Pass....Accuphase....or......


Hi Audiogoners!

I need a new power amp to my Verity Audio Parsifal Ovation (18 watts minimum recommended input power / 8 ohm).

Have a Mark Levinson No.532 that keeps broking down and it's getting too expensive to fix in Europe. 

Music: Classical/symphonic and jazz.

Room: 13 x 26

Preamp: Auralic DAC/Pre (but this can change....)

Ideas so far:

Pass Labs XA-25 (hype or really good and powerful enough?)

Accuphase A-48 (too polite?)

If you have a minute....I need ideas in that price range...+/- $$. Thanks!

 

southofdallas

You could find a used michi m5 or m8 but the m8 is more expensive but sounds great and power any speaker.read the review of the m5.enjoy the search.

Accuphase is an interesting company which produces high quality components in small batches by hand to very high standards.  They have limited their size and production volumes to 5,000 units and only have about 85 employees - 26 of whom are engineers.  They are primarily focused on the Japanese market and only about 30% of their units are destined for export.

According to the Management and Corporate Policy posted on the Accuphase website, they limit production to 5,000 units per year and are not looking to expand:

"One of the corporate principles that Accuphase has observed since its
beginning is the conscious decision not to pursue expansion. In a free economy,
most companies try to grow. However, demand is not unlimited. If we were to
chase the numbers, trying to sell more and more products and compete only on
price, we would lose our ability to create truly high-end audio components.
We therefore are not increasing our staff numbers (currently about 80, similar
to the time of the company's founding), in keeping with the principle of "small
numbers ‒ exceptional talent". Rather than trying to expand the scale of the
company, we believe in quality over quantity. We adhere to a low-volume
production schedule, building and marketing only about 5,000 units per year. But
with regard to the products that we are making, we passionately care about their
sound, their performance, their quality, and their design. We do not ship a
product unless it fully meets our exacting standards. This gives it lasting value
and ensures the excellent reputation of the Accuphase brand."

https://www.accuphase.com/company_profile/a2_management_policies_2.pdf

Those Michi sure are VERY powerful....but I am leaning more toward the Accuphase brand.

toronto416: Nice company! I like their approach to business...no shareholders....no hurry.

Pass Lab products have the reputation for being built to be extremely reliable. This reputation is based not on verbiage from their website, but rather by very rarely having a problem in peoples system.
They are typically very conservative in rated wattage and have huge power supplies that will happily drive most anything. They have a sound type, driven by listening tests more than specs.  They are slow to break in, so any audition of a PL amp should allow more than 100 hours before forming an opinion.
Good luck in your search!