Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody View Post
When looking at the ARC be sure the description mentions balanced circuits, most ARC preamps offer XLR connections but not all are balanced. Feanor's is balanced.

Do the 150.5 have the knobs on the back for the speaker terminals same as X250? Levinson has the same type.

The Pass gear is really good, especially in transparency, resolution and detail, BJC cables are great even beyond their cost but to get full benefit from the Pass you need better cables, including a nice power cable. If you can't swing Clarus, then I recommend the Triode, I heard one and it's similar to the Clarus Crimson in character but not as good, but we were comparing a smaller gauge Triode so not exactly fair.
The X150.5 has standard 5-way posts. I'm using banana plugs on Nordost Flat Line Gold cables that I've had for a few years. For a power cable I'm using an old, lower-end PS Audio shielded cable, 12 gauge I think.

The X150.5 has remarkable transparency and ability to create almost tangible, (palpable), images of individual instruments & voices. The other remarkable characteristic is its dynamics, ("PRaT"); all percussion instruments including piano sound shockingly present and real (at least compared to other amps I've owned). Bass is very controlled and precise but not overly lean.

Highs seem extended, not rolled off or overly smooth. As for the mid-range, some people like "liquid" but that isn't the right word for the Pass' midrange: it is focused -- sharp with good contrast to use a camera lens analogy. Neither the highs nor the mid-range are exactly warm, but they are free of nasties.

I'm not really experienced with cables. The low and low-medium i/c's I've tried has not sounded significantly different from each other. I might be willing to kick it up to mid-price but I not inclined to part with a lot of cash experimenting. (At an MSRP of $1600 per pair, balanced Claus Crimson aren't going to happen for me.)