Pass Aleph vs. McCormack: What to Expect?

I would like to try an Aleph 5 to see how it compares in sound to the Aleph 3. The Aleph 3 has such a nice sound, and my Proac 2.5's do OK on the bass, though there could be more. What is disconcerting is that I have to turn the volume control on the Rogue 66 up to 75% to get loud levels. With the Berning ZH270 (70 wpc) it's less than half that. But having to turn the volume up past 50% doesn't seem to degrade the sound. The owner of Rogue said there would be no problem matching this tube preamp to the Aleph 3, using the 1:10 impedence matching rule. Would this be any different if I biamped the Aleph 3's? Can anyone tell me how to bridge them? Thanks.

Peter,

The Aleph 3 is not bridgeable, per se, but you could parallel wire the outputs (red to red, black to black) and split the input signal from the preamp with a Y splitter, thus using each stereo amp to drive one channel only. A more desireable way to go (in my opinion) would be to use an active electronic crossover, driving the bottom end with one amp and the mid/tweeter with another. Having said that, if you were able to round up say an Aleph 5, and were to vertically biamp (using an electronic crossover), you could drive the bottom end with the 60 watt Aleph 5 and the mid/top end with the Aleph 3. The gain is the same for both amplifiers, and crossing over actively truly (again in my opinion) allows the maximum benefit to be derived from each amp, as it only has to work within a specific frequency range.

Cheers!

Quin

A friend had the opportunity to own the Aleph 5 and a DNA 0.5. Depending on speaker, in some instances, the 5 wins out, and in some cases the 0.5 wins out.

Liquidity, lushness, midrange and holographic are some characteristic to die for in the Aleph5, the 0.5 sounds a tad grainy. However, the 0.5 wins out on the bass department, speed, and dynamics. The Aleph 5 sounds slow in comparison.

My friend is eyeing on getting his McCormack modified to Revision A when money allows. This might be a different story by then.

For now, the two is a close toss in air.

I own the Pass Aleph 0, these are Mono's, but before these I tried various amps , bi-amping and so on, so I can say in general:

When you go for another Aleph 3, everything will be better ( better focus, better dynamic and bass, larger soundstage, better timing and so on ).
It is a much better choice, when you have a amp you really like, to buy another one, this is for 95% better, than to sell this good sounding unit and to go for a different brand. The story will be the same again, that another one of this one will make a improvement, too, but only, when this one is definetly better than the Aleph 3.

The only step above this is going for true mono amps.

( Or go for high impedance speakers, they make life much easier, and you will hear much more ....)

Hi.
I too found the Aleph 3's power wanting, and realizing that the 5 might not cut it, opted for a pair of 2 monos. Fearing impedance mismatches lead me to select the PERFECT running mate to the Alephs: the Aleph P premamp...simply adds one more gain stage, perfectly impedence-matched, with utter silence, neutrality, and balanced running to drive longer ICs. We're now talking $4500-5000 used, but a setup for life. Driving Alephs with tubes because one's speakers' frequency response in-room is flawed is a real ass-backwards
approach, me-thinks. I'm not sure that at the 30-50 watt level I wouldn't prefer an Audio refinement Complete over an Aleph 3 being pushed by a badly-matched pre! Heresy...I know!
I went to the trouble to make dedicated lines and PCs for my Alephs from Belden 83802 (2x12AWG in Teflon), but not sure if there are sonic benefits. MAYBE there's better large dynamic swing in the lower bass, but I'm not sure.
I spoke with Nelson, Peter, and Pass' stuff re current-dams, etc., so I can believe that the Alephs are much less influenced by PC upgrades than other amps running A/B or lower-wattage Class A.
I'm building an entry-level system for a friend of mine from a NAD C541i, Blue Heaven Audio Refinement Complete, and Spendor SP3/1P. Do you think for a moment I considered using an Aleph 3 and a pre instead? C'mon....
Good Night.