Phoenix Gold Phorum

I just had a guy approaching me in another forum which of the two lines named above is the "better one". Since my experience with the M series is limited and i never owned a single XS amp i can´t really answer that question. All that comes into my mind is that the XS line hit the market later than the M line and that there was a lot more R&D going into the XS line because of that. On the other side the XS line was the entry level segment compared to the M series beeing the top of the line when it came out.
Any suggestion of what to answer the member from the other forum?

Years ago i installed some Xs amps,but not that much M series, I quess just one route 66. At the moment i have two recently bought 2 M44's.

What my opinion is , there is a day and night difference in sound quality !!! I quess i'm right the M's are of course triple darlington amps,

the Xs series not, but mosfet amps. If you would just go for brutal power wise, i quess the comparision will be about the same.

But if i had to do a setup with one M100 and one XS2500, definitly the M100 would play on the front, or the speakers front and rear.......

I would definitly chose the M series, if i had to make a choise. But i repeat, this is a personal opinion.......

yea not much to compair there imo.... M all the way.

When these amps came out, I was not old enough to deal with them, so I don't know the exact details of the time. However, it has always been my understanding the M line was never the top of the line. I thought the MS and MPS were still produced when the M series came out, and the intent was for the M to be a "middle line", between the Sapphire series, and the MS/MPS lines.

The XS line then came out to replace the Sapphire line, and at some point the ZX came out to replace both the M and MS/MPS, with the ZPA being added slightly later as a sort of top of the line, but really its own family.

I have worked on XS amps in the past, and they sound great. I feel they sound every bit as good as any other PG amps, but their lower cost comes at the expense of power output, headroom, and features.

The sapphire came out after the M-series...

XS was PGs answer to Punch,. Thats what I was told in the shop. Ive heard both and I think in an automotive environment youd be hard pressed to pick one over the other if you took the pepsi challenge.

i am a avid collector xs amps and think they sound wonderful. if you have simple processing needs, i see no reason not to go with them. i can't tell a difference in sound between the m and xs personally, but i'm not the most discriminating audiophile either

Bfowler wrote:i am a avid collector xs amps and think they sound wonderful. if you have simple processing needs, i see no reason not to go with them. i can't tell a difference in sound between the m and xs personally, but i'm not the most discriminating audiophile either

I doubt there is a difference in sound really.

Many people think the parts that make up an amp are what determines how it sounds. Although the parts can play a role, once you get to a certain level of "good enough" parts, they have pretty much no impact on anything. The voltage gain circuit and current gain circuit used in an amp is the #1 determining factor in how good it sounds. If you use a bad design, the best parts won't make it sound good. If you use a good design, it will still sound great with middle of the road parts.

PG has been using the same circuit in most all of its amps for a long time (or at least they did back during these days). For this reason, they can get a totally different amplifier technology (MOSFET outputs) to sound as good as their BJT based designs.

I personally did an A-B comparison between a Tantrum (MOSFET) amp and a ZX amp. I only ran a few people through as test subjects, but no one could tell the amps apart, myself included. PG's MOSFET design is that solid.

Another bonus to the XS amps is the chassis design. They typically don't end up looking nasty and rusted all to hell like M amps do after awhile.

XS amps have regulated power supplies, so you get predictable power even if you have a weak electrical system. Thats why xs is great for unexperienced installers. Plus they are physically very compact. They put out lots of power for their size and sound very solid and punchy. Really great for midbass duty.

The M-series rewards you with extra power and headroom, if you feed 'em plenty of current. Plus that shit is gold plated. Wouldn't have it any other way. Were talking collectables. I feel the XS amps are more expendable. The difference between hi-fi and hi-end.