@Dirk
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Look forward to hearing of your experience with the FR30 speakers driven with Pass Labs amplification. I’d like to think he BHK 600 pairing would be spot on, but I also understand your reluctance with BHK amplification. Even though the FR30s are no longer a consideration for me.
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Yes…“reluctance” I’m not a masochist 
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It’s usually the other way round, choose your speaker and find an amp to drive it. That’s why the easier to drive, the more popular a speaker is likely to be. Recently changing speakers, I rejected one option simply because I would’ve needed more amplification to drive them properly and it made no sense financially.
PSA have said these speakers will be easy to drive, even a decent valve amp. Of course PSA will push people to buy the BHK600.
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Agree, and that’s what I’ve been saying multiple times. But of course there will be some speaker purchasers who are already married to their amp
I know this is about speakers but… lots of talk about amp pairing so let me ask a question… or series of questions.
Are there speakers Pass Labs amps don’t play nice with? It seems, to me, Pass and First Watt (given enough power) “just work” with anything out there. BHK sort of have a similar reputation. Are they the “best” match for everything? No, probably not but, from reading countless reviews, it appears you could drop Pass into your system and be done with buying amps no matter which speakers you swap in/out. This is absolutely not true of other manufacturers where its relatively easy to find a speaker review where an amp fell short of expectation in that review.
So… now my question… It appears it is possible to create amplifiers that play nice with a lot of (all) speakers. I don’t doubt there are always magical perfect pairings but if you’ve not got the time / money / motivation to hunt for it why not just pair with something that basically universally fits and be done with it? That would eliminate the constant hunt for showrooms with Nth combinations of gear.
I also think as time marches on the differences in electronics is shrinking. The days of truly awful gear is mostly behind us. This is another reason reviews all sound the same. The reviewer is describing, or trying to describe, finer and finer subtlety between gear as time marches on.
OK, so back to speakers, I think this is also why confidence in buying with the option to return is increasing. Great variations on how that gear performs against modern electronics is something that is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Especially with standard speaker designs and loads (which I consider the FR30 to fall into the category). just my 0.02 *not adjusted for inflation
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Most amps work very well with most speakers.
Some like to make matching an amp with a speaker appear to be a mystical process, but this is nonsense.
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I think you’ve summed up my post nicely. I’ve heard some awful pairings (on the lower budget, questionable specs, class D stuff) so they exist but I have yet to hear something that makes me believe “this is the only combination I can live with”.
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Like a blind mouse, once in a while you get it perfectly.
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There’s at least two aspects to the matching. I’ll grant that if you lack the motivation to find the best pairing that a safe approach like you suggest will probably satisfy you. I don’t mean that in a snide way because it does take a lot of work and you’re right that most things these days sound pretty good.
The first is what most of the power discussion has been about.
I take that back. There’s actually at least three. Two of which relate to the power discussions.
First, is the amp powerful enough and with enough current capacity to not shut down or go into overload or protection mode. There was a thread about how BHK 250 would shut down repeatedly when driving Magnepan LRS at loud volumes. That is a worst case situation and clear incompatibility (unless you aren’t bothered when your amp goes to protection mode when pushed).
The second is what most of the power thread was about, having the headroom to authentically reproduce musical peaks which often get over 100db for complex music even at reasonable nominal volumes at 80-85db.
The third doesn’t relate to power per se but are they a tonal match. You mentioned Pass. I put Pass at about a 40 or 45 on tonality scale 0 to 100, where 50 is neautral. For my preferences I’d never pair Pass with Harbeth or a similar speaker because the presentation would be much too boring for my tastes.
Anyway, hope I didn’t offend anyone there and ymmv I’m sure there are some who find pass and even Harbeth neutral. It’s subjective. If you are looking for an extremely warm and pleasant sound that pairing might be perfect. But yeah, there are lots of speakers I wouldn’t put Pass Labs with, and also many where they sound amazing.
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In general, I tend to agree with that statement. BUT, in addition to the caveats that kzk raises, I’d also add those posed by Nelson himself, which is to say that his Class A and A/B designs have different “voices” that appeal to different segments of the audiophile community. So it depends on which flavor of Pass you’re talking about.
In other words - amplifiers sound different.
In my case, I traded up over the years to Pass XA-160.8’s with just that idea in mind. To me, they represent the optimum balance of neutrality, power, simplicity, reliability, dealer support (shout out to Mark Sammut), trade-in/trade-up potential, and manufacturer support. When I replace speakers, I’ll find something that suits the front end of the existing system and not the other way around. I’ll miss out on the excitement of churning the entire rig, but - been there-done that- and it’s not something I aspire to at this point.
I’ll leave you with the wisdom of reviewer Anthony Cordesman who used the XA-160.8’s as reference amps (as well as a pair of BHK 300’s):
"Ultimately, the key question is never, ‘What is truth?’ It is rather, 'What is the most satisfying and seeming realistic illusion of music? ’ ”
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The modern Ice (Stellar), nCore, Eigentakt Class D amp modules drive about any speaker.
The Putzey designs nCore / Eigentakt with regulated / controlled feedback drive even most complicated speakers with ease.
The Buchardt S400 are often judged to unfold their full potential at high SPL. Not my experience with the Eigentakt class D amp. I expect due to the feedback the amp seems to push the power where it’s needed, even at low SPLs.
I am not sure if the Ice modules utilize feedback the same way, but I expect the Stellar power amps to be a good match for the FR30 as well.
For the speaker first audiophiles the Stellar might be a very good interim solution, with the FR30. A nice set of Mola Mola might also be the final answer, for those who are not married with class A/B doctrines.
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Well said. That is the truth. No one else’s opinion really matters as long as you are satisfied.
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Tony is now in his 80’s and hasn’t written for TAS since 2020, but he was by far my favorite reviewer. His ears and tastes worked like mine, so I could try a piece of gear he reviewed and find myself in agreement with his assessment.
FWIW, his “day job” is as a national security analyst. Currently the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Interesting fellow.
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Al - that’s so 2021. You need to get with the times!
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Great point, and so true. Not as different as speakers sound, but very different nevertheless (assuming speakers are resolving enough to show). And that’s why so important to optimize if you care to get best sound.
My brother is the opposite, just buy whatever and move on with life. Works for him. Different strokes for different folks
I do not get the impression anyone here is advocating “just buy whatever and move on” as you claim.
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Sure you’re right. I edited
I was indeed the fortunate one when my wife said yes. she brings a lot to the table, me not so much. I feel I’m there for moral support.
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