Passively bi-amping


I have 2 Pass Aleph 5 60 W stereo amps that I'm passivly bi-amping a pair of Nautalus 802's. Amp1 left channel powers the woofs, right channel the mids and tweets. Same with amp2. Is this worth doing or did I buy a second amp for no reason. I asked Nelson Pass if I could convert these to monoblocks, but he said no.
alephman
You did not buy a second amp for no reason. The Alephs are great amps. Possibly a bit shy of power for your B&W's.

Put one amp back up in stereo and listen for a while....then go back to the biamp configuration. You'll hear it.

I passively biamp my Aerial 20t's with Levinson 33H on the mids/tweeters and a 336 on the woofers. Either the 336 or the or the 33H's will do the job alone, however the pair make wonderful music.

Having said that, I know that your series B&W's are power hungry. If you have a McIntosh dealer nearby, you may want to take home a pair of the 501 monoblocks to try. I've demo'd these myself, and at the price point hard to beat.

Don't be an audiophile and change for the sake of change only however........always best to take it home and hear for yourself. Sometimes we get so the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.......

Best,

Paul
One Aleph 5 is definitely not enough to power-up 802's and to be frankly not even enough both of them to open 'em up despite how great they are.
I disagree on the Aleph 5's. 802's are rated at 91 db and I've drivin them with one Aleph no problem. With both amps hooked up I reached 110db and man it was LOUD. I brought home a Ayre power amp home from my dealer. Don't know the model but it was 10 grand and weighed 95 pounds. I hooked it up to the 802's and at 200hz and below the Ayre was superior. Above that the Pass's blew the Ayre away both in sweetness, smothness, and all around sound quality. I took the Ayre back the next day. Yeah I wish my Alephs had more balls, but they are one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard. Not good for your electric bill, however.