Pass aleph 5 vs. mccormack 125

hi streetman,

how *are* those newforms? i wanna pair myself... ;~) as i'm sure ya know, john meyer of newform recommends digital amplification, specifically spectron amps, but i tink there are a few others, like the innersound & the belcanto.

ok, shameless-plug-time: while the mccormack & the pass amps are certainly nice, i still tink ya can't go wrong w/the >80 amps of current that is put out by the electrocompaniet aw100 i have f/s, at ~half the price... ;~)

regards, doug

ps - john meyer recommends going to an active outboard x-over & two amps for the newforms, even more than the hovland cap upgrade to the passive x-over...

Streetman, those are two wonderful amplifiers on your list there, and between them there is no wrong choice - only personal preference. I gather you want plenty of headroom, in which case the McCormack would make more sense. World-class bang-for-the-buck, though of the two I would personally take the Alephs. I am very familiar with the Newforms - you are barking up all the right trees. One other amplifier you might consider for driving the Newforms is the Clayton S-40; you can sometimes find them used for around fifteen hundred (which is an absolute steal considering how good they are). I'm saying this as a former Clayton owner, and as a dealer who sells rival products. Real-world the Claytons are more powerful than the Aleph 5's, more neutral, better nuance and microdynamics, and tighter bass. The Aleph 5's will be sweeter in the mids, for which they are justly prized. You will hear greater variation from one recording to the next with the Claytons, for better or for worse. Any one of these three amps paired with the Newforms will make the magic happen. You might also want to consider the Hovland cap upgrade for the Newforms - definitely worthwhile. I can get you details if you'd like, or you can contact John yourself.

If you want some power, I recommend the dna over the pass labs. It's a better amp for rock. The pass labs is better for quieter music. I used to own the dna1revaGold and the pass labs aleph 2. The pass labs had a more pure sound with amazing clarity, but did not have anywhere close to the power of the dna. I was driving ap virgos which are 89 or 90 db efficient. A stereophile article a few months back (nov 00) had a review of the dna 225. Rubinson remarked that it was pretty close to his old dna1revA. He said it was pretty much a toss up for sonics. I found that hard to believe given the superior parts quality of the dnaRevA.