Pass Xs 300, Xs150 Owner's Manual
PASS
®
March 2012
Xs Owner’s Manual
Xs 300 / Xs 150
Owner’s Manual
1
Read Me First
I fully realize that many, if not all, owners will rush to hook up the
amplier without reading this operating manual. I don’t blame you
– I don’t read them either. However, this amplier is different in a
number of ways, and if you only read this page you will probably
save us both some time and trouble.
Heat and Ventilation - These ampliers consume a lot of power
(around 1000 watt for the Xs 300 & around 500 watts for the Xs
150) and most of this is converted it into heat. Pick a location where
the amplier can get some fresh air to remove the heat. Do not
enclose the amplier in a closed cabinet. Give it lots of space. It is
expected that you will probably place the channel chassis on top of
the power supply chassis. You don’t have to, but this is how we use
them ourselves.
Power Connection – The power supply and channel chassis are
connected by an umbilical cable with Neutrik Powercon connectors.
These connectors have a locking mechanism which requires a
clockwise turn after insertion. Be certain that this connector
locks properly. The little lock button will click upon locking. After
it has been turned and locked it will not rotate back unless you push
the locking button. Do not attempt to make or undo this connection
while the power supply is plugged into the AC outlet.
Input Connection and Input Impedance - The Xs ampliers
takes either a single-ended (RCA) or balanced (XLR) input
connection. The input impedance is 100 Kohms single-ended
and 200 Kohms balanced, and the input capacitance is just a few
picofarads so anything will drive it. If you are using RCA inputs,
then you want to use the gold input jumper to short the (-) input (pin
3) of the XLR connector to ground (pin 1) as shown:
Output Connection - You can hook this amplier up to any normal
loudspeaker without danger of damage. Note, however that both
the (+) Red output connection and the (-) Black output connection
are live – neither is to be treated as if it were ground. This can be
important when you are hooking up active sub-woofers to the output
of the amp – if you need a ground connection then use the white
ground terminal provided on the rear panel.
Xs Owner’s Manual
2
Operation - After connection you can turn the amplier on via the
breaker and switch on the power supply front panel or by placing a
positive voltage on the remote turn on terminals on the back of the
power supply. The power supply LED will light up, the meter will
light up, and the meter will slowly move to near the center position
of the dial. The Xs 150 takes a while to fully warm up.
The button on the power supply faceplate is STANDBY, the button
on the main faceplate turn the white meter LEDs on / off. The small
blue LED in the meter remains on as long as the amp is on.
In Summary:
Place the amps
Connect power supply and main chassis
Plug in AC
Turn on breaker
Turn on amp (standby switch on power supply faceplate)
OK! You can go play now.
Xs Owner’s Manual
3
Comments by Pass
It seems like yesterday.... No, actually it seems like eighteen years ago
that I got a patent on the “Super-Symmetric” circuit. That’s actually
a pretty long commercial run for an amplier design - how many do
you know that are still on the market after that much time?
We (Desmond, Joe, me and Wayne in alphabetical order) believe in
progress, but also appreciate where our success has really come from
- happy customers. Every innovation that we consider has to address
how it will improve the customer’s experience with the product.
Technical excellence is a virtue by itself, but it will be the sound that
determines the long term success of a new design after the novelty
has worn off. The audio marketplace is littered with products that
measured spectacularly well but which did not go down as “classics”
because they lacked the subjective qualities that kept listeners happy
beyond the initial excitement created by a technical innovation.
With this uppermost in mind we set out to create a new generation
of ampliers that measure well enough, but only in a manner that
serves the subjective perception of listeners. Oscilloscopes and
distortion analyzers are excellent and helpful tools, but they make
lousy customers.
It has been argued that the power amplier should maintain some
sort of sacred neutrality - “Let the artist be the source of musical
coloration, not the amplier!”
As if the power amplier is the only thing altering the music. In the
old days (late 50’s, early 60’s) there was some reasonable technical
excellence in recording equipment, but it was fairly simple – a
couple of level controls. And the people involved were few and
usually had some taste. Nowadays, there are too many people in the
reproduction chain with too many knobs. It is no surprise that new
vinyl issues of Jazz from that era fetch high prices.
Meanwhile the customer is the guy with the most rights, being that
he is the one paying for it.
That Would Be You.
If you are concerned that your power amplier (or anything else
for that matter) is as objectively and technically accurate as possible,
that is a perfectly legitimate criterion. You will certainly nd many
products in the marketplace that excel at conventional objective
performance, and most of them are much cheaper.
Xs Owner’s Manual
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