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Pass INT-30A with Acoustic Zen Adagio

I'm currently using a Pass INT-30A with a pair of Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers.  Based on all review I've read, the reviews of both the speakers and the amp led me to believe that this would be a very smooth, musical combination.  However, I'm finding it to be rather analytical.  Good recordings sound fantastic, but any recordings that are just a hair short of spectacular come across as sounding very bad.  This is not what I was looking to get into, having only a portion of my music that I can listen to due to this problem.  

I have been racking my brain for days now trying to decide if I should switch out the amp or the speakers.  The amp does so many things so well, but so do the speakers.  I was considering a pair of LSA2 towers, since I used to own the LSA1 bookshelves and found them to be the smoothest, most musical speakers I've ever owned.  On the other hand, I could swap out the amp and go back to tubes and get that smoothness back that way.

Has anyone had experience with this amp, the speakers, or even both in combination?
jwglista

Showing 1 response by adamaley

adamaley
50 posts
 
I have no thoughts on the amp, but I can speak to the speakers. I had them in my system about 6 years ago, and strident or harsh in the high frequencies are the last descriptors I ever thought I would hear in reference to them. I'm glad you are exploring other aspects of your sonic chain to find a solution. 

The ribbon tweeter never induced in me the anguish metal tweeters had in the past, and just like you, I am overly sensitive to those HF nasties. I drove mine with Red Wine Audio 30.2 amp and their Isabellina preamp. Tone, body, warmth, and detailed transparency aplenty.
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