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Pass Aleph 1.2 monos- do they have any 'soul'?

The Pass Aleph 1.2 monos are on my shortlist for SS monos. Who has 'em or has heard 'em? Do they sound 'tubelike' as many often assert about the Aleph amps? For those that HAVE heard the 1.2's, are there any SS monoblocks that you have liked MORE (<=$6k new or used). Also- are the 1.2's 'space heaters' if you want to leave 'em on 24/7?. My room is ~20'x20' with openings; speaker is Coincident Total Victory. **I used to own a Theta Dreadnaught, which was good SS as well- would also be interested in a comparison. Thx!
sutts
bigkidz
3,375 posts
 
Sutts if you are lookig for a tube sound by a tube amp not SS. With the Coincident speakers especially.

Happy Listening.
rayhall
393 posts
 
It is better to describe these as non-solid-state-like rather than tube-like. They have no midrange bloom and they are not rolled off at the frequency extremes like tube amps. On the other hand they have no steeliness, no coldness, like many solid state amps. On the other hand, there are many solid state amps with far more bass slam than these. Don't confuse the lack of dynamic slam for lack of bass. These things can rattle your floors with the right speaker, but they don't deliver that kapow that others do. Aleph 1.2's are extremely neutral and, as an owner of the Aleph 4, and an occasional listener to the 1.2, in my opinion, you couldn't do any better than to own a pair of 1.2's. That said, they are absolutely space heaters and since they are class A biased and dissipate as heat there idling current, they get very hot. Additionally, if you left them on all the time, I doubt you could afford your electric bill at the end of the month. Although my experience is they sound even better after an hour of warmup and even better after three hours, it would be very costly and perhaps not the best for the life of the amp to leave them on all the time.
sutts OP
700 posts
 
Rayhall: thanks so much- extremely helpful response

Bigkidz: yes- I currently use tube monoblocks with the speakers, but was curious if these could have been a good answer as a SS option, since the system is now doing double duty for HT as well
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
When I heard the 1.2s w/B&W 802s, they showed less of the typical ss steeliness, that Rayhall mentions above, than most other ss amps, but still fall short IMHO to many of the better tube amps as far as "soul" goes.
Only other ss I've heard extensively that does what your looking for is the Sunfire, which makes a nice 5 channel amp. However, the Sunfire loses some transparency & detail vs the 1.2s.
FWIW, I bought something lower priced for HT(NAD receiver), and kept the big $ in my two channel tube system. I don't miss the resolution in the HT system, and my music system continues to improve. Good luck,
Spencer
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