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XA60 Owner’s Manual

(very loud) average acoustic signal in a 100 cubic meter room, peaks 
will be somewhat higher.

The XA60 has a massive toroidal transformer coupled to a high 
current DC reservoir. Recognizing that the XA60’s ability to resolve 
microdynamics is best experienced with clean power, the extreme 
low-level resolution of  the XA-series benefits from a specially 
designed power supply that significantly reduces and rejects power 
line borne noise.

The XA amps open the sonic soundstage to the very limits of  the 
recording format.  Through the XA60 complex musical passages 
reveal themselves in the most dramatic manner.   With the XA60 you 
will hear everything within the upper octaves, which includes any 
recording, source or loudspeaker issues.  Keep this in mind when 
choosing complementary equipment, remembering that recordings 
and the other components in the signal chain will strongly dictate 
soundstage width and imaging and likely be the limiting factors in 
your listening environment. The room itself  will also add its acoustic 
signature, and should be considered an audio component.

Speaker selection should be strictly a matter of  personal taste. 
The XA60 is unconditionally stable into any load presented by a 
loudspeaker, but will provide less power into other than 8 ohms.  The 
XA60 accommodates both single ended (RCA) and balanced inputs 
(XLR).  Input impedance’s are 11 kohm unbalanced and 22 kohm 
balanced to permit integration with the widest possible range of  
upstream components. 

You can position this amplifier anywhere you wish, but it must have 
ventilation.  We do not recommend placing it in enclosed cabinets 
or small closets without means for air to circulate freely.  Stacking 
these power amplifiers directly upon each other or upon other 
audio components is not recommended for the same reason.   This 
amplifier idles at approximately 300 watts, the equivalent of  an 
incandescent reading light. At idle most of  that energy is dissipated 
across the heat sinks, so the heat generated by each XA60 is 
equivalent to an incandescent reading light. To dissipate this heat the 
product should have about 6 inches clearance to the top and sides for 
adequate air circulation. 

Let’s talk about power requirements.  The amplifier draws about 2.5 
amps (continuous rms) at 120 volts out of  the wall during operation, 
and this reflects mostly the idle current that we run through the 
output stage. When not actually intending to play music the XA60 
should be left in standby mode.  In standby mode it draws only a few 
watts of  power, that necessary to keep the capacitors charged.  

Requirements

Summary of Contents for XA60

Page 1: ...1 XA60 Owner s Manual pass TM XA60 Owner s Manual May 18 2006 ...

Page 2: ...rcuit topology that we descriptively characterize as being Single ended Class A This new topology combines the very best characteristics of Pass Laboratories X series amplifiers and the highly rated Pass Laboratories Aleph The XA series is the marriage of a highly refined Aleph output stage with the patented Supersymmetry X front end The emphasis of the XA series is to accentuate performance and s...

Page 3: ...le into any load presented by a loudspeaker but will provide less power into other than 8 ohms The XA60 accommodates both single ended RCA and balanced inputs XLR Input impedance s are 11 kohm unbalanced and 22 kohm balanced to permit integration with the widest possible range of upstream components You can position this amplifier anywhere you wish but it must have ventilation We do not recommend ...

Page 4: ...ar panel It will be either 240 volts 220 volts 120 volts or 100 volts all units protected by a type 3 AG slow blow fuse of the appropriate ampacity The operational voltage is not user changeable Transformers are input voltage specific and their change is not a trivial matter The frequency rating of the AC line source is 50 to 60 Hz in all cases Please verify that the amplifiers indicated voltage r...

Page 5: ...se Some powered subwoofers require an audio signal ground reference and their makers may suggest that a black speaker terminal is where this voltage reference might be found On complementary designs which would be typical of all power amps produced by Pass Laboratories this is an incorrect and unsafe assumption On all Pass Laboratories power amplifiers a reference of 0 volts will be found only at ...

Page 6: ...product is very low This is small comfort to the few but take it easy and give us a call if you have problems People are interested in how long it takes for these amplifiers to break in Depending on the resolution of the rest of your audio chain you may or may not notice any break in of the XA60 beyond the first 50 hours of operation You will likely notice the difference in sonic character between...

Page 7: ...lightly less distortion at a given voltage current level than resistive loads The XA circuit was designed to be quite happy driving electrostatic speakers and any other esoteric loads we know of We have a general recommendation about interconnects and speaker cables which is that they should cost less than the amplifier and contain at least some conductive material We have tried a lot of products ...

Page 8: ...supply filter capacitors These caps are used to create the unregulated output stage rails RC filtering is used to passively remove ripple from the supply rails All the power transistors in the product are hyper matched parts with gate voltages matched to 0 5 and all devices taken from the same manufacturing lot codes made on the same wafer So how long will this hardware last It is our experience t...

Page 9: ...l Slew rate plus minus 50 V uS Output Noise 300 uV unweighted 20 20 kHz Balanced CMRR approx 60 dB 1 kHz DC offset 100 mv Power Consumption approx 300 watts Temperature 25 degrees C above ambient at idle Dimensions 19 W x 7 H x 20 D Shipping Weight 68 lbs For more information please contact Pass Laboratories Inc P O Box 219 24449 Foresthill Rd Foresthill CA 95631 Tel 530 367 3690 Fax 530 369 2193 ...

Page 10: ... of origin for warrantee service Foreign distributors are only required to offer warranty service on Pass Laboratories product that they have imported Please note Conditions of warranty service and customer rights for product purchased outside the United States may vary depending upon the distribu tor and local laws Please check with your local distributor for specific rights and details Any modif...

Page 11: ... one that is fully safety rated by the necessary local authority Power Cord Protection Power supply cords should be routed so that they are not likely to be walked on abraded or pinched by items placed on or against them paying particular attention to cords where they enter plugs or exit from a device Never under any circumstance insert a cut or damaged power cord into a mains power socket Power a...

Page 12: ...speakers putting Pass Laboratories X amplifiers on the bottom for power and control conjoined with Alephs on the top for that smooth warm midrange and top end We well appreciate these complementary differences and for the past few years Pass Laborato ries has been at work marrying these two design concepts into a single amplifier topology The trick was to create an amplifier which carries the best...

Page 13: ...d for preamplifier circuits high quality amplifier front ends and other very low power output stages US Patent 5 710 522 describes the single ended Class A power ampli fier biased by a constant DC current source which negatively ghosts the speaker load with simple but effective current modulation If you have followed developments in audio for the last 10 years you know this design as the Pass Labo...

Page 14: ...ve ambient temperature so that actual chip temperatures are about 70 degrees below their rating The output devices are designed to last a very long time under these conditions with a probable life of about 50 000 hours The power supply of the XA 200 uses elaborate RF filtering and noise sup pression designed to block AC noise and line DC The substantial toroidal power transformer is followed by hi...

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