Integrated amp recommendations for harbeth 30.2 XD

Steveashe, the Pass Labs keep eluding me for no good reason. When I was selecting the ultimate integrated last year, it was down to the Pass Labs INT-60 and Luxman L-590AXII. I settled with the latter and was extremely pleased with the performance of the amp in my system. I also run Harbeth (SHL5 +) and Marten Duke 2.

Although I have no urge to make any change, I’m still curious about the Pass, particularly the INT-60 vs INT-25 and INT-250. Is the INT-60 a more powerful version of the INT-25? I am waiting for someone to compare the Pass INT-60 to Luxman L-590AXII and share the impressions here.

If you are now questioning your overall audio performance with these killer speakers, my guess is that the problem would likely be the compromises and warts with your source and/or the room acoustics ..... And not your REGA amp.

Not all Rega amps are built to sound the same. I owned the Rega Elicit mk2 and the Harbeth SHL5 sounded lacklustre when matched with it.

I would imagine the Osiris to be the best sounding Rega amp, followed closely by the Aethos. The lower range Rega integrateds are suboptimal if your system is above average, particularly if you own some Harbeth speakers.

AKG_CA, I broadly agree with your sentiments.

I just bought the comparatively modest strata CHORD RUMOUR speaker cables to purposely test drive Mr. Shaw’s theories / assumption in the coming weeks in a direct A-B shootout against my incumbent FREYs. (There is a BIG difference in price point deltas…)

Interested parties can PM me on the results.

Alan Shaw used to express opinionated views on amplifiers, cables and stands for his speakers. I wouldn’t want to bring it out here again but let’s just say I don’t agree with his opinions as well. Before he advocated powerful Hegel amps for Harbeth speakers, he used to say amplifiers don’t matter as any modest-powered amp would work on his speaker. This includes the Rega Brio, Elicit and Nait 5i to name a few. Of course it would work. The real question is whether music will sound good with those low powered amps..

In my experience, no.

The Rega Osiris must be something special to sound better than the LFD with the Harbeth. Is the LFD a Zero or NCSE? The Osiris has received very positive reviews by the Brits, both reviewers and users alike.

Please share your impressions on the Nordost Frey vs Chord Rumour speaker cable on this thread. Personally I don’t think the Rumour will sound better than the Frey. I used to have Chord Epic on the Harbeth SHL5+ . The Epic is a higher range cable than the Rumour and it does sound quite respectable with the Harbeth. I now use Chord Signature XL and it made the Epic sound colored and slightly congested. The higher range Signature XL’s clarity is quite a step up from the Epic. For this reason I don’t think the Rumour will surpass the performance of the Nordost Frey in your system. In short, cables do matter with the Harbeth or any other speaker in my experience.

I do not have experience with the Krell K-S300i although I briefly tried the KAV-300i in my system many years ago. I presume the signature punch and dynamic presentation of the Krell would be quite ideal for the Harbeth.

As shown in this thread, the current capability and drive of the amp is one of the single most important parameters to ensure the Harbeth will sound good, if not great.

AKG_CA, thanks for the update. Surely useful to know! I'm glad the cable experiments have managed to elevate the Harbeth 30.2 XD to a higher level of performance.