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Atma-Sphere with Gilmore on HE 2004

Have anybody heard Atma Sphere Music Amplifier MA-2 Mk. II.3 with some Gilmore speakers on HE 2004 NY ?
I have heard, read a lot about those output transformless tube amps, I was expecting audio nirvana, my expectation was very high, but what I heard was week non-dynamic, non-involving sound. Yes there was a lot of details nice soundstage, but still sound was lifeless. Was it speakers, or this transformless amps sound this way ?

I was mighty impress with transformfull :) Manley or VTL or even more with VAC Phi. I even went back after few hours one more time to Atma+Gilmore room unfortunately the some bad impression. Was it bad combination?
Does Berning's sound the some way ?
sorlowski

Showing 2 responses by sorlowski

sorlowski OP
236 posts
 
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ymisc&1085260344

somewhere you can read:
"And, finally, the last bad sounding room I encountered was the Atma Sphere/Gilmore room. Ralph Karsten was a gem of a person, but the synergy between his amps and those speakers was poor. The achilles heel sonically of the Atma Spheres is wrestling a woofer's voice coil to the ground and gaining the submission. Four 12" woofers look to be more than the great OTL amps are capable of.
"

they really sounded week, undymamic, I do not know what they are capable of, but they did not go well on HE 2004 seems not only to me, just not in the league of Manley's or VAC's, not even close.
sorlowski OP
236 posts
 
Miler,
>I'm not a big fan of tube gear either.
You misunderstood me, I'm just not fan of transformless tube gear since the show. Sound quality, liveness of good tube gear I had heard from (Lamm, Hovland, Vac, Manley) is just beyond reach of any even outrageously expensive SS gear, at least to my ears. Not all tube gear is equal, like not all SS gear is equally bad :)
For example $144.000 SS rig from MBL sounded really good (only one SS I really liked on HE 2004), but I would prefer ~$40.000 Manley+Joseph Audio+"do not remember source".
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