Pass labs x350.5 VS. McIntosh MC402

Thanks for the responses and input. I have a pair of Infinity Kappa 7 speakers that I am currently running with the Levinson amp. I also have a pair of Kappa 9 speakers that I am in the process of re-foaming (waiting for the foam kits to arive). I live in Alaska and we do have a McIntosh dealer here, they have told me that I can bring my speakers in and demo them anytime. A demo with the Pass Labs amp is pretty much out of the question. On my next trip to Seattle I will try to locate a Pass Labs dealer and give a listen on some demanding speakers if possible.

Thanx for your input Dpac996 and for the referance to the Audio Research 100.2. Unfortunately I cannot even entertain the thought of an amp less than 400 WPC. My Infinity Kappa 9 speakers (or K-9's as I like to call them) are very demanding to say the least and would more than likely send most 200 watt or less amps to the recycle bin.

Bear with me while I make a comparison, A good friend of mine has a pair of the Kappa 8 speakers that he is running with a 400 WPC Denon amp. This set up will get extremely loud while maintaining pretty good sound quality (though not captivating) all the way up to "run and hide levels" in his listening room. When he walks over and turns on his 15 inch Velodyne sub things get real. The pictures on the walls rearange themselves and I could swear that there is a standing wave in the toilet bowl that could capsize the "tidy bowl" man's boat. Ha, Ha! I couldn't resist that one. That is deffinately pushing his amp to it's limits, things get very hot and sound quality suffers. You can just sence the Kappa 8's desire to have more power behind them to maintain sound quality.

My K-9's are more demanding than the Kappa 8's are, they drop down to .8 ohm pluss have an extra 12" driver and extra tweeter over the 8's along with a crossover from h&!!. I am aware that the correct power match for my K-9's would be a pair of mono block amps in the 500+ watt range but unfortunately I am a working man with teenage kids and the stereo budget has limits for the time being. While I do not usualy listen at volume levels that will shake your house off the foundation and make your ears bleed I feel that one of these 2 channel amps (or something similar) will be up to the task with some respect shown for the throttle knob.
I have enjoyed my Levinson amp paired with my Kappa 7 speakers but it simply wasn't designed for the type of load that the K-9's demand.

I could be wrong so if anyone out there has tried running a pair of Infinity Kappa 9 with a similar 400 WPC amp please tell me your thoughts or the results of this set up.

Pani, thank you for the advice as I also had the MC501 and x600.5 amps floating around in the back of my mind. I do have a question for you on the Symphonic Line Kraft amp though.....this is a pure class A amplifier and I was wondering how much heat is an issue for your friend when driving difficult loads ?
My Infinity Kappa 9 speakers drop below 1 ohm and have a way of making most A/B class amps get very hot, very fast.

That being said, I would love to get the chance to hear any high end, full range loudspeaker with 300 watts of pure class A power behind them !

Thank you Dpac996 for taking the time to come back and leave some very helpful suggestions. That is exactly the kind of input I am looking for. I am aware of the differance in Denon power vs. quality amplification and my listening preferances are different than those of my friend with the Kappa 8's/Denon amp.
I am looking for a much warmer, detailed, authoritive yet effortless sound out of my K-9's. A sound that captivates you and draws you in and simply makes you want to hear more, without much fatigue.
I have spent a small amount of time with these Kappa 9 speakers hooked up to my Levinson amp (with carefully controlled volume levels) and I gotta say that the way that they reproduce vocals and string instruments and any type of brass is increddible! I want to hear more!
On the flip side, I do expect them to "belt it out" in a highly controlled manner from time to time when I do get an amp/amps behind them.
I have already put together a fairly nice little system to listen to while I am building this one. That is a luxury that some don't have and I can take my time picking out each component. Thanx again for your input.