Pass x250, Talon Khoruses , what now ?

Hi David, good for you for getting rid of the 300i, I love Krell myself but somehow I think you made the right choice on getting the Pass Labs amp for your Khorus speakers.Something tells me that the Pass and Talon Khorus will have a better synergy than the Krell and Talon Khorus combo.

Now for the preamp, since your budget is around $1000 maybe a used Sonic Frontiers Line 1 or BAT VK-3i, the reasons I suggested these two were due to the fact that they both have balanced outputs, which in turn will work well with your Pass Labs amp.

Happy Hunting.

For a little over your budget the Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 is an excellent pre-amp and should work well with the Pass amp.

I agree that BAT may be a good choice, but if you could utilize a passive pre such as one of the placette units I am sure it would do a very nice job.

BTW I've only heard the Khoruses with a 75wpc OTL amp and they were amazing, I can't imagine the detail and sheer dynamics they much have with a larger solid state. ~Tim

I'm guessing but I would stick with a bare-bones solid state unit for that price range. High-end tube pre's may be one thing but usually low-end tubes will be something else. And if it's used, you may need to soonish re-tube which could set you back another $100 to $600.

The Placette passive may be an excellent choice and I believe you have a 30 day money back option there.

You may want to investigate the Odyssey Temptest pre for $995 at OdysseyAudio.com. Their amps are supposed to be fabulous and their pre may be cut from the same cloth.

Speak to stewart of SOS he knows more about pass labs equipment with talon speakers then just about anyone else out there. I'm sure he will know just what you need. You could also try running direct (the new shanling looks nice) and sell your rega.... I have talons too and love em as well... hope this helps ... =)

You should have a look at the Bent Audio (www.bentaudio.com)102S transformer based preamps. I realize that this is DIY, but it isn't that difficult and will give you the unbalanced to balanced conversion which other passives won't.

I've been using a Marsh P2000b(solid state), which is balanced and at a little over $1000 new is definitely an overachiever performance-wise. For a few hundred dollars more they offer a tubed version that may also be worth checking out, but the solid state version sure is sweet. Very quiet, dynamic, surprising tonality, lots of natural detail and very transparent. It's a genuine steal in my book. Best of luck.

Tim

you people r just a great bunch !
thanks for the great advice.
i will go and do my homework now..=)
thanks again

I think you should really consider a Pass Aleph-P pre. This pre is completely balanced, without attenuators in the circuit path. I had a non-remote version, and I was astonished at the difference a pre-amp can make to the quality of sound. I sold it to get a Krell HTS processor/pre-amp. I love the processor for the home theater portion, but I feel as though I took a step backward on two channel. I am now looking for a CD player that connects directly to my amp.

I guess what I am saying is I MISS MY PASS PRE-AMP. I think you could probably find a non-remote Aleph used for around $1k, and a remote version for $1400. It would be an excellent combination with your X-250. Good Luck!

Hi David. Some good recommendations given above. You might also want to try an Aloia 11.01 inductive preamp. Although it's a SS design, it sounds a bit tube-like, particularly in the midrange (smooth, dynamic, and palpable). When I first got my Khorus a year and a half ago, I tried various amps & preamps, and the midrange sometimes sounded a little recessed. Then I got the Aloia and it seemed to make the midrange just right, particularly when used with the matching 13.01 amp. (Thanks to A-goner MikeG for recommending this set-up.) In any case, you can pick up a used 11.01 here at Audiogon for a little over $1000, which is an amazing buy for the level of performance you'd get. Whatever you end up getting, please let me know how it works out. Don