Pass Aleph 1.2s.... Anyone familiar


Has anybody heard the Pass Aleph 1.2s and more importantly compared them to any other amps of similar quality. How to they compare to the mark levinson 33hs for instance? Everyone i know who has heard both perfers the Alephs but that is all of two people. Any comparisons with other amps would be appreciated. Lastly would they be powerful enough to drive a full range (19 hz) 90.5 db sensitive speaker to very loud levels? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
lordgorian
I don't think it is so much the impedence curve. More than likely it simply the motor structure of the 2 10" drivers in the Khourus (Can't speak directly about the Peregrine). The Khourus(I am assuming the Peregrine will display similar traits of its' big brother) has a very stiff cone structure. The speaker seems to simpy love current and lots of it.

BEst regards,

Mike M.
After doing a lot of research on the subject these amps are very powerful in terms of wattage, in a way more so then the 200 watts would suggest. They have huge power supplies and put out a ton of voltage, however they have less than ideal amounts of current. I have two specs for the amp. Pass lists it having only 12 amps of current in their manual, however the less powerful aleph 1s had 50 amps of current, a big difference indeed. This difference can be largely attributed to the three vs. two gain stage designs. However the difference seems to great. A store however lists them as having 40 amps of current. I am not sure which numbers to believe. I personally think that it has 12 amps of continuous current but can peak at 40 amps. If this is the case it should be ok but not ideal for the speakers. Lastly, these amps do everything well except for bass slam and are not very dynamic sounding. Hence when they show these charachteristics with the Talons i think that is simply them sounding how they always sound. I agree that these may not an ideal match however. Lastly i was talking with the president of Talon, Mike Farnsworth, and he often powers them with 7 watt SETs to great success in a very large room. So i think that the amps would be capable of driving the speakers to very loud volumes but will not make them boogie as other amps could. Still the Talons have such great bass and slam it may not be the worst place to have a tradeoff. And yes the Peregrine uses the same dual 10 inch woofers of the Khorus. Lastly the impedence is very easy and stable. It is 8 ohms on average and never goes below 6.5. After all of my research i think these amps would be a good but maybe not ideal combonation. Feel free to comment on it. And oh yeah there is a guy here on audiogon who powers his Khorus speakers with Aleph 2s and loves the combination. So many oppinions!!!!
Having gone thru the above posts and am infact an owner of the mighty 1.2s, I can only add that the overall musically of the this amp amazes me everytime. I use them with B&W 802s and sometimes 801s. My Accuphase DP-75V CDP drives the amp directly as I am still waiting to receive the FM Acoustics 155 preamp. The midrange magic is totally evident and this amp is basically for people who listen to classical &/or acoustic jazz. In the past, I've had Krells, MLs, Rowlands, ARC but after 7 yrs of searching for the perfect amp, this is the one for me. In audiophilia terms, it has a "soul" and if you genuinely love music and want to reproduce it as close to as a Live event, this must be your amp. The downside of this amp is the "heat factor". My power cords are all Cardas Golden Reference and so are my interconnects.
I auditioned Pass's Aleph serious vs their new x series. I like the alephs for their warm output. But I bought an x-150 and an x-2 pre-amp. Better overall balance. I am of course saving up for x-1 pre-amp(Even Better). The x-series stuff matted well with my Thiel 2.3's and HT cables.
Do people find that upgrading power cords have a positive effect on this amp or any of the Aleph series amps for that matter? Thanks - Ian

Also please keep your oppinions on the aleph amps rollin in!!