Pass Labs amps and Avantgarde speakers

Late followup to the original post.

I have just finished setting up these speakers with the Pass XA30.5 as my final music system.

This combination is purely amazing, both for music and movies. No lack of power for movies with the highly efficient speakers. Pure class A sweetness and dead silent noise floor (similar to Class D amps). The music when coupled with my BG radia in-wall BGX subs is musical sex. It is like being touched by God... goosebumps for everyone that has heard them. As close to heaven as I am liable to get on earth.

I did build a major room to go with this setup including a great deal of diffusion and bass trapping.

Look up Blazar on AVSforum and you will find my thread there with all the pictures.

The amp doesn't even get into temperature extremes which is also nice since I have the amp in a rack.

All of the optimistic speculation in this thread turned out to be basically true.

I am crossed over between 4-5 and volume is at at 7.

I am allowing the Integra DHC 80.3 to run Audyssey processing on the main speakers and also allowing the Audyssey to crossover at 50 to allow the BG Radia BGX system to take over the sub-bass region.

If you compare the speakers with and without Audyssey, the system sounds overall better with Audyssey so far compared to "direct" listening.

Most audio purists are going to freak out over my decision to use Audyssey, especially with horns... but Audyssey makes everything sound so... right.

Bass equilization in particular is fantastic with the Audyssey.

I am so addicted to these speakers in this room... when I am away from the room or on vacation, I find myself wishing I was home.

It really is a religious experience!

I have added a pair of JL Audio Fathom 212 subwoofers sitting behind each of my Avantgarde Duo Omegas. It just happens that this is is the perfect location for best response from each of the subwoofers. I was able to crossover the subwoofer a bit high at around 100hz and crossover the Duo's subwoofer higher. The Duo's subwoofer is simply not that great for electronic music that I like and will bottom out during movie passages if the speaker is set to "Large".

The JL Audio Fathom's are so vastly more powerful, they match the extreme efficient horn speakers much better.

I find myself wishing for a pair of Avantgarde Trios to match with the JL Audio Fathom 212's. The Trios each down to 100Hz which would be perfect.

I just tried the First Watt F3 which sounded pretty muddy in the midrange and weak on bass control with the Duo Omegas. Had to send it back, not as good as the Pass Labs XA30.5

Even better than both of those however is the XA30.8... this unit is nirvana with the Duo Omegas. Worth the extra price. Super quiet, no hiss, sound extremely transparent and excellent bass control. The best amp I have heard so far in my system.

Beware it does not fit in a standard audio rack however.

I highly recommend the XA30.8. Honestly I doubt it gets any better than this in the entire universe of amplifiers. It excels in every way you can imagine.

I bet the reviews on the new Pass Labs Point 8 series are going to great

The new Pass Labs XA30.8 sounds EXCELLENT with the Avantgarde Duo Omegas. It is simply not possible to get any better than this that I can imagine.

I tried a 10 watt amp and I have to say... folks who use less than 20 watts for Duo's are simply not doing them justice. They send very anemic and simply cannot keep up and higher volumes such as electronic music, rock, or movies.

I am seriously toying with the idea of the Trios ... just not sure if I want to blow that much money yet...