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
I agree with Nvp, with this speaker you're using mere fractions of a watt the
vast majority of the time. The quality of the first watt is what you hear.
Preference is of course subjective taste. Chadeffect owns this brand's Trio
speaker and has used many different amplifiers and chose the 2 watt
Yamamoto 45 tube SET. Does that mean it's better than the Pass amp? No,
it a matter of individual preference and desired goals/ sound . I'd probably
prefer the Yamamoto over the Pass amplifier but naturally there are others
who would choose the Pass, it just depends.
Charles,
To say that one needs 20 wpc on 107dB sensitive Duos is...misinformed. I can run mine on 3.5 wpc 2A3 amps with plenty of headroom; it's just that qualitatively the Lamms are the best I've heard to date, at 18 wpc.
I agree that with AG Duo's it is fractions of a Watt that are required in most situations. I have Duo Omegas and using an Atmasphere S30 OTL amp. This is fed directly from a Berkeley Alpha DAC. With the Atmasphere you can remove the driver tubes to reduce max power. With 5 tubes each side you get around 35W. The amp has an output dial that can show power per channel - at deafening levels the meter is barely moving so I reckon well less that half a Watt!

I have tried a number of amplifiers with the Duo's and all have been able to deliver excellent results, so I would expect the Pass amps to sound really good.
I have owned Avantgarde duo 2.2 speakers for the past 8 years...I am using the least expensive Prima Luna amp (35 watts/channel tubes)..and the sound is quite good..this is the combination used by the owner of Upscale Audio in his living room..and he has the choice of many amps, obviously. It is way more than enough power...my volume setting through my Cary slp98 pre-amp cannot be set past 10:00 without producing volume levels far past any level one would need in a medium sized living room: mine is 14' x 18' with 16 ft. ceiling.