Question from a Poor Pass owner

Thanks Peter, and thank for the great accessory recommendation. I am now the proud owner of a Pass Labs Aleph S single ended Reference Spatula, for the discerning hotcake flipper ($499 - a demo). Seriously though, the pancakes do add a little extra dampening + leave a pleasing residual hue. Uncle Buck's flapjack mix works fine, but you HAVE to use special Cardas Golden Chicken Eggs.

Actually, I believe a light bulb uses the same amount of electricity in the initial turn on as it does just to run for 30 minutes. So you actually waste more electricity turning the lights on and off everytime you leave the room, (depending upon how often you go in and out of course). Not to mention the initial surge of electricity places stress on the tungsten filament shortening its life meaning you'll go through more bulbs too. (I'm not as sure on flourescents). So leaving the lights on can be a good thing.

Peter @ PassLabs...didn't you tell me that Nelson said his Alephs stabilize acoustically after only five minutes? (And to NOT bother with power cord upgrade?) Hmmm... Owners report anywhere from 20 minutes up to...phew--TWO DAYS (?), with most saying an hour. My pair of 2s eat up 600w at idle, so that's about $525/yr 24/7, so I'd like to know when thermal equilibrium occurs with the Alephs, and whether that's well-correlated with onset of "best" sound. Thanks, Peter. Ernie in Boston

I have had at least 5 ( that i can remember ) different amps that Nelson designed and thought that, like most other SS amps, they sounded best after being on for at least 24 hours. While none of these were from the current Aleph line, i can't see them being TOTALLY different from every other SS amp that i've ever owned. Out of the 5 that he designed, i would say that 4 of them were excellent. One of them was for another company other than his own production and it was NOTHING like his other amps. To be quite frank, it sucked pretty badly. It makes me wonder how closely they actually reproduced what was in his original design and what they "took liberties" with in terms of "minor production changes". Sean >

Interesting, Sean. I had asked Pass Labs how the ADCOM preamp Nelson designed compared to his Aleph P, and was assured that since Pass had no control over the engineering and manufacture of the pre they doubt it'd sound comparable. I bought a used P and LOVE the way it mates with the 2s. I of course leave the P on 24/7, but you really think I should be an energy hog with the monos, huh? Well at least winter's coming! Anybody else comment on Aleph warm-up phenomena? .........John 1: don't forget to use Vermont Grade A--I tried the more-flavorful B but found it gave too much of a "burnt caramel" coloration to the upper mouth-range (sic)!