Pass Labs amps and Avantgarde speakers


Hi,

Does anyone has any experience with matching Pass Labs XA30.5 poweramp with Avantgarde Acoustic Duo speakers?

The XA30.5 is getting great reviews all the time but in my part of the world it's a little hard (say impossible) to audition on my Avantgarde speakers before buying.

My plan is to drive the XA30.5 directly from my dCS Debussy dac.

Thanks!

Best regards,
The Norwegian
mohano
Hi Mohano,

I purchased the First Watt M2 about 7 weeks ago. I believe it is by far the best sounding solid-state amplifier I've ever heard with my Avantgarde loudspeakers. It is so tube-like and musical that I find myself listening for many hours at a time. The M2 has really surprised me. Last week I had a couple of friends over to listen. Each of them have been in the hobby for 50 years and are huge tube gear lovers. They were shocked at how good & tube-like the M2 sounds in my system. They were very impressed with the M2 and could not get over at how good solid-state can sound. If you get a chance, try and demo the M2 and tell us what you think. Nelson Pass is a genius! Take it easy
Mohano,
Your choice does`nt surprise me, a well bullt-high quality 300b SET with those speakers should sound wonderful! Congratulations.
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.
Blazar, great system and the room. I looked-up your thread on AVS Forum, very involved construction process.
It so happens, I have the very same speakers, Avantgarde Duo Omega G2, and my speaker placement is fairly similar to yours, at least in terms of the proximity to the rear wall.
My room is slightly smaller though, 21x 16x 8.
I wonder, what are the sub settings on your Avantgardes?
the volume and the crossover point? Just the number on the dial.
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!