@avanti1960 I experience zero brightness, harshness or any type of sibilance issues with my XA30.8. I pair it with a Pass XP-12 preamp (9.3db total gain) using XLR cables.
Could be a combination of mismatched impedance exacerbated by too much gain.
Too Much Gain the Issue ? (preamp and amp)
I have a Cary SLP-05 preamp- 24db gain with balanced and 17db single ended.
Using a Pass Labs XA30.8 (26db gain) and even with the 17db of the single ended output of the Cary preamp the sound can frequently be sibilant in the upper midrange.
Have not had the sibilant sound with other amps (Parasound JC5) but did lower the gain on that amp to 50% of dial.
Thanks.
Showing 6 responses by audphile1
@mulveling +1 on tube rolling definitely worth exploring Also, in my experience, rarely anything is a “direct replacement” when it comes to swapping components in the system that’s been tuned over time to have a specific sound. And introducing a different amplifier is not a small change. I won’t be surprised if you might need to work with speaker placement and toe in as well as revisit the cabling. |
@avanti1960 is the XA30.8 brand new? |
@avanti1960 sounds like you have a good plan. |
@stevehuff is running Cary SLP-05 with XA60.8 amps @avanti1960 may be worth reaching out to see if Steve observed something similar to what you’re running into. |
@avanti1960 good! Nice effort to make it work!!! It’s an excellent amplifier. |