Heat generated by Pass Labs amps.

[neac1976]

Hello everyone. I have a couple of questions and would like opinions on the heat generated by some Pass Amplifiers.
I have a dedicated music room measuring 20x26x9 feet.
It is heated by radiant heating and is equipped with a mini split air conditioning unit.
I own a Pass X 350.5 and love all of its characteristics except for one and that is the heat that it generates after a couple of hours of operation. The area around my equipment gets warm and after enough time, usually a couple of hours or so, the room itself starts to get warmer. After about two hours or so, I cannot really keep my hand on the amp chassis for more than 15 seconds or so.
I would like to purchase a pair of Pass Labs X 260.8 mono's in place of my X 350.5 and would like to know how the heat produced by the pair of mono's compares with the heat that is produced by my stereo amp.
I do not want to give up on The Pass sound and am looking for an alternative within the Pass stable.
Thank you all.

 

[twitch]

as a owner of a pair of X 260.8's I can tell you they do get warm(gotta remember the amount if initial bias into Class A) but NEVER get so warm as to not be able to put my hands on the heat sinks. I will say that after an extended listening session of 3 hrs or more my room (14'6" x 24'6" x 8') will heat up 2-4 degrees.

FWIW the initial Class A bias of the X260.8 is greater than that of your 350.

 

[benito]

Hello everyone. I have a couple of questions and would like opinions on the heat generated by some Pass Amplifiers.
I have a dedicated music room measuring 20x26x9 feet.
It is heated by radiant heating and is equipped with a mini split air conditioning unit.
I own a Pass X 350.5 and love all of its characteristics except for one and that is the heat that it generates after a couple of hours of operation. The area around my equipment gets warm and after enough time, usually a couple of hours or so, the room itself starts to get warmer. After about two hours or so, I cannot really keep my hand on the amp chassis for more than 15 seconds or so.
I would like to purchase a pair of Pass Labs X 260.8 mono's in place of my X 350.5 and would like to know how the heat produced by the pair of mono's compares with the heat that is produced by my stereo amp.
I do not want to give up on The Pass sound and am looking for an alternative within the Pass stable.
Thank you all.

From Pass lab site:

Pass X 350.5 Power Consumption (Watts)

600

Pass Labs X 260.8 Power Consumption @ Idle (Watts)

370

What is unclear for the X260.8, the consomption is for each block or for both ?

 

[Audire]

Hello everyone. I have a couple of questions and would like opinions on the heat generated by some Pass Amplifiers.
I have a dedicated music room measuring 20x26x9 feet.
It is heated by radiant heating and is equipped with a mini split air conditioning unit.
I own a Pass X 350.5 and love all of its characteristics except for one and that is the heat that it generates after a couple of hours of operation. The area around my equipment gets warm and after enough time, usually a couple of hours or so, the room itself starts to get warmer. After about two hours or so, I cannot really keep my hand on the amp chassis for more than 15 seconds or so.
I would like to purchase a pair of Pass Labs X 260.8 mono's in place of my X 350.5 and would like to know how the heat produced by the pair of mono's compares with the heat that is produced by my stereo amp.
I do not want to give up on The Pass sound and am looking for an alternative within the Pass stable.
Thank you all.

I owned the 260.8s for app 2 years. They sound very good and they get warm not hot. I live in Florida. So, IMO they will be more to your liking than the 350.8… Plus they are monos and put out more class A than the 350.8.

 

[GSOphile]

If in doubt, give Kent English a call at Pass Customer Service.

 

[tony22]

From Pass lab site:

Pass X 350.5 Power Consumption (Watts)

600

Pass Labs X 260.8 Power Consumption @ Idle (Watts)

370

What is unclear for the X260.8, the consomption is for each block or for both ?

That’s per monoblock. I also use a pair of these. My experience matches twitch’s.

 

[cjf]

I just measured both of my Pass XA60.8 Mono's using one of those fancy ExTech Laser Thermo's and they have been On and in use for the past 3hrs or so. Both are sitting at 111F. This measurement was taken at the top plate near the edge where the Fins are. This was the hottest location as I scanned around the Amp with the Laser. Everywhere else on the Amp ranged in temp from 90-105F

I've measured these amps many times in the past after and during aggressive listening sessions and don't recall ever seeming them go above 115F each. This is any time of season FWIW.

Also, I don't ever notice any difference in room temp (17x25x10+)

 

[neac1976]

I want to thank everyone for their replies as I have all of the information that I need thanks to you guys. It is always a pleasure reading this forum and dealing with everyone involved with it.
Mark

 

[TDX]

I had 260.8 previously, my hands can stay on the chassis for a while. I installed an aircon for my room for passlabs though

 

[Dishman442]

as a owner of a pair of X 260.8's I can tell you they do get warm(gotta remember the amount if initial bias into Class A) but NEVER get so warm as to not be able to put my hands on the heat sinks. I will say that after an extended listening session of 3 hrs or more my room (14'6" x 24'6" x 8') will heat up 2-4 degrees.

FWIW the initial Class A bias of the X260.8 is greater than that of your 350.

Thanks twitch! I’m buying a pair this month. I leave my current monos on all the time for best performance. Do you leave the 260.8 on all the time or no?

 

[TDX]

Thanks twitch! I’m buying a pair this month. I leave my current monos on all the time for best performance. Do you leave the 260.8 on all the time or no?

I doubt you need to turn them on all the time, no point to do so. You can leave them on standby though. Fairly easy.

 

[TonyW]

I used the X350 for many years. It ran about 20 degrees above ambient. So it was hot. I could touch it for only a few seconds. I have had the X260.8 mono amps for four years now. They do not run as hot as the X350 did but they are still warm. Where the X350 sounded its best after being on all day, I find the X260.8 mono amps to have peak sound after an hour or so.

The bias current setting determines the Class A power rating of the amp. Since the X350 has more Class A power, the current draw and so the heating will be higher. I believe the meters indicate when the amps move from Class A mode to A/B mode. As you increase volume levels and the meters start to move that is the indication the bias current has increased beyond Class A mode. If playing very loud for a while with the meters off of their rest position you might notice an increase in fin temperature. I rarely see the meters move when I am listening but I have 91dB speakers. My previous speakers were less efficient and so I would see the meters move much more often.

 

[tony22]

The X260.8 runs to about 37 watts in Class A, if I recall correctly.

 

[twitch]

Thanks twitch! I’m buying a pair this month. I leave my current monos on all the time for best performance. Do you leave the 260.8 on all the time or no?

No I do not. FWIW I will give you a heat reading the next time they are 'fired up'

 

[Bruce B]

Just be glad you're not running XA amps!

 

[twitch]

After 2 hrs of playing music...........95.7 degrees F

FWIW they appear to have more or less stabilized after 3.5 hrs, left channel - 97.8, right channel - 100.6

 

[Dishman442]

From Pass lab site:

Pass X 350.5 Power Consumption (Watts)

600

Pass Labs X 260.8 Power Consumption @ Idle (Watts)

370

What is unclear for the X260.8, the consomption is for each block or for both ?

I just spoke to Pass Labs about this. 370 watts per chassis was the answer, so 740 watts for the pair on the 260.8s.

 

[Dishman442]

I doubt you need to turn them on all the time, no point to do so. You can leave them on standby though. Fairly easy.

The point to leaving them on all the time is so they sound their best all the time. I’ll do that with the 260.8s too, at least in the winter.

 

[ChasFreeland]

Have the X600.8 amps here in BKK. Wanted the XS300 but the heat factor for Thailand was off-putting. The X600.8, class A for the first 100 watts, never gets too hot to handle. I am rather surprised by how comfortably these amps have settled in. But we do by necessity have air conditioning. Still, surface temps on the top plates are not frying pan hot. Not hot enough to fry eggs.
We quite like these amps.

 

[tony22]

The point to leaving them on all the time is so they sound their best all the time. I’ll do that with the 260.8s too, at least in the winter.

In my own experience with my X260.8s, leaving them on 24/7 is completely unnecessary. It doesn’t take more than 30 minutes to maybe an hour for them to get to their warmed up sound. Turn them on when you get up in the morning if you’d rather. They are satisfyingly unfussy.