Pioneer M-22 Power Amp - Epic Japanese Gear From the Past

Anyone compare this to Pass Labs XA30.8? I didn't realize but I guess it's the same amount of power?

 

Not a side-by-side comparison, but I own an M-22 and once heard an XA30.8 through a vendor's high-end system. The Pass Labs sounded nice, but nothing special IMO.

You'd get similar (if not better) results from the Pioneer for way less money, as long as you're okay with doing or paying for restoration and dealing with old school Class A heat. Can't speak for the Pass Labs temps, but suspect they may run cooler.

I'd also suggest that if you're running speakers lower than 90db in efficiency, get a more powerful amp. I'm becoming a believer in hefty amps (100W+) for most speakers available in today's market. In my experience, 30W amps like the M-22, XA30.8, and flea watt tube amps have an amazing synergy with 95db and above speakers (such as Tekton and Zu) but lack a little oomph and driver grip with anything harder to drive. YMMV.

 

The XA-30.8 should have better edge definition, inner detail, and punch. I'd suspect the XA-30.5 to be the closer comparison to M-22.

The Pass stuff is pretty ballsy. For the XA-30.* stuff: 30W into 8R, and 60W into 4R in Class A. With headroom up to ~140W into 4R in Class AB.

 

Why would the XA30.8 have better edge definition and inner detail? What do you mean by punch?

 

From my experience with the xa30.5 it's got a bit of that tube magic and softer sound to the bass. I'd call the bass more round. I compared my pass previously to a very solid class AB amp from anthem which was class AB brawny solid state, and it had more of a punch to it that bazelio mentioned. I'd take a guess that the xa30.8 is more similar in sound to my anthem or any other beefy solid state then the 30.5. Correct me if I'm wrong but the m-22 is fairly vintage, yes? It just wouldn't surprise me if the bass was a bit more round on that unit.

 

A minty M-22 came up for sale:

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649438613-pioneer-m22-class-a-power-amplifier/

 

Worth going to pick up? I'm about 40 mins away...

 

Yes.

 

What do they normally go for? Unless its a extremely good deal I think I'll pass... I like my amp already. It would be fun to compare I guess. $1300 fun? Hard to say.

 

I would ask when the last time it was serviced and everything that was done to it. It's in really good condition, most of them do not look nearly as nice. The M-22 is the best solid state amplifier I have heard.

 

If they don't say it was "serviced" or "recapped", then it wasn't. So plan a few hundred more.

 

FWIW, I spent 800 USD on mine getting it serviced top to bottom. It's now for sale on USAM.

 

Holy rebuild Batman! With so much invested, why for sale?

 

I wanted it fully rebuilt top to bottom with like-new parts. My new living room speakers need more than 30WPC to perform to their potential.

 

Gotcha thanks. These are are some of the reasons I've hesitated on this amp when I've seen it come up a couple times - the potential recondition/rebuild costs/hassle to get it to sound it's best, plus possibly not enough power for my inefficient speakers (although only in an 11x17' room so perhaps not as big a problem.)

 

That M-22 sure looks impressive. There is some really nice stuff out there from that era. I just replaced my vintage Sony that was still going strong after 30 years - http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-TA-N86B.html

With efficient speakers it does sound quite nice in Class A, and helped to heat my house in the winter LOL, but I almost always ran it in Class B. 18w just is not a lot of power no matter how you slice it.

 

I wanted to chime in real quick. I measured the M-22 at ~190W during operation with the Nissyo NDF-1500U clocking in at 4W with the M-22 powered off. It’s way over spec, but I got a decent deal on it on EBay, so I went with th 1500 vs the 550 or 1100. The 550W version is more than enough.

 

Can you explain this post in more detail, how you're taking the measurement, etc? As far as I can understand, you're using the M-22 with a step down voltage converter, and the amp is measuring 160 watts over spec?

 

Pretty sure he meant that the M-22 takes 190w, and his step down voltage converter at 1500w is way over spec for it, and 550w is already more than enough, as he measured the M-22 as using 190w from the wall.