|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
74.67.16.10
30 watt class A stereo amp, minimal circuitry.
In its day got great reviews. Within its output limits, any comments?
Follow Ups:
Curious on why the heat sinks are mounted horizontally.Serge
Edits: 12/19/14
Look's very cool, but also collects a lot of dust.
Looking cool is important, but if I were making purchasing decision like OP is I would’ve liked to understand the technical reason of why the designer chose less efficient cooling method for the amp that can probably moonlight as a space heater.
I had the amp and the fins cooled very efficiently and looked sharp too. Though class A runs hot, I could always rest my hand on the amp w/o burning myself. It is nowhere as hot as a tube amp. The design seems good to me.
No doubt the designer computed the size/shape of heat sinks so as not to exceed some temperature. There’s also no doubt that vertical fins are more efficient and would likely necessitate less material and be cheaper. For some reason this would bug me if I were looking to purchase it.
I really enjoyed mine immensely. I thought it had plenty of detail and a very 3 dimensional soundstage. Music was always a pleasurable and involving listening experience with this amp mated with an AES A3 DJH tube preamp form Cary. My 2¢
I had the Aleph 3 for a while before trying out the newer Aleph 30. They are very similar soncially. The Aleph 3 would double power to about 60wpc at 4 Ohms while the Aleph 30 would eek out about 40wpc at 4 Ohm.To be completely honest with you, both amps are smooth and warm for sure but I felt they were a slight bit veiled and definitely lacking dynamics. This was with my reasonably easy to drive real world speakers. I was running the amps into my Tannoy Definition D500 speakers, 6 Ohms nominal 91dB sens.
I much preferred the Pass Labs X150 and X150.5 class AB amps with these speakers.
My 30wpc Aleph 3 dissipating around 250watts of heat sitting idle
May as well put that wasted heat to good use.
Disclaimer: No amps or eggs were harmed in making of this staged photo. The eggs were pre-cooked on the stove before carefully
moving the cooled down frying pan onto the amp. ;-)
Edits: 12/09/14
Great pics! Abe.
My opinion pretty much mirrors Honest Abe's. Is it a good amp? Heck yeah. Can it keep up with today's 30XA amp? No, it is slightly veiled. But it also won't set you back 3 + large used. If you buy it and it does not suit your needs, most likely you will fully recoup your investment.
Wow, that much heat with all sides covered with heatsinks. Gotta be something wrong with the design or construction. Hate to think about long term component reliability.
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada
High power consumption and heat output is very typical of a true Class A biased amp. They draw a lot more power from the AC mains than they output in the form of audio... but many consider Class A operation to be the purest sounding of all designs. That Aleph 3 was about 15 years old when I bought it and it's probably still going strong today with it's current owner.
Nothing wrong, just class A. Pass equipment is actually one of the most reliable out there.
Nice amp if you don't need lots of power, though it's said to put 60 wpc into 4 ohms.
Gets hot to the touch. If you shut it off and let it get cool, it takes 24 hours to sound its best again.
A little soft in the highs with a slight "grayish" tonal color, like Wadia digital of the same vintage.
Very easy to listen to. Not exactly tube-like but lacking typical solid state complaints.
I always liked that amp but I can't remember any more specifics.
It looks like an industrially designed porcupine.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: