Pass Aleph-3 questions

I would say 200 wpc with 92 dB speakers is plenty of power for rock and metal and probably over kill! The Pass is 30 wpc and Im almost there now.It plays louder than I need but as I have said it gets bright at very high volume.Its a single ended amp and has a midrange to die for.I wouldnt trade it for an over kill amp anyday.Lots more to music than volume anyway,and this amp plays music! Tubes,single ended and analog is where its at for me.I have a friend who just bought a 225 wpc amp and sure it plays louder but not as much as I imagined it would.It just goes to show in this hobby you cant have everything but I still will keep the Pass.

David: Other than my lengthy off forum reply, there are certain speaker cables that give a boost to the area of sound that you describe (upper midrange). I have found that some of the lower priced Kimber Kables that I have tried have done this in both of my systems (4TC, 8TC & 4VS to a lesser extent). I assume that other cables also have this characteristic as it does add a sense of liveliness to the sound, that I like as long as it is not too extreme. I am not knocking Kimber at all because I use them myself, but I would not advise them for your setup. Some people feel that "covering up" a system defect is not the way to go, but I just look at it as fine tuning and not accenting what I don't care for in the sound, all cables are tone controls to a certain extent. I once memo'd a pair of Transparent cables (lot of talk about them lately). They were Music Waves that retailed for around $300.00 for a 12 ft pair. They did not accent this area at all, but had a less engaging sound in my system at the time (my room is not very lively either). Anyway, I wonder if something like this would get the best out of your system?

Dekay,I had Kimber 8TC, Harmonic Tech.Pro-11 and MIT T-2 biwire for an audition and I went with the MIT.They pushed the upper mids back a bit without losing detail.They also have the best bass of the bunch.The soundstage seems more natural also.Thank you for your off site response.I plan on getting back to you (too many kids around today)

David, all i can tell you is that if you think 200 wpc is overkill with reasonably efficient speakers for doing "metal" volume levels, you better never come to my house for a "jam session". Just "shows to go ya" that everybody has different ideas about what is loud, quiet, smooth, bright, warm, dark, clean, etc... Keep in mind that a power rating means nothing if the speakers are reactive at all. Some amps, even though rated for "brute strength" in terms of rms power, just don't deal well with anything but an easy load. The Bryston 4B that i had was like that along with a few other "respectable" amps. Gutless wonders when it came to low impedance / low sensitivity loads. While none of Nelson's amps fall into that category (in my opinion & experience), they are by no means "earth shaking" by any stretch of the imagination. Sean
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I have to disagree re the drive potential of the Aleph 2 vs the 3. The 2 monos EASILY pump 200w into 4 ohms (a typical impedence seen in many speakers in the upper bass), and will play MUCH louder than the Aleph 3 in the lower octaves.
I also recommend investigation of the preamp match. Alephs' low input impedence can be problemmatic. I chased a used Aleph P to ensure full driveability.
I'm grateful for the comment re cables, as I too am using a lean transparent cable (Nordost Red Dawn), yet I find the overall system balance slightly lean at ALL SPLs. There's no change with loudness (outside Fletcher-Munson effects).
C'mon, Sean...200w/ch into 92dB/w yields what...115dB??!!
This is truly dangerous, no? I'll defer to your experience, but phew...can you hear me?
On third thought I wonder if the Aleph 3 is truly saturating, given the 92 db/w sens of your speakers. Does the impedence drop to 2-3 ohms in the bass? Is your pre not fully driving the amp?
I too will chase a warmer, yet detailed interconnect to flatten the upper mid bump a bit. (Note that I attribute this mild tonal anomoly to the use of a 5" midrange in my system. 6.5 or 7" midranges generally are a little flatter
between 400 and 1200 Hz, in my experience, though they may have more problems crossing to the tweeter than a 4-5" mid.)
So I'd look at the preamp first, the IC second, and if you're still running out of steam on peaks, chase some used Aleph 2s like I did. Good Luck. Ernie