Having completed the F-5, I am very pleased with its performance overall.
I would like to have more gain, so am looking for a more powerful Pass amp.
I keep bumping into the various Aleph amps people are doing
diy, and have a few questions:
For a more powerful Pass Amp, (and more gain as well) is the Aleph series the way to go, or are there others?
If aleph is the way to go, which one and why? I see links various places for the article and service manuals, but they go no where. Is there someplace I could see them maybe I could figure it out?
I see on the chip amps dot com site aleph boards. Can all the alephs be built from these? Or just one particular Aleph? does it have more gain?
I'm looking for more gain than F-5, will the Aleph get me there, or is there a better option. I have 25 watt amps that have WAY more gain, maybe its just more gain I need.
Thanks for any help with these Pass Newbie questions!
russellc
I would like to have more gain, so am looking for a more powerful Pass amp.
I keep bumping into the various Aleph amps people are doing
diy, and have a few questions:
For a more powerful Pass Amp, (and more gain as well) is the Aleph series the way to go, or are there others?
If aleph is the way to go, which one and why? I see links various places for the article and service manuals, but they go no where. Is there someplace I could see them maybe I could figure it out?
I see on the chip amps dot com site aleph boards. Can all the alephs be built from these? Or just one particular Aleph? does it have more gain?
I'm looking for more gain than F-5, will the Aleph get me there, or is there a better option. I have 25 watt amps that have WAY more gain, maybe its just more gain I need.
Thanks for any help with these Pass Newbie questions!
russellc
When anyone starts talking about more power, that
tends to steer them away from Alephs. It's not like it
can't be done, but usually it's more effort than you
probably want, and the performance will not be as
dynamic as many people expect from higher power amps.
Perhaps it's time to consider a high wattage DIY project.
Previously there was the "Pass Monster", instigated by some
member here, but they pooped out on it.
I guess I have to do it myself - the guru's work is never
done....
tends to steer them away from Alephs. It's not like it
can't be done, but usually it's more effort than you
probably want, and the performance will not be as
dynamic as many people expect from higher power amps.
Perhaps it's time to consider a high wattage DIY project.
Previously there was the "Pass Monster", instigated by some
member here, but they pooped out on it.
I guess I have to do it myself - the guru's work is never
done....
When anyone starts talking about more power, that
tends to steer them away from Alephs. It's not like it
can't be done, but usually it's more effort than you
probably want, and the performance will not be as
dynamic as many people expect from higher power amps.
Perhaps it's time to consider a high wattage DIY project.
Previously there was the "Pass Monster", instigated by some
member here, but they pooped out on it.
I guess I have to do it myself - the guru's work is never
done....
thank you for your response. The F-5 is too good! I love the thing, I just want as much of that sound as I can get in a higher wattage amp. I'll await the Gurus work......I take it from your comment it doesnt exist yet, so I will wait. Thanks for the interest.
Was there a thread on this 'Pass Monster"? I'll be searching!
Thanks again,
russellc
Don't bother.
It's where HE slapped me, hard to forget : http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/43204-pass-monster.html
It's where HE slapped me, hard to forget : http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/43204-pass-monster.html
1000 watts is a "little" bigger than I'm thinking of. I was more along the lines of 50-200 watts. Shoot, its not necessarily the power I need, (My MC-225 will rock the speakers at question) More gain would likely do it.
But all that power may be the answer as well.
Russellc
Tell me about it, i'm totally hooked on balanced amps, that thread drew me all out in the open after years of peep-hole voyeurism.
I haven't stopped rambling since.
As suggested earlier : Aleph 1.1 , does Push-Pull tricks for the hungry.
(add a JFET universal gain stage, go balanced, do some cross coupling, and...naah)
Jacco, where can I learn about this Aleph 1.1? I would need fairly clear instruction, but I'm all about jumping in WAY over my head. So, do tell!
I'm all ears!
And thanks for the response. i can build this sucker while the Master contemplates a higher power masterpiece!
Russellc
Duhh, maybe at Pass Labs ?
http://www.passlabs.com/pdfs/old product manuals/a1man.pdf
Read the hardware stats before you decide.
The Aleph 1 does 150W in Single Ended mode, a stereo set adds up to 1000W continuous dissipation.
A single channel requires 40 output devices, 8 sets of matched 5, the heatsink investment should be obvious.
Thank-you! I'd been searching all over the firstwatt site, and was beginning to wonder if all this older stuff was still available. I've got some serious reading to do here....
Russellc
My feeling about this is, if you think you need more than 60W/channel, then you are probably best served by going with a push pull design.
Because everything gets big, hot, and expensive with single ended designs above 60W channel, that is why I suggested BA2.
However if you think you just need more gain, try increasing the feedback resistance from 50 ohms to between 80 and 100 Ohms.
I should also say it is very easy to increase the power output of the F5 so you could also try that or the other option is F5X.
Because everything gets big, hot, and expensive with single ended designs above 60W channel, that is why I suggested BA2.
However if you think you just need more gain, try increasing the feedback resistance from 50 ohms to between 80 and 100 Ohms.
I should also say it is very easy to increase the power output of the F5 so you could also try that or the other option is F5X.
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Thank you for the explanations. after reading the BA materials, I see that BA 1 was single ended while the BA 2 is not. 60 watts is probably plenty, and I see at least with the alephs in this range there is more gain. The gain is really what I need. I hate to unsolder Peter's boards to change out the resistors, but I have a set of extra boards that I could build up with the change in feedback resistors. The amp is very useful as is, sometimes I feel funny that it wont go crazy loud, even though I dont listen "crazy loud." Sort of like what Nelson said in the F-5 article, about not feeling funny about
"Going 55 with the pedal to the floor." A little more gain will likely do the trick.
Thanks again for the info, much appreciated.
Russellc
Hi,
Can I ask a silly question? If you think the problem may be gain rather than power, have you considered a different preamp? What are you using at the moment? I built juma's BF862 preamp, which was designed (if I remember correctly) to be a good fit with the F5, and certainly mine sounds great with my diy F5.
Cheers
NIgel
Can I ask a silly question? If you think the problem may be gain rather than power, have you considered a different preamp? What are you using at the moment? I built juma's BF862 preamp, which was designed (if I remember correctly) to be a good fit with the F5, and certainly mine sounds great with my diy F5.
Cheers
NIgel
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