Pass Aleph P versions

I LOVE my Aleph Ono. it is very flexible for loading and offers variable gain. It is vey dynamic and pretty quiet too. Between the Ono and the Aleph P, the Ono was the superstar.

My first piece of Pass gear was the Ono. Though Pass they told me of one of their dealers who had a second hand Aleph P. I bought that Aleph P. I wound up selling the Aleph P but never sold the Ono. If I find something I really like, I keep it a long time. I have had my Revel speakers and mybturntableceach over a decade.

I replaced the Aleph P with a CJ Premier Pre amp, which in every sense was more enjoyable than the Aleph P. and the Ono remained. I have heard other phono preamps and have concluded that to do much better you have to spend much, much more. By the way, the CJ Premier preamp is now also gone.

I know Fremer thought the Ono sounded a little threadbare, but I absolutely hear none of that. Quite to the contrary, I hear a sense of micro and large scale dynamics that is outstanding.

I suspect I will keep the Ono until, 1- it dies; 2- I die; or 3- I hit the powerball, whichever comes first. Considering my Ono has needed a repair, and that last year I came way too close to buying the farm, I think I'm due for #3.

Unsound
What do you expect a remote to do? wash the dishes for you or walk the dog?
Sorry but I couldn't help it !

In my humble opinion a remote control is a must for a preamp ,provided is well designed.

George

Thank you Frank.

Unsound, the remote allows you to control volume as well as change from one input to another.

FrankC

Send your question to Pass Labs. Desmond Harrington or Wayne Colburn (the designer) will precisely answer you questions.

What does the remote control?

French_fries,

I guess my take on the Aleph P is:
It was a Class A rated piece when it came out.
For those into Pass gear, in the ensuing 10 or 12 years,
other Pass preamps have eclipsed it.

Zavato, please forgive the mistake in your nickname: it's due to this **** automatic text corrector I use, very sorry.

Zaffato, world you please tell me something more about the Ono ? I may have the chance to purchase both Aleph 1.7P and Ono.

French_fries, when you say 'original Aleph P' do you refer to the first version of it ?

Then again, what do you (all) think about using the Aleph with an ARC 100.2 solid state power amp ? Could it be a good mach in your opinion ?

I once owned a late version Aleph P. It certainly was good but it was somewhat lacking in dynamics. Maybe that's the same comment as above about the bass. Ultimately I only kept it maybe a year and then sold it. I found the gain controls of limited value and occasionally I found I had to unplug it then plug it in again to get the volume control to work.

I continue to use and greatly enjoy an Aleph Ono, which I have owned for well over a decade.

Daniele g,

The Aleph is very simple & sounds clean. The differences I noticed when I went to the X1 were a bigger soundstage & noticeably better bass.
This is to be expected, since the X1 I had with the full sized power supply contained a circuit board populated with capacitors.
When you compare an X1 to the Aleph, you must decide if the price difference (or savings by getting the Aleph) is justified.

To Danielk141,
i was under the impression that the Aleph-P was a very good preamp with Class-A circuitry honed down to as few parts as necessary. it compared favorably with a passive attenuator in a Stereophile comparison. No doubt Pass has improved their pre's even more over the years, but i have a friend with a very good system using the original Aleph-P and it sounds "real" to my ears.

Daniele g,

I went from an Adcom GFP750 to the Aleph P.
The Aleph P was slighty better overall, and had a much better motorized volume control.
Then I moved on to an X1 with the full size power supply.
After a couple years I tried the XP-10, and now I have the XP-20.
If your price point is around $1500.00, I'd look for a Primare Pre 30 (fully balanced with a nice digital display volume control) - I have one in my second system. You can find these used for $1,000.00 - $1300.00.

Danielk141,
if I got it right, I guess you got an X1 after the Aleph P: how do they compare ?
Moreover, do you know the 'sonic' differences between your Aleph 1.7P and the "first generation" Aleph P ? Which versione is the one to search for ?

I had the "last generation" Aleph P. It was my Pass dealer's demo, until they got an X1.
It had the remote, and the knobs were silver, instead of matching the faceplate, like earlier Aleph Ps.