Neither of these is ideal for the MBL. You need a real powerhouse capable of delivering lots of power into very difficult loads.
Choice of Pass Labs Aleph for old MBL 101
I am looking for a good match for older MBL 101 (1990 production, no bass section / subwoofer, only three Radialstrahler units).
My current setup is:
Proceed PMDT - coaxial - Pass Labs D1 - rca - Pass Aleph 4 - 7 feet of 14 gauge copper - MBL 101.
(no fancy cables, I intend to move on to AES/EBU digital, XLR interconnects and some 8 feet of 10 gauge copper)
I skipped the preamp for now, as I listen only to digital, and Pass D1 has sufficient voltage swing to drive Aleph 4.
To characterise the current system's sound, once Aleph 4 has fully warmed up (a full hour), I am quite impressed.
The other day I noticed in our local, unassuming Hi-Fi store window a set of Pass Labs amps - a pair of Aleph 0 and an Aleph P. Asking price seemed fair (3000 Euros; as the store was closed, I know neither which version of Aleph P that is, nor if and when Aleph 0 s have their caps changed).
MBLs are =<4Ohm design (http://wegavision.pytalhost.com/MB/mbl92/, page 15: http://wegavision.pytalhost.com/MB/mbl92/MBL92_15_101.jpg).
Aleph 4 gives 100 W in 8 Ohm, and is optimised for 8 Ohm.
Aleph 0 is a 75 W amp, Class A SE at low power; however, it is able to leave Class A and do push-pull 150 W in 4 Ohm, and around five times higher impulse current than Aleph 4.
Now I wonder if MBL 101 would be better served by Aleph 0, or will it be more or less the same as Aleph 4 (or even worse)?
My current setup is:
Proceed PMDT - coaxial - Pass Labs D1 - rca - Pass Aleph 4 - 7 feet of 14 gauge copper - MBL 101.
(no fancy cables, I intend to move on to AES/EBU digital, XLR interconnects and some 8 feet of 10 gauge copper)
I skipped the preamp for now, as I listen only to digital, and Pass D1 has sufficient voltage swing to drive Aleph 4.
To characterise the current system's sound, once Aleph 4 has fully warmed up (a full hour), I am quite impressed.
The other day I noticed in our local, unassuming Hi-Fi store window a set of Pass Labs amps - a pair of Aleph 0 and an Aleph P. Asking price seemed fair (3000 Euros; as the store was closed, I know neither which version of Aleph P that is, nor if and when Aleph 0 s have their caps changed).
MBLs are =<4Ohm design (http://wegavision.pytalhost.com/MB/mbl92/, page 15: http://wegavision.pytalhost.com/MB/mbl92/MBL92_15_101.jpg).
Aleph 4 gives 100 W in 8 Ohm, and is optimised for 8 Ohm.
Aleph 0 is a 75 W amp, Class A SE at low power; however, it is able to leave Class A and do push-pull 150 W in 4 Ohm, and around five times higher impulse current than Aleph 4.
Now I wonder if MBL 101 would be better served by Aleph 0, or will it be more or less the same as Aleph 4 (or even worse)?
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