|
|
Pass Labs is one of the most highly regarded amplifier manufacturers in the world. Nelson Pass himself has gained a reputation for being one of the most forward thinking and innovative designers in the industry and the current range clearly demonstrates the wisdom of his ‘less is more’ approach to circuit design. Unlike many other high power solid-state amplifier designs, Pass amplification is extremely simple in its design ethos, employing only two stages of gain in comparison to the eight or more of supposedly comparable designs. With this simplicity comes musicality and transparency of an order normally only associated with low power purist tube amplifiers, yet without their weaknesses at the ends of the frequency spectrum. The difference between the X and XA series of power amplifiers is simple: X series amplifiers operate in Class A for the majority of the time, only crossing over into Class A/B when the speaker load demands – hence they double their power as the speaker impedance halves. XA series amplifiers are pure Class A all the way and will not deliver more power as a loudspeaker’s impedance drops – consequently they should only be partnered with loudspeakers having a benign impedance curve.
|
 |
|
 |
