Tubelike solid state: Ayre Vs Aleph

How about Pass's new X-200A monoblocks!

First of all, I'm a genuine fan of the Pass Alephs. I love their midrange, but as John notes, they don't really have that bottom-end slam thing. I've found a solid state amp that does both, and I became a dealer for it. This amp is the Warner Imaging ER-300MSE, reviewed at SoundStage in October 2000.

Another very nice amplifier line you might consider is Clayton Audio. Yeah, I sell that line, too. I really like powerful, somewhat warm solid state amps with really good midrange, because that's what sounds good on the rather demanding speakers I sell.

Best wishes on your quest.

I also run a Pass Aleph P & am using an Ayre V-3 with VR4 Gen III's. I also ran an Aleph 5 before the V-3 & the only reason I sold it was because it didn't sound right when playing rock. I didn't have the VR's at that time so it's hard to make a comparison.

The Ayre/VR combination is great. Tremendous bass & I can crank it if I want to. Pretty impressive for an amp rated at 100, but we all know that ratings are a basic guideline & not a true reflection of a particular pieces ability.

Another possibility is that the room is giving you problems or even the speakers themselves.

As for low level listening, again I have no complaints. In fact it seems like the very first click on my "P" is so loud it will wake the house during the wee hours. I did have the power supply rebuilt & the transformer upgraded on the P so that may be a factor too.

Only suggestion I can make is just change one thing at a time & listen to them for a while before the next one. I made the mistake of changing too many things at one time several years ago & it made comparisons invalid.

Before you dump your equipment, try some upgrade AC cords on your present Pass's. Every cord has a different sonic signature & you might find a satisfactory result via experimentation. It worked for me.

Hi All,
Thanks for all of your inputs. My next immediate plan is to try adding a small, fast subwoofer to the system. I may also try to borrow a big amp from someone. The avanti's are the fastest speaker's I've heard, and go down clean to 30 hz. It's really tough to fit a subwoofer into a system like this. I have to wonder if adding a stronger amp will get me the bass that I want. I know that putting a 375w/4ohm mccormack on my virgo's completely changed their bass output. I tried a larger 12" sub, but it was much to slow for the ap's. Ap's sub costs 6 grand retail....

The low level detail and speed of this system is something to wonder at. It's about the only system I've heard that gets the actual pace of music right. I don't want to give that up. It really does remind me of a set tube amp but with higher resolution.