2. amps-preamps
  3. 1220502548

Atma-Sphere S-30 MK3


To Atma owners and gurus;

I've just recently jumped on the Atma wagon and I must say that so far this has been the single most eye & ear opening amplifier experience in my entire audio life of almost 28 years.

The S-30mk3 has been residing in my rig for close to 4 months now and is still breaking in, but should be almost done anytime soon.

I do however complain of an un-natural tonality in general that comes and goes during the break-in period and which was also very clear from the beginning. This is also accompanied by a certain 'hardness'..much like looking directly into sunlight as opposed to looking through a pair of poloroids..This issue is really bugging me and was wondering if it's part of the break-in process of Atmasphere amps in general, as I have never experienced it with other amps, tube or SS..

This aside, the amp seems to be taking forever to break-in..!!! But, it certainly looks to be my holy grail in amplification.

Along the way, I replaced the stock Chinese 6SN7's with EH's and now settled on Tung-Sol's. The latter being the best sounding of the lot. I do wanna stick to current production tubes as much as possible. Don't wanna go on the NOS merry-go-round..:-)

The S-30 is driving a pair of Tannoy Edinburgh's, from the Tannoy Prestige Series, to wonderful effect and the sound is heavenly! Preamp is a BAT VK-3iX Special Edition and is also a very good sonic match with the S-30..

Appreciate any input and of course any advice from the Atmasphere gurus and lovers here..!

TIA

AudioGrails
128x128audiograils

Showing 1 response by jb0194

jb0194
476 posts
 
My Atma "resume": I'd used M-60s for a few years and upgraded to MA-1s almost a year ago.

Does the "hardness" occur at at both modest and loud volumes? Has it "been there" and "not" on the same recordings, but during different listening sessions?

Bill's comment about an OTL amps's "different presentation" likely gets to the heart of the matter, especially as this hardness manifests inconsistently. Atma-Sphere amps don't run with the herd. Transparency/accurate tonality and clarity are their strong suit, yet no amp is perfect in all qualities.

I've no experience with the M30, but compatible loudspeaker matching likely is more challenging given the lower power, as Emailists suggests. The overall "flatness" of your loudspeakers' impedance curve can also influence sonics when using OTLs. The power factor may manifest at higher volumes or with uncompressed and very dynamic recordings. The effect of unfavorable loudspeaker impedance peaks may be more evident on some recordings than others, as it would be frequency-related. But this is just my very speculative 2 cents...
More to discover