Aleph-3 Questions

David, Martin has owned many amps and equipment, and knows of what he speaks. Martin: I'm very glad to see that you can shed some light on this!...............I agree about the input and output impedance, and I believe that the Aleph series of power amplifiers have the lowest input impedance of any power amplifier that I've ever heard of (makes it a more difficult load for the preamp to drive it). (By contrast, the Model 88 power amp has a 100k ohm input impedance, the same as my Krell. This amount of input impedance is considered to be in the upper part of the "mid-range" of input impedances for amplifiers....20k ohms and below is considered low to very low....the little 2A3 tube amps I'm going to build have an input impedance of 200,000 ohms....I'll be racking my brain to figure out what cables work best with them, that's for sure. But they will be a tremendously easy load for the linestage/CD player to drive...Incidentally, my CD player has a specified output impedance of only 50 ohms for the RCA connection, so that's why I take offense when somebody says it can't drive a power amplifier directly!!! Not only does it, but it does so better than many linestages!) I'm sorry I didn't mention this might be a factor before, I should have been thinking about it. I guess I figured you had that part worked out already, since you had specifically wanted the Aleph 3 for quite a while. This will all work out, in any case...

Carl,I did have that part worked out.I did my home work.I talked with Rogue,Pass and my dealer to make sure the 99(came first) would mate well with an Aleph-3 should I ever actually get one.The mismatch idea has only come into play because of sedonds statements.Please read above about how I contacted Rogue about this.I am waitng for a reply from Pass also.

I just looked at Rogue's website, and couldn't find specs. What does the owner's manual say the impedance at the main outputs is for the 99? I still say that if it's like over 1000 ohms, then it is having a tough time driving the Aleph.

A tube preamp with the aleph 3? Isn't the point of having an aleph 3 because it get's the tonality right in the first place? Wouldn't the tubes gloss over and color the sound just a bit? I would think you would need something very nuetral (and faster) to let the sound shine through. I'm sure it's a very nice preamp but maybe not with the aleph. Maybe like krell.

rogue audio doesn't put the output impedence spec in their 99 preamp manual. at least it wasn't in the manual that came w/*my* 99... which is why i tried crossing the 99's outputs w/differing resistors. as i previously said, a 2.2k-ohm resistor audibly reduced the volume of my rig, when the rogue was hooked up to my 25k-ohm impedence crossover. *no* drop in volume w/the 2.2k-ohm resistor crossing the cary preamp's outputs, which is rated at 800 ohms output impedence. this is why i believe that the rogue 99's output impedence is at least 2k-ohms. i've asked pass labs for input on a 2k-2.4k-ohm preamp driving their aleph-3, & haven't gotten a definitive answer; i'll post it when i receive it.