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AR LS 26 and Pass Labs X350.5 Compatible?

Hello to all the audiophiles here on Audiogon. Being new to the high end of audio I was wondering if some of the more knowledgeable experts could give me their opinion on something I've been thinking of.

Recently, I upgraded my venerable Ohm 4s to the 4.5 S3 and I wanted to pair it with an Audio Research LS 26 and a Pass Labs X350.5, both of these choices after reading some of the forum opinions here.

I contacted Pass Labs and a gentlemen named Desmond said there would be no problems with the pairing. However, after reading some opinions on mixing solid state amps with pre amp tubes would they really be compatible or would there be a better alternative? Thanks in advance for any replies!
aurelius

Showing 1 response by gundam91

gundam91
506 posts
 
I have the ARC LS-25 Mk I and Pass X350.5. I remember reading somewhere before about the impedance matching issue between these two components, but I could not find the threads again.

I just did some research and this one talked about the impedance matching:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1177894805&read&keyw&zzmatch+impedance

Per the manuals ARC LS-25 Mk I has output impedance of 650 omh (balanced), and the Pass X350.5 input impedance is 20k ohm (balanced). Per the above thread, the ratio should be at least 20x. The imput impedance of the X350.5 is at least 30x of ARC LS-25's output impedance (20k ohm/650 ohm = 33.8), so it should be OK.

FrankC
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