Best amp for hard loads - Aleph 0 or X350?

[Sony]

Overall, X350 should be sonically superior.
But how about very difficult loads? Will the 3-stage Aleph 0 provide more control on the low-bass?

Thanks and regards.

[Nelson Pass]

You don't say how much power you need, but the X350 will
generally give you more control on the bottom.

[Sony]

Mr. Nelson Pass, thanks for the answer.

I have two last questions:
- 1 - Will the X350 and the X350.5 provide identical control on the low-bass?
- 2 - Will a X350/X350.5 work well on a bi-amp combination with an Aleph 3? Or the X350/X350.5 will work better alone?

My speakers have difficult metalic woofers, with low sensivity and low impedance curve (4ohm nominal, dip to 2ohm).
Have tried Aleph 2 but they failed controling the woofers.
Am now using Aleph 0s with good results (and an Aleph 3 driving the tweeters), but I feel dynamics and bass slam could be better. Therefore I was considering getting a pair of Aleph 0 or X350 or X350.5 to replace the Aleph 0s.

[Duck-Twacy]

Ever thought of bi-amping with active x-over? Choose the lowest allowable crossover point for the mids (eg 100 hz). Use some beefy class AB or D amp (Crown K1?) voor the lows and an Aleph voor the remainder.

Unless its a two way system with convential tweeter ofcourse

Hm just read you are already bi-amping

[jacco vermeulen]

How about JFET-ing your Aleph 0s, running both channels in parallel, and constructing a second one ?
Supposing you might be a builder, not a buyer only.

I was contemplating about trying that on my Null-s.
(ESL63, minimum of 2.6, on the lookout for a decent second set as subs)

[Sony]

Thanks for tips!

Duck-Twacy, cannot change the xo point due to speaker drivers limitations (unless I build a subwoofer and get/build a dedicate amplifier for it).

jacco vermeulen, building a replica of the 0s (or any other power amp) in order to use them as two mono's may not be a good idea, as there would be sonic differences between them, due to components differences (transformer, caps, transistors, etc.). I think two mono's should be equal.

Are there complete diy plans for building the X350?

[Nelson Pass]

Originally posted by Sony

- 1 - Will the X350 and the X350.5 provide identical control on the low-bass?
- 2 - Will a X350/X350.5 work well on a bi-amp combination with an Aleph 3? Or the X350/X350.5 will work better alone?

My speakers have difficult metalic woofers, with low sensivity and low impedance curve (4ohm nominal, dip to 2ohm).
Have tried Aleph 2 but they failed controling the woofers.
Am now using Aleph 0s with good results (and an Aleph 3 driving the tweeters), but I feel dynamics and bass slam could be better. Therefore I was considering getting a pair of Aleph 0 or X350 or X350.5 to replace the Aleph 0s.

The X350.5 has about 20 times more damping factor than the
X350 as its output is enclosed in the feedback loop, and it was
not in the X350. I don't know that it will make that much
difference for you, however.

You certainly can biamp using the speaker's passive crossovers
and two amplifiers, but you will need to be able to adjust the
signal level to the amplifiers since they don't have the same gain.

Better, you can consider biamping with an electronic crossover,
which will give better coupling between the bass driver and
the amplifier without the passive crossover network, and of
course allow the gain adjustments.

The Aleph 0 will deliver more slam than a 0s, but I don't know
if it will be enough for you.