Passively bi-amping

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.

I think you are definitely headed in the right direction by vertically bi-amping. I don't know what your system configuration is but if you can get your amps close to the speakers and use as short a speaker cable as possible will also show additional benefit. Almost as much improvement as going to bi-amping.

I also agree with the others about perhaps needing some more juice. I would be worried about the bottom end potentially clipping. Beyond that, there is a definite sonic improvement when your amps have lots of headroom and current to spare. I bet if you where to get a pair of 250.5's you would be quite surprised at the improvement in depth and clarity. That's not to say there is anything wrong with your Alephs, but just think what they could sound like if they were only driving the mids and highs. Your B&W's are similar to mine and Beemer's Aerials and we know how much these can open up with the addition of more quality power.

Another thing you could try is to keep the Alephs on the tops and get a more powerful Pass amp to run the bottom end. Yea, I know, I'm just spending your money. :)