GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: SS Power Amps - the FoxNews of Audio.

Post Subject: The matching is importantPosted by Stitch on: 8/20/2009

Romy the Cat wrote:
I do not care about all of Nilsson Pass amps; I feel that all the same and all are very sub-qualified. A few years back Mr. Pass went for his low-powered SS single-ended amps and they might be more interesting.

The Cat

I think, Pass became really his "famous name" with his Aleph power amps ("Single ended Transistor Design"). They had indeed a very good sound with matching Speaker. Best was a high sensitive one, I listened to such a combination with a 99dB 8 ohm Horn speaker, that was amazing. Speed, holographic picture and the Illusion of "being there" was really better compared to most other transistor combinations.

In my opinion the best way for good reproduction is to "see" the speaker and the amp for it as 1 unit. Most problems are based on mismatches. Same with those Alephs. Never made to drive difficult loads, most were paired with exactly those (Expensive to Expensive, typical High End mistake).
After those Pass introduced the X-Series, to serve the customers/Dealers much more powerful amps because they wanted that. I listened to those, really horrible. Dead, thin, ultra-analytic, no Body. Seems, that others had the same opinion, later they were offered as the XA-Version (A for Aleph circuit). But interestingly, it never worked in the way the Aleph worked (from Sound Quality). Seems, that some designs are limited in amplification. I listened to those again, not my cup of tea to be honest. When you know what was possible before, then this is a waste of time.But they are quite successful, probably based on the support from DIY groups who made those by their own (Pass Designs are online). Here "they" see what he has done and they were never able to do it on they own (typical).Pass himself created a new - additional - Company, The First Watt, offering amps (Solid State) for high efficiency speakers. I guess, he liked what he heard before, but to make money the bigger amps are better to sell.

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