Pass x250, Talon Khoruses , what now ?

Hi David, good for you for getting rid of the 300i, I love Krell myself but somehow I think you made the right choice on getting the Pass Labs amp for your Khorus speakers.Something tells me that the Pass and Talon Khorus will have a better synergy than the Krell and Talon Khorus combo.

Now for the preamp, since your budget is around $1000 maybe a used Sonic Frontiers Line 1 or BAT VK-3i, the reasons I suggested these two were due to the fact that they both have balanced outputs, which in turn will work well with your Pass Labs amp.

Happy Hunting.

For a little over your budget the Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 is an excellent pre-amp and should work well with the Pass amp.

I agree that BAT may be a good choice, but if you could utilize a passive pre such as one of the placette units I am sure it would do a very nice job.

BTW I've only heard the Khoruses with a 75wpc OTL amp and they were amazing, I can't imagine the detail and sheer dynamics they much have with a larger solid state. ~Tim

I'm guessing but I would stick with a bare-bones solid state unit for that price range. High-end tube pre's may be one thing but usually low-end tubes will be something else. And if it's used, you may need to soonish re-tube which could set you back another $100 to $600.

The Placette passive may be an excellent choice and I believe you have a 30 day money back option there.

You may want to investigate the Odyssey Temptest pre for $995 at OdysseyAudio.com. Their amps are supposed to be fabulous and their pre may be cut from the same cloth.