2. amps-preamps
  3. 150105-87630

Pass amp paired with audio research pre?

 Wondering if anyone has had experience matching a pass labs amp with an audio research preamp. Do they make a good combination?  Thinking  about audio research reference 5SE matched to one of the X series pass amps. I have Harbeth 401.2 speakers...kind regards 
fanotunes

Showing 5 responses by bdp24

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bdp24
10,222 posts
 
I anticipated that observation might ruffle a few feathers ;-) . Further evidence ;-) ;-) .
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bdp24
10,222 posts
 
ARC owners can sometimes resemble owners of Linn ;-) .
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bdp24
10,222 posts
 
@fanotunes, I would attribute the lifeless sound you hear to the LS-16 before the RM200 (I've owned both, and dumped the 16). Check into how ARC creates the balanced XLR outputs on the LS-16. Since the RM200 has true balanced inputs, you may as well feed it a true balanced signal (though it will accept unbalanced without modification or sonic penalty, says Roger Modjeski). In his EAR 868 (and in the 912), Tim deParavicini creates that pre’s balanced outs by way of transformers (standard in recording studio equipment). Though I don’t know it to be true, it may be that ARC does so with opamps, which is very common in consumer gear.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,222 posts
 

@fanotunes, Tim deParavicini's EAR-Yoshino electronics don't get much love here (though they do elsewhere, including at Positive Feedback by Robert Levi, and in the UK press, especially Ken Kessler in HFN&RR. Ken loves Tim's stuff), but his 868 and 912 pre's are designed to drive a 600 ohm load. Paravicini does a lot of work in pro studios (including Pink Floyd's), where 600 ohms is the standard.

Those pre's have no trouble driving a 10k ohm power amp input. They also are fine sounding, the 868L being noticeably better imo than the ARC LS-16 (I've had both). It had better be, costing over twice as much new, and twice as much used! It is a pure-tube design, the LS-16 a ss/tube hybrid (as are all the LS models). By the way, your RM-200 is called by some a hybrid design, because of it's bipolar input stage (the driver and output stages pure tube), which po's Roger Modjeski. But that's a story for a different thread ;-) .

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,222 posts
 
@fanotunes, did you mean to say you currently have an RM-200? I’ve never heard of an RM-100! It, like the Pass amps, has a relatively low input impedance: 20k single-ended, 30k balanced.
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