Aleph-3 Questions

Hello David, As suggested earlier, some of the problem might be a preamp mismatch . Generally , you'd want the Output impedence of the Preamp to be 10 X ( Input Impedence of the Amp ) . Since the Aleph series have an very low input impedence, around 10 kohms ....you'd want a preamp with an output impedence of 1000 ohms or less . Most tube pre's have an output impedence of 1000 ohms or More ...and thus are not idealy suited to the Aleph series . A tubed exception is the Sonic Frontiers Line series of pre's ( technically speaking,..haven't tried the match ) . You may want to try a non-remote Aleph P ( around $1100 used ) ...the Aleph L isn't said to be so good ( I've tried the P , not the L ) . Or , you might try the Nelson Pass designed Adcom 750 preamp ( used about $750 ) . The Aleph 3 should be more transparent than the Dyn. tube amp , by a large amount . Also, it should open a whole new level of detail, nuance . Stage/image should be clearer and less wooly , ...if not bigger, stage should be better defined . A lot of staging will be down to the speaker placement as well, so you might want to do some work there ... Good luck, Martin .

Hello David99, As stated earlier, I haven't heard the Rogue 99 ( know just from the stellar reviews posted by owners ...) , And I don't mean to suggest that it's not a good match for the Pass Aleph 3 . But, *tube* preamps in general can have one theoretical problem mating to the Aleph amps ...ie, the Output impedence of the tube pre's is usally higher than the 10 kohm Aleph input impedence would suggest ( rule of thumb : Amp Input Impedence should be At Least 10 Times as large as the Preamp Output Impedence ) . In the case of the Aleph amps, this would mean an output impedence of 1000 ohms or less ( most tube pre's are higher than 1000 ohms output impedence ) . From the Oct. Stereophile Review of the Rogue 66 ( would the 99 be similar ? ) JA measured an Output impedence of beteen 600 ohms and 3000 ohms ,...but he does go on to say 10 kohm amps should be OK . I don't have a real technical understanding of *why* this 10 to 1 ratio is significant . But , I have heard hampered sonics from pre's with this ratio violated and there were sonic consequences ( rolled at both the top and bottom, less depth, thiner/smaller sound ) ,...I've heard the Aleph amps be stunning in the right context ( with an Aleph P pre ) and I've heard them in other situations where all their weakness's were on display ( too polite mid-bass, lack dynamic kick and headroom ) without any of the amps usual strengths ( of which there are many ) . Also,...I'm guessing on the input impedence of the Aleph 3,..I know many of the Aleph amps are 10 kohms, but the Aleph 3 might not be the same ( see Pass site , probably the info is posted there ) . The Rogue 99 designer claimed 280 ohms ( or something like that ) Output impedence ? Does he mean all the way from 10 k to 20,000 khz ? This would mean it's a lot different than the 66 JA measured for Stereophile ... What ever you do ( and I'd experiment a lot ...could all work ) I agree with your notion to keep the 99 . The pre is the one component you have to interact with the most and it's important that you like *using* it . Clearly this is the case with the 99 ,..and from the many , many happy users posting all over the place , I'd have to believe it's capable of making serious Music and Enjoyment . Regards, Martin