Pass X-150 or Cary V-12?

...less-likely Placette will be OK with Cary V12 since it has low gain and low sencitivity. I'm sure that Pass X-150 has enough gain but I'm not sure how low/high is the input impedance (20kOhm? which I'm not sure). If it's bellow 47kOhms than volume control bandwidth will narrow.

Hi Blackie, you say you have tried a number of amps to no avail. What kind of problems are you having with these other amps you have tried?
My amp of choice is the Viva Sentesi. I use the Coincident Total Eclipse and the Sentesi's 12 watts is sufficient most of the time. I also own the Cary V12 and think this amp is a bargin at it's list price of $4000. A friend of mine owns the Pass X350 that he loaned me for over a week. I thought the X350 to be a good amp but never did much to get me really involved in the music. It was a bit flat in it's dimensionality, not as full sounding and would leave me bored after 20 minutes. The V12 had a bigger soundstage with much more life and energy than did the pass. The tonality of the V12 wasn't as dry as the pass and the dynamiccs were also better than the Pass. It is hard to say if you will have the same experience as I did having different speakers and probably different tastes. I hope this helps. I wish you much success.

My dream is BAT VK60 or pair of those in mono configuration rather than going for new V12s
1. It is sencitive 1.2V
2. It is OK with passive preamp(I'm the passive guy too!)
3. Used one on the market is $2000 so if you want to spend $4000 than buy a pair and us them as monoblocks(120W/ch!)
4. In your current setup you will outperform Pass X150 and Cary V12 at ease!

I own a Pass X-150 that I use to power my Audio Physics Virgos. I think this is a wonderful combination. I also have tried the Pass with my Nautilus 805s. Combining the X150 with the 805s really brought out the best in the 805s. The detail and soundstage both were incredible. In fact, I liked the combination so much that I am looking around for a Pass X5 to replace the amp I currently use in my HT. While I think the Cary is a great amp, I think the Pass would be a better combination with your 803s; however, you may wish to look at the X250 for the increased power. In my experience, the B&W speakers need a fair amount of power to bring out the best the speaker has to offer.

Hey Blackie,

I am in complete agreement with Tdavism3. The Nautilus line is not the most efficient regardless of their ratings. I drove a pair of 802 Nautilus with my Electrocompaniet AW250DMB and was very happy with the results. That is until I heard the Talon's, but that is another story for another time. I don't think that any of us who have posted have really answered your question, but low powered tube amps coupled with a passive line stage driving a speaker that needs headroom to come alive is not the answer. You cannot go wrong with the Pass. Even if you didn't like it, the resale value is definetly excellent. It is also IMO a more neutral (or honest?) sounding amp than the others you mentioned. Remember, Electrocompaniet designed a pair of their best amps to drive the Nautilus 801. The same sonic signature is intact through both lines, so I think it would be a safe bet that EC & B&W are an excellent marriage.

Good luck!