Any experience with the Pass Labs Aleph 5???

The Aleph 5 is a wonderful amp, but it may not have enough power to fully drive your Sony speakers. I use the Sonys in my bedroom system and I consider them a very good speaker and one of the hidden treasures of high end audio, but they like power (100w and up). In a small to mid-sized room with the volume kept below 90dB, the Aleph/Sony combo could sound quite good.

I just order the Volksamp (Pass) Aleph 30 amplifer which is the updated version of the Aleph 5. The ergonomics are much nicer and there is supposedly some improvement in sound. The Aleph amps are of course no longer produced. You can buy the Volksamp new at discount from Audio Video Logic in Iowa. They purchased the remaining units from Pass earlier this year. I have not heard this amp yet but I am very intrigued based on numerous comments and the price was very good. Here's a glowing review of the Aleph 30 from Enjoy the music.com.

The Volksamp/Pass moniker can be confusing. The amp was always produced by Pass, but Volksamp purchased the rights to it when Pass stopped producing them under the Pass label. They were then labeled as Volksamp, but some people were still confused so they put the Pass label back on. Whichever one you get, they are all the same infamous Aleph amps. From the looks of the Aleph 5 I have no idea how you could even pick it up without doing some damage to your hands! My understanding is that the Aleph amps are hard to come by second hand.

Volks30 is a changed aleph3 with balanced inputs
i think the volks60 is a mono block 60w unit comparable to the 5's stereo version

They Pass Aleph amps are very transparent, detailed, built great, and they do a lot of things extremely well. They really are a great deal for the price...especially used. They are not an ideal amp for bass freaks, but they do have decent, balanced bass.

I agee with Driver. I didn't love my Aleph 3 for rock music or pop either. I ended up going in the tube direction because tube and hybrid amps sounded more musical/less clinical to my ears. YMMV.

My Aleph 30 is breaking in right now. My understanding is that this amp is the SS amp for tubophiles because of its musicality, but Phild what your saying is different. What hybrid amps have you liked? The Aleph 30 is a nice step up for me, even with it not being broken in yet. I can already tell. I was using a Mcintosh intregated amp. It had better bass. But I'm also using a passice preamp so that plays into the bass issue. The Aleph feels more "there" than the Mcintosh, as in more involved in the recording.