Pass laboratories 395 new airport road, ste g auburn, ca 95602 530 878 5350 march 19th, 5. I am curious about the sonic differences between the pass x350. When properly matched with speakers that have synergistic voltage, current and power requirements, it can compete well with any solidstate. Pass laboratories owners manual x x600 x350 pass labs. The x350 benefited greatly from a long breakin period. This was especially true with 8 ohm loads as the x350. Lets just say that this amp is everything i lusted for back in my youth and more. Sources elp laser turntable, pass labs aleph ono amplifiers pass labs xp20, x350. Audioshark forum is a leading forum site for high end audio discussion, stereo system discussion, home theater system discussion, best home stereo system discussion, home theater installation discussion etc. At pass labs the bias is set to the value which raises the heat sinks 25 30 degrees c. They feature large pushpull classa operating envelopes for low distortion and good loudspeaker control at ordinary listening levels. I also think pass labs customer service is the best. Grade 8 social studies georgia standards of excellence gse.
If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the faq by clicking the link above. The passs bass is very precise and quite satisfying. Anytime a visitor would stop by they would literally pause as the sheer beauty. Nelson pass da sempre produce elettroniche di grande qualita. The results of which are impressive and lead to robinson making some hefty claims. One of the best sounding setups i ever had was the cary slp05 driving the pass labs x150. It is rated at 350w per channel into 8 ohms and 700w into 4 ohmsindicative of a very stout power supply.
Zen variations 5 low res nelson pass 2003 the zen amp concept is an exploration of how well you can make a simple audio amplifier perform. Cables straightwire crescendo and serenade interconnects, straightwire serenade double run speaker cables. The mission of pass labs is to build simple amplifiers that are distortion free and sound as good as possible. Goodwr3nch if you are serious about driving your speakers to those levels from time to timeand i think you are, you should be thinking minimum mcintosh 501 monos. I have a tremendous respect for nelson pass and his solidstate designs specifically his amplifiers. Hey everybody, i just acquired a used two months old pair of pass labs xa60. The mbl entry level amp, the 8011, is more expensive even compared to pass labs x350. Were talking about a fully fleshed out highend solidstate. Nov 30, 2003 according to pass labs, the massive heatsinks run at about 25 degrees c above ambient temperature, meaning the output devices run about 70 degrees c below rated operating temperatures. Jun 11, 2012 andrew robinson integrated the pass labs x250. Pass labs audioshark the best high end audio discussion forum. More on the new pass labs dot8 series parttime audiophile. Grade 8 social studies georgia standards of excellence gse note.
In a world where most consumers want maximum power for the least amount of money, pass labs bucks the trend by building pure class a power amplifiers. These revisions dramatically lower distortion and noise and also dramatically improved the performance of the amplifiers into low impedance loads. Pass labs calls its principal noisereduction technology supersymmetry. The underlying technology unique to pass labs amplifiers is beyond my understanding. That is not really a very long time, and yet, in those two decades, pass has become a household name that stands for the best that high end audio has to offer. From what i can gather, though, much more is going on in the x350. Pass labs also installed sturdy output stage transistors, with a combined capacity well over 10 kw, and massive heat sink assemblies capable of 2 kw all day long.
Kind of blue 180g despite this being a recording from 1959, it is. Basis debut v turntable with vector 4 tonearm, benzmicro lps cartridge. Until april 10th, 2020, pass labs is closed due to county and state wide coronavirus shutdown orders. You will hear bass impact and transient speed as well as nuance in the upper registers like never before. Of course, the term entry level in the pass labs universe does not exactly mean low cost midfi. I have searched for some opinions as to the sound quality comparison between the older pass labs x350. Since its initial design, pass labs has become one of the most prestigious brands in the audio world. Thats not to say that some wouldnt consider the x350. Of course, the big pass labs amp can be gentle and beguiling when called upon to do so. Even though the amplifier is rated as 250 watts per channel, it runs in class a mode up to 15 watts, then shifts gears into class ab for the remainder of the power rating. Lastly, i spent some time using the analog preamp outputs of the digital hybrid class ad devialet 800 integrated amplifier. I have done many tests with different cables with pass amps.
I have used the valhalla for 3 years with different pass labs amps. For a few weeks, i had a pass labs x5 for comparison. Find the user manual you need for your audio device and more at manualsonline. Having much admired the pass labs int60 integrated amplifier, which combined onebox practicality with a refined class a performance that made it well worth audio excellence. Join our exclusive audioholics ebook membership program. I left lowlevel classical music playing about 10 hours a day for 3 weeks. I have the eggleston works andra 2 speaker and with the esotar tweeters they have never sounded bright. Pass laboratories 395 new airport road, ste g auburn, ca 95602 530 878 5350. Since it is too great and nobody would sell it, i needed to spend also a year to book for it from 2nd hand market. The chunky brushed aluminum facade of the amp matches the front of the xp20 preamplifier and frames the ubiquitous blue pass labs meter as if it were an electronic creche. Hifimaniac, odd that you would describe the pass labs amp as bright.
I dont go all the way back to his threshold years, but i have owned the pass labs aleph 0, aleph 2, and now the x350. First of all, the amp has massive power reserves and can drive just about any speaker with ease. It makes for an interesting illustration of design technique. Audioshark forum is a leading forum site for high end audio discussion, stereo system discussion. The amplifiers all idle at about 600 watts per chassis, about the same as a hair dryer. Thus, pass labs conservatively estimates the xa160s lifespan at 50,000 listening hours. Pass labs told me that the old x150 is not the same as the x250 and above. Hot on its heels is the new xp30, which has the analog gain stages for each channel in a separate chassis, making a total of three chassis instead of two. The bias is generally set at a level suited to the heat dissipation capacity of the hardware.
He is selling it because he wants to move up the the x350. But i guess based on way we assemble our systems anything is possible. Pass labs is a high end audio company based in foresthill, california, usa founded by nelson pass, a wellknown figure in the high end audio community. For me, those were the days that solid state preamplifiers never seemed to satisfy and tube preamplifiers brought the magic and strengths of both tubes and solidstate when combined with the x350. Because i suspect that, like me, youve never experienced or even read about a pass labs amp that didnt sound good. Until april 10th, 2020, pass labs is closed due to county and state wide. It is rated at 350w per channel into 8 ohms and 700w into 4 ohmsindicative of a very stout power supply and robust output stage. Last came the pass x350, the first solid state amp that does not remind me of solid state. Like all bias decisions, the amount of singleended bias and pushpull bias is a balance between performance and effi ciency. But, unless its just a bad design which has issues at very low or very high power, or has a tonal quality that you dont like, what you connect to it will be orders of magnitude more important to the sound. I emailed pass labs for a local distributor and a guy named kent got back to me and put me in touch with the local pass labs guy named louis. The capacitors are connected via sheets of metal which serve.
It was clearly designed to power the most brawny speakers out there. The looks are among the best i have seen in a solid state amp. One such all time favorite center piece was the pass labs x350. They are heavy, they are inefficient, they get hot. May 02, 2014 every amp design will have a characteristic sound as compared to some other design. Until april 10th, 2020, pass labs is closed due to county and state wide coronavirus. It portrays a commanding presence that just draws your attention.
The unit has been checked out by pass labs and they know the guy as i called pass about the unit. It is rated at 350 watts per channel into 8 ohms, and roughly doubles that into 4 ohms. Stay uptodate with all the latest development including complete live and ondemand coverage of the governors task force news conferences, as well as the latest news from gpb, npr and pbs, updates. As it turns out he was going to be in my neighborhood tomorrow doing a setup and wanted to bring an x150.
Listening to ralph towners album anthem cd, ecm, i hear the subtle inflections of the solo guitar, fingers against. This is the newest model and probably the best high powered stereo amplifier that can be had for any price. Please note response times will be slower than normal. Impressed by pass labs int60 integrated amplifier, kevin fiske decides to check out the xp12 and xa30. So when offered the chance to spend some time with the new x250.
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