Recent Pass Labs and Wilson Sophia 3

Maz65

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2014
51
2
140
Italy
Hi all Wilson lovers,
sorry for the little crossposting due to involve Wilson and Pass owners, if anyone has experience in matching Sophias 3 and Pass Labs equipment I will be glad to receive your comments: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/recent-pass-labs-and-wilson-sophia-3.27680/ thanks !

-- original post in Pas Labs:
Hi all,
I wish to pair my Wilson Sophia 3s with a Pass Labs amplifier. I'm struggled between the various candidate combinations and because I have not the possibility to test them all together.
A good starting, before try to listening somenthing, could be an advice from all of you with similar setup.
Paper/Internet reviews doesn't help me so much: they are mainly focused on classical and jazz music, and my listening preferences are for rock and electronica and next jazz, so basically I need powerful mid-bass and bass with grip, and a good balance between the other frequencies, dynamics on transient due to poor DR recordings with these genres. "Why you don't buy the amplifier xxxx instead of yyyy ?" question may arise and my answer is I need to avoid the listening fatigue and I identified in Pass Labs the right compromise, or my first try before others, tell me If I could be wrong with this.
Possible options, before trying one of them, are:
a) X250.8 + my actual preamplifier ARC Ls28
b) INT250 and that's it
c) XA30.8 + my actual preamplifier ARC Ls28 , for space reasons I can't consider mono amps.
thank you for any comment.
--

Massimo
 
Last edited:

medwardo

Well-Known Member
Nov 21, 2016
9
4
68
Seattle area
I've used the XA25 with the Sophia 3s for the past year or so. It has more than enough power for my purposes as the Sophias are easy to drive.

You can find that post here: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/pass-xa25.25021/#post-535724. Message #9 in that thread.

The XA25 wasn't on your list, but I've found it perfect for my purposes.
 

Maz65

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2014
51
2
140
Italy
Thank you @medwardo for your contribution. In the meantime I wrote at Pass Labs and the first suggested listening choice is to try ARC LS28 + X250.8 for the first run.
 

MM622

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2013
19
2
133
I'm using ACR Ref 6, Pass Labs X-350.8 and Sophia 3, the system work real good. My Pass amp has a lot of power to handle my Sophia 3, which is easy to drive. And I'm interested to upgrade to Sophia 3 to Sasha 2, but I'm unable to make my decision because my listening area is small, I'm worrying there are too much bass. My listening has 10' x 22' (From my ear to the speaker only has 7 to 8 feet). Any input?
 

Nemal1

Well-Known Member
Dec 9, 2018
365
215
120
61
I'm using ACR Ref 6, Pass Labs X-350.8 and Sophia 3, the system work real good. My Pass amp has a lot of power to handle my Sophia 3, which is easy to drive. And I'm interested to upgrade to Sophia 3 to Sasha 2, but I'm unable to make my decision because my listening area is small, I'm worrying there are too much bass. My listening has 10' x 22' (From my ear to the speaker only has 7 to 8 feet).

Hi, to allay any misgivings you may have, I use Sasha 2 in a smaller room that yours with no difficulties whatsoever. We use the same pre, but I use ARC Ref 250SE’s for amplification. I listen at a similar distance with my speakers the same width apart.
Good luck with your choices
 

MM622

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2013
19
2
133
Here is my small listening area and equipments...
 

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Nemal1

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Dec 9, 2018
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Here’s a photo of my own system for comparison before I got my turntable which is wall mounted
 

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Maz65

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2014
51
2
140
Italy
In the meantime... I bought the X250.8 and with my ARC LS28 + Sophia 3 I can say it is a great match. Music flows in a very natural way, I'm very satisfied about the final result.

About cables: for speakers the Purist Audio Aqueous, for electronics a mix of VDH The First metal screen, Accuphase ALC-15, Audio Technica..

Here is my "final" setup:


IMG_0146.JPG IMG_0150.JPG
 
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Nemal1

Well-Known Member
Dec 9, 2018
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In answer to your questions, no bass boom at all, but I do listen quietly, my ref 6 barely ever over 30 on the volume control, my amps having plenty of control over the incoming signal.
My mains cables are viard audio, all interconnects artisan silver cables, the exception being a mexcel BNC cable between cd player and clock.
 

MM622

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2013
19
2
133
I don't know if ARC Ref 6's volume has problem, it's so loud. This is not only my comment, but I have heard many Ref 6 user has same comment. In most of the CD recording, I use 20 volume control on my Ref 6 is loud enough. I used to send this question to ARC and their customer service told me that they have same feedback from many Ref 6 user. They said they will use our comment as information to design their next product.
 

Jpspock

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2018
135
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Ref6 plays louder at the same level than a ref5se. Reason why I didn’t want to buy it and changed to a passive preamp...
 

Nemal1

Well-Known Member
Dec 9, 2018
365
215
120
61
When I said rarely above 30, it’s generally between 15-20.
Prior to this I used a ref 3 with arc210’s and the volume in that-from memory- was lower still.
Bit off topic now though.
I’d reiterate Sasha 2’s are fine in a smaller room
 

MM622

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2013
19
2
133
Nemal1
May I know if your Sasha 2 color is Argento Silver? It look very nice.
 

Nemal1

Well-Known Member
Dec 9, 2018
365
215
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Hi, yes they are. I find too much black is not to my taste. Thought about having silver grilles as well but prefer the contrast.
 

MM622

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2013
19
2
133
Hi, yes they are. I find too much black is not to my taste. Thought about having silver grilles as well but prefer the contrast.
Have you change the tubes for your Ref 6? I was very lucky to get a NOS Tung Sol 6550 black plate tubes and 7 Russian 6H30DR tubes for my Ref 6. The sound quality is better than the stock tubes.
 

Jpspock

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2018
135
69
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I had on my ref5se nos black plate or grey plate, with 6h30dr of 1972, but i compared it with the Bespoke, no doubt it was far better. So with all respect for arc, Bespoke is something else...
 

Nemal1

Well-Known Member
Dec 9, 2018
365
215
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I’ve bought a spare set from RAM labs, but not fitted them yet. My ref 6 has only done 160 hours. I researched the DR tubes but seemed prohibitively expensive at the time. Maybe a future option....
 

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