 watts at redline, per Stereophile measured data.

If power is the only issue, and I'd really keep an eye on the bias meter, perhaps going upline to the 60.5 would do the trick.


http://www.stereophile.com/content/pass-labs-xa305-power-amplifier-measurements

The discussion about how loud it plays is one issue but the larger question is how it plays in the low to normal volume levels. That is where we live with the sound for the most part and different matches between amps and loudspeakers produce different results.