Getting back to the main topic on Pass Labs gear...
Forgot to mention my experiences with the XA160.8 monoblocks. Dating back to the mid 90's, I used a radical version of these from Nelson Pass, the Threshold Statis 12/e. These were initially driving my previous Apogee Diva's, handled those with ease, no issues. However, musicality wasn't too flash, such that it had all the drive, control factor and dynamics but there seemed to be listener fatigue setting in within a few hours. Managed to sell these off to another dealer in Spore and that's about when we started ordering the Conrad Johnson Premier series tube gear. Starting with the Premier 11A (70w stereo), Premier 12 (140w monoblocks) and the glorious Premier 8A's (275w tube monoblocks). Now those drove the Apogee's extremely well, with all the virtues of control and drive factor, nothing lack and the level of musicality was superb! That's about the time after a few more years, I just stuck with CJ in our personal systems. Many other types / brands of gear were sold through our network but CJ remained constant with most of our primary dealers. Their service was also top notch back then.
Fast fwd that era to now, and about early Feb last year, I had the chance to audition the Pass Labs XA160.8 and XA200.8 being the most powerful Class A monoblocks Pass Labs currently makes. Although the XA200.8 was mighty mighty impressive, sort of like a Formula 1 race car running around the block... the XA160.8's had a slightly warmer touch to it and something I found that I could listen to for endless hours without that SS fatigue. So that's a definite yes, not all Pass Labs are of equal standing. Speakers used at the time were the ML Neolith's and the Ren15A's. Both set-ups were located in big rooms, so I guess this was a very positive factor in launching the dipole affect properly, without any smearing of those wave patterns. As I've stated before numerous times, get that room sorted out, then comes the speakers, not the other way round...
It's far more difficult to sort out the room, once its done, changing speakers is more manageable. From a personal perspective, I also preferred the overall esthetics of the Ren15A's compared to the Neoliths, man are those huge!
My quest in finding a suitable SS amp as an alternative to my current CJ monoblocks, continues! I've gone through 19 different SS amps now and still looking. So far, the Pass Labs gear sits on top of my short list. Topping three critical criteria that's very important to me: Overall performance, VFM & build quality, and a high Class A bias operation. Obviously these three areas are very important in driving full range Stats, so with CLX's, it's a match made in heaven! Will see how it goes, will most probably make a decision by March next year.
NOTE: This is just my personal experience and opinion on Pass Labs gear and matching them with ML Stats. Others will have different views, their experiences vary with Pass Labs gear. Hence, in order to determine which gear is right for you and most suits your system and your room, well that can only be determined by YOU!
Cheers, and do enjoy those finest tunes.
WOOF! RJ
Forgot to mention my experiences with the XA160.8 monoblocks. Dating back to the mid 90's, I used a radical version of these from Nelson Pass, the Threshold Statis 12/e. These were initially driving my previous Apogee Diva's, handled those with ease, no issues. However, musicality wasn't too flash, such that it had all the drive, control factor and dynamics but there seemed to be listener fatigue setting in within a few hours. Managed to sell these off to another dealer in Spore and that's about when we started ordering the Conrad Johnson Premier series tube gear. Starting with the Premier 11A (70w stereo), Premier 12 (140w monoblocks) and the glorious Premier 8A's (275w tube monoblocks). Now those drove the Apogee's extremely well, with all the virtues of control and drive factor, nothing lack and the level of musicality was superb! That's about the time after a few more years, I just stuck with CJ in our personal systems. Many other types / brands of gear were sold through our network but CJ remained constant with most of our primary dealers. Their service was also top notch back then.
Fast fwd that era to now, and about early Feb last year, I had the chance to audition the Pass Labs XA160.8 and XA200.8 being the most powerful Class A monoblocks Pass Labs currently makes. Although the XA200.8 was mighty mighty impressive, sort of like a Formula 1 race car running around the block... the XA160.8's had a slightly warmer touch to it and something I found that I could listen to for endless hours without that SS fatigue. So that's a definite yes, not all Pass Labs are of equal standing. Speakers used at the time were the ML Neolith's and the Ren15A's. Both set-ups were located in big rooms, so I guess this was a very positive factor in launching the dipole affect properly, without any smearing of those wave patterns. As I've stated before numerous times, get that room sorted out, then comes the speakers, not the other way round...
It's far more difficult to sort out the room, once its done, changing speakers is more manageable. From a personal perspective, I also preferred the overall esthetics of the Ren15A's compared to the Neoliths, man are those huge!
My quest in finding a suitable SS amp as an alternative to my current CJ monoblocks, continues! I've gone through 19 different SS amps now and still looking. So far, the Pass Labs gear sits on top of my short list. Topping three critical criteria that's very important to me: Overall performance, VFM & build quality, and a high Class A bias operation. Obviously these three areas are very important in driving full range Stats, so with CLX's, it's a match made in heaven! Will see how it goes, will most probably make a decision by March next year.
NOTE: This is just my personal experience and opinion on Pass Labs gear and matching them with ML Stats. Others will have different views, their experiences vary with Pass Labs gear. Hence, in order to determine which gear is right for you and most suits your system and your room, well that can only be determined by YOU!
Cheers, and do enjoy those finest tunes.
WOOF! RJ
