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Dear Customer,

The Pass Aleph 60 is the part of the second generation of Aleph single-ended Class A power
amplifiers.  This design results from my commitment to create the best sounding product, a
simple circuit having the most natural characteristic.  The Pass Aleph 60 integrates power
Mosfet devices and pure single ended Class A operation in a simple two-gain-stage topology
with the sole purpose of recreating subjectively natural sound.

The Pass Aleph 60 is unique in a number of ways:

Most amplifiers on the market have between five and seven gain stages in series between the
input and the output.  The Aleph 60 has but two, and enjoys a very direct path from input to
output, further enhancing the purity of the circuit and the resulting sound.

The output stage of the Aleph 60 is a unique blend of traditional design and innovation
addressing the unique requirements of loudspeakers.  Previous methods of loading the output
stage have used networks consisting of resistors, coils, transformers, and active current
sources, all of which offer an optimal load line based on a resistive load.  The Aleph 60 has a
current source topology which optimizes performance for a wide range of impedance and
reactance in the load, improving all aspects of performance into real loudspeakers.  Pass
Labs has US patent No. 5710522 on this output stage topology.

The Aleph 60 is unique in that there are no adjustments of any kind in the circuitry.  There are
no potentiometers to adjust.  The operating parameters of bias currents and DC offset and so
on are defined by physical constants, and will not go out of adjustment.

Most important, the Aleph 60 brings improvement to the recreation of subjective sonic reality.
The amplifier delivers detail and subjective space rarely found in semiconductor circuits,
coupled with the authority and clarity rarely found in tube amplifiers.

The Pass Aleph 60’s ancestry lies in the highly praised Aleph 2.  We have kept virtually all of
the circuit design and choice of parts intact, and the output wattage rating has been adjusted
to the smaller heat sinks.

The balanced input circuitry is the same topology as the rest of the original Aleph series,
accomplishing true high performance balanced input without additional active components.  It
has been improved, however, to offer a higher input impedance on the single-ended input, 47
Kohms.  The original Aleph 2 had a 10 Kohm input impedance.

The input devices are the same as the originals, but significant improvement is to be found in
the manner of matching the input devices.  Previously the input differential transistors were
merely matched to each other, but beginning with the Aleph 30 and 60 they are now matched
both to each other and to the rest of the amplifier circuit.  We select the input devices as part
of the complete amplifier, swapping them in and out until the best performance is achieved.
Tweaking the input stage in this manner and with other adjustment techniques we have been
able to significantly lower the noise floor and improve the power supply noise rejection of the
amplifier.

Содержание Pass Aleph 60

Страница 1: ...Volksamp Pass Aleph 60 Owner s Manual ...

Страница 2: ...re are no potentiometers to adjust The operating parameters of bias currents and DC offset and so on are defined by physical constants and will not go out of adjustment Most important the Aleph 60 brings improvement to the recreation of subjective sonic reality The amplifier delivers detail and subjective space rarely found in semiconductor circuits coupled with the authority and clarity rarely fo...

Страница 3: ...nsive Also it allowed very limited space for access to input and output terminals on the rear of the amplifier and required the on off power switch to sit in the rear underneath the wiring It has been said that ownership of the original Alephs was proof of the owner s dedication to sound at the cost of convenience The Aleph 60 has a new more conventional chassis with heat sinks on the side a facep...

Страница 4: ... the RCA input otherwise you will not get the proper gain figure for the amplifier If you operate the amplifier with balanced inputs you will remove this jumper and we advise you to save it carefully for future use The fourth connection is the amplifier output connection Connect the 5 way output connector to loudspeaker plus and ground using the cable of your choice The amplifier draws about 240 w...

Страница 5: ...ng hype we have a large number of attempts to improve the sound of amplifiers each attempting to address a hypothesized flaw in the performance Audiophiles have voted on the various designs with their pocketbooks and products go down in history as classics or are forgotten The used market speaks eloquently Marantz 9 s command a high price while Dyna 120 s are largely unwanted So far there has been...

Страница 6: ... application of feedback resulting in loss of warmth space and detail High idle current or bias is very desirable as a means of maximizing linearity and gives an effect which is not only easily measured but easily demonstrated Take a Class A or other high bias amplifier and compare the sound with full bias and with bias reduced Bias adjustment is easily accomplished as virtually every amplifier ha...

Страница 7: ...nt 1 0 1 2 1 4 8 6 1 0 1 2 1 4 8 6 FIG 1 CHARACTERISTIC OF AIR PRESSURE VOLUME bars M Kg 3 Fig 1 shows the single ended nature of air We can push on it and raise the pressure an arbitrary amount but we cannot pull on it We can only let it relax and fill a space as it will the pressure will never go below 0 As we push on air the increase in pressure is greater than the corresponding decrease when w...

Страница 8: ...itive pressure and less positive pressure Push pull circuits give rise to odd ordered harmonics where the phase alignment reflects compression at both positive and negative peaks and crossover nonlinearity near the zero point Push pull operation in amplifiers is commonly portrayed by the analogy of a two man saw cutting down a tree Certainly if we are cutting down trees by hand we would opt for th...

Страница 9: ...tive amplitude is very very slightly greater than the negative For a current gain device that would mean gain that smoothly increases with current and for a tube or field effect device a transconductance that smoothly increases with current Triodes and Mosfets share a useful characteristic their transconductance tends to increase with current Bipolar power devices have a slight gain increase until...

Страница 10: ...quality of power Mosfets we have tested to date We match output devices to within 2 The input devices are matched in circuit for lowest noise and distortion The smallest of these the input devices are capable of peak currents of 5 amps The largest are capable of peaks of 25 amps each and are run in parallel pairs The power Mosfets in the Pass Aleph 60 have chip temperatures ratings to 150 degrees ...

Страница 11: ... supply feeds the output transistors only with a full power ripple of about 3 volt The power draw of this system is constant regardless of the music playing through the amplifier As such it does not depend on a high quality AC outlet or special power cords since the dynamic performance does not create a variation in AC line draw If the AC line is running low the output stage will bias to a higher ...

Страница 12: ...ingle ended 52 Kohm differential Damping factor 100 Crosstalk 80 dB 20 20 KHz Balanced Input Rejection 50 dB typical CMRR Output Noise 500 uV unweighted Random noise floor 5 uV typical DC offset 100 mv Power Consumption 220 watts Temperature 25 degrees C above ambient Dimensions 17 W x 15 5 D x 5 5 H Shipping Weight 45 lb VOLKSAMP Pass Labs Po Box 219 Foresthill CA 95631 tel 530 367 4935 fax 530 3...

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