Amplifier advice for Wilson Sophia speakers


I'm looking for a Pre-Amp. & Amp. for my Wilson Sophias. My room is 20'x26', with good (flat) acoustics. I listen to Acoustic Rock, Jazz, R&B and Blues Rock, live recordings whenever possible. I'm considering the following:

A) ARC LS16 MKII & ARC VT100 MKIII
B) VTL 5.5 & ST150
C) Pass Labs X2.5 & X250
D) BAT VK-300xSE

I listen at fairly loud/realistic levels, so I need to make sure that the system is moderately powerful.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...Thanks!
lihifi

Showing 2 responses by spatine

Why the combination of a Pass Labs amp and a Boulder preamp? Since you know about Boulder preamp, what do think of Boulder amp? What do you hear differently between a Boulder design for amplifier versus that of a Pass Labs or an Ayre? I am more interested in amplifiers for a Watt Puppy, but Sophia sounds sufficiently similar.
I heard Pass Labs X.5 series behaves like a class A at low volume. How low a volume must it be? I usually listen in the range of 70-85 db. Secondly why stop at such lowly 250W X250.5? Wouldn't an X600.5 sounds better? I heard power doesn't have to be for loudness. It also means more juice for non-woofer components to do their thing. Both Sophia and Watt Puppy are rather large speakers as well.