Yes, I have the Vandy 2w's, but just bought a pair of 2wq's.
I probably didn't have to, but it was in the back of my mind, so heck, I did it.
I was looking at a pair of Quatro's here on Agon, but decided to keep the Treo's as I:
1. Love the way they look and sound.
2. Can't get the energy to move another pair of speakers.
B |
gdnrbob,
Sounds like you have some pretty good system synergy.
Do you also use a sub?
ozzy |
I got an MP-3 with my MA-1's and am so glad I did.
B |
tzh21y,
Thanks,
I would like to try the Atmasphere Preamp someday.
ozzy
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in fact, I bet Old Merlin VSMs would sound amazing with the sixties. |
you should try their pre amp. phenomenal. |
great amps. listened to them many times. very nice |
realdeal, dragon_vibe,
I still can’t believe how great the sound quality is with my updated M-60’s.
I am using dual Zero’s with my DIY bi-wire speakers and will not turn back. With the Zero’s I noticed no degradation in sound quality but they sure did allow my DIY speakers to really open up. Especially in tone.
Now, I have such a soothing sound but detailed and with a wide open soundstage. I never came close to achieving this sound with solid state amps.
ozzy
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If you want my opinion on someone who owns the M60, The New Nirvana OTL Amp from Atma-Sphere and the MP3 as well as the MP-1.
Their is nothing that comes close to OTL Sound when paired with the right speaker your more or less at the end of your journey. These amps will give you transparency that only more expensive Solid state amps can achieve. A Sound which is neither Tobey or SS. Goose bumps during listening and a feeling of being their at a live event. Iv exchanged audio gear for the past 20 years and when I heard OTL nothing ever seems the same or sounds good enough. Speed, PRAT, Expansive Soundstage, Emotional Feelings, Live Sound, Transparency. The Amplifier just sounds like it does not exist. Their is hardly any colouration or distortion.
Personally i think Ralph sells his gear too cheap, the only gripe with OTL is they need to be paired with a good Speaker but their are alot of options on the market and if you cant find one suitable then the Zero can help you out. |
There is always way to design an OTL without using the ZERO,an OTL with output transformer?? |
atmashere, Does the usage of the Zero’s draw more AC current? That is in monthly energy cost? I ask this because the M-60's meters move a little now. ozzy |
I've said it before, and I guess I'll say it again: For lovers of Magneplanar speakers, there is another magnetic-planar that is much better suited for use with tube amps---the Eminent Technology LFT-8b. It's nominal impedance is 8 ohms, but the m-p drivers themselves are a resistive 11-12 ohm load. Bi-amp (or even passively bi-wire) them with a tube amp on top and ss on bottom (for the 8" sealed box woofer, which operates via a 1st order-6dB/octave x/o from 180Hz down), and you won't miss your Maggies at all. Actually, many who have heard both prefer the ET's, even if they run them with a ss amp. |
Driving easier speaker loads (high impedance) should be beneficial for
all types of amplifiers and not limited to just tube power amplifiers.
Charles +1 It continues to amaze me how many people don't get this basic fact! |
Ozzy,
I understand , my speakers are 14 ohms and it seems as though my amplifier is just coasting along very relaxed and natural.
Charles
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atmasphere, I just posted some pictures under "ozzy system" page. gdnrbob, I was wondering why there are not any used Zero's for sale. They are a real plus. charles1dad, The amps seem like they are now more powerful. ozzy |
Driving easier speaker loads (high impedance) should be beneficial for all types of amplifiers and not limited to just tube power amplifiers.
Charles |
Holy Cow!- Considering that your speakers are far more efficient than my Vandy Treo's, you have me thinking about adding a pair. I recall Steve McCormack saying that the Zero's do make a difference, even with Solid State.
Bob |
Good!
How do you have them wired?
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Well I just placed the 2nd pair of Zero's into position. Wow! what an improvement! Now, with biwiring and the dual Zero's there is much more detail in the bass, mid, treble along with better dynamics. Ralph and others this is truly the best I have heard thus far with the M-60's. ozzy |
Ralph, Thanks again for the help. At this point, I have spent a great deal of time, effort and $$$ to get speakers and the proper crossovers for an 8 ohm load. But, that being said the M-60's still sound very good without the Zero's. ozzy |
If you put the ZERO after the crossovers then the crossovers won't be operating the way they were supposed to. So before.
Now if I got this right, your speakers are home made? Could you build 16-ohm speakers? Then no need for the ZEROs at all.
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Atmasphere, So, should I place the Zero’s before or after the crossovers? ozzy |
jond, Just a crazy ole' audiogonner gone wild! ozzy |
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Tinkerer? I think I am way beyond that! ozzy |
@jond
Tinkering is what makes it fun!
B |
The Tinkerer strikes again! :-p
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It shouldn't as long as both are properly crossed over. The portions of the transformer's operation that are out of band with the crossover will see a fairly high impedance which will be transformed to a high impedance to the amplifier. Worth a try- you can't hurt the amp with an adverse load BTW. But I really doubt that it will yield much in the way of an improvement. OTOH, I don't know of anyone whose tried this, so report back :)
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As I noted in this thread I am using a pair of the Zero Autoformers with my M-60’s. The M-60’s were made with dual binding posts for bi-wiring. Since my DIY speakers and external crossovers were also built with bi-wiring in mind, I am going to try a second set of the Zero’s to complete the Biwire set up. Has anyone tried this? Will a pair of the Zero's on each speaker change the impedance? ozzy |
The word Nirvana has been way overused. I used Nirvana ten years for the name of my dual layer mass on spring platform that employed very heavy masses and high carbon springs. There's Nirvana Audio cable manufacturer. Then there was the group, Nirvana. |
The Nirvana is a project to see how far we could push the technology. Its power transformers are spec'd differently, it has regulated DC filaments for the driver section and regulated high voltage for the driver section. The amp section is mounted on a subchassis and overall the chassis work is pretty over the top. Because of all the polishing, its been really hard to shoot photos of it!
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Im still looking for more 6SN7 Tubes, but wont buy any untill i have spent enough time with the above.
Someone Asked About Atma-Sphere new Amplifier called the "Nirvana"
Maybe Ralph can chime in and explain what so special about these amps and why do they sell for more than the MA2 but produce less power.
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I have Ordered the following:
TJ Full Music 6SN7
Black Treasure 6SN7
Natural Sound Series 6SN7
These will be used for my MP-1 Pre-amp and Mp-3
I am still looking for tubes to replace the Atma-Sphere Nirvana Amplifier and the 6SN7 that go with the amp. I have ordered some NOS Sylvinia tubes too.
The TJ Full Music is the same as Sophia. I was told both come of the same production line but are labled for 2 different markets. |
Early on I did have a couple of the power tubes blow that took out the fuses. So I’m reluctant to put a $100 fuse there. But, I have coated the fuses with graphene. Now that the tubes and other changes have settled down someday I will probably try the SR black fuse. Ralph, What value is that first fuse? I think it was a 3 amp slow blow, is that correct? ozzy |
We've got a lot of positive comments from customers using audiophile fuses.
The location on the amps that makes the most difference is the one by the power cord. That is also the one that is most likely to be blown, as a power tube failure can blow that fuse. The other fuses only blow if there is a serious service issue with the amp; over the last 30 years I can count those failures on one hand.
Because there are three fuses rather than just one, the sonic effect of the fuse is reduced somewhat but you can still hear it.
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Was wondering if anybody has tried audiophile fuses in Atma-sphere gear? Does the design make a fuse change irrelevant? |
Ralph, I am still awed by what your amp and preamp can do.
After growing up on tubes, I never thought I would return to them, but, you did it.
Bob |
So far we've yet to hear about any hum problems with the Sophia or TJ Music tube. Al's report is the first I've seen.
We made a circuit change in our amps regarding how our filament circuit is handled about 12 years ago. That really reduced the hum issues caused by cathode/filament leakage; every now and then we run into a bad tube in the field causing a problem but its nothing like it was before we made that change. So I suspect much relies on the circuit design.
FWIW in our preamps the leakage would be a non-issue.
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Thanks Ozzy and Almarg.
You guys are the best.
Bob |
gdnrbob, Well since they are currently in production you can buy them new from the Vendors charles1dad mentioned. Buying through EBay is a little more risky but like on Audiogon you check the sellers reviews and take a chance. I have not had a single Sophia or Full Music tube fail thus far. But, I have had a NOS vintage RCA fail. almarg, You always post such great information and I thank you. Perhaps with other tube amps the Sophia/Full Music tubes would be a problem but with the M-60's they are good. ozzy |
Hi Bob, I’m not sure that even the ancient drugstore-type tube testers some of us remember from our childhoods measured heater-to-cathode leakage. Most of the better professionally oriented testers from those days did, however. (I have a vintage Hickok 800a). For most users I suppose the only practical alternative is to see how the tubes perform in the particular application, and hope for the best. And given the many positive experiences that have been reported with Sophia tubes, including the 6SN7, I suppose the odds of success are good. Although note that in some of the cases I referred to the hum problems didn’t arise until the tubes had been in use for some period of time. And of course I have no way of knowing if the problems that I and a couple of others reported represented atypical examples of the particular tube type, or were due to a combination of tube characteristics that are more typical combined with sensitivity of the particular component designs to those characteristics. Note also that as I said in the thread I linked to Ralph has indicated in the past that he rejects tubes having heater-to-cathode resistances of less than 10 megohms (i.e., 10 million ohms). And for the 8 Sophia 6SN7s that were in my possession (4 originally purchased; 4 replacements provided under the warranty) ... The heater-to-cathode leakage in my Sophia’s, as measured on my vintage Hickok tube tester, was as low as 3 or 4 megohms on some sections of some of the tubes, and was in the 5 to 10 megohm area on most of the others.
... Also, I’ll mention that on my Hickok 800a tester all of the vintage 6SN7 tubes I have measure well above 10 megohms, and in many cases are high enough to be unmeasurable.
FWIW, I personally don’t envision Sophia tubes as being in my future, despite all of the glowing praise they have received from others. Best regards, -- Al |
Thanks!
So, how do you know if the tubes are okay? I haven't seen a tube tester since I went to the supermarket with my parents 60 years ago.
Bob |
I bought mine off EBay. ozzy |
Sophia Electric. com, their own site.
TJ Full Music tubes
1 DIY HIFI Supply
2 tubes-sale.com
3 Grant Fidelity. com
Charles |
As this is my first Tube Amp and Preamp, I have no idea who sells these, nor who is a good source. So, where do you guys get these tubes?
Bob |
Agree that’s there’s some method of selecting/rejecting tubes from the original vendor TJ Full Music. I was just making the point that they’re re-branded tubes under the Sophia name.
Charles |
almarg, I have noticed a very low level hum when I place my ear up to the speakers with no music playing. But, it is minimal and I overall prefer the sound quality over that minor annoyance. Perhaps if they are installed in a preamp it may cause more problems downstream. charles1dad, How does Sophia get there brand on the tubes if they select the best ones? I think they just purchase a lot of the tubes from TJ and have them branded "Sophia" then they grade them A-C. I think the grade A ones are used in the USA market and sold direct from within the USA. ozzy |
Hi Ozzy,
TJ Full Music is the parent Chinese manufacturer. Sophia supposedly is selected from the "better" grade tubes made by TJ Full Music. Sophia doesn’t have their own tube making capacity/facilities.
Charles |
Glad that the Full Music 6SN7s worked out well for you, Ozzy. Your findings regarding their excellent sonics are consistent with many others I’ve seen reported for their Sophia counterpart. Including feedback Ralph mentioned earlier in this thread that he has received from a number of customers. However, I’ll note for the record and for the information of those reading this thread that at various times in the past I and at least two other members here experienced totally unacceptable hum problems with the Sophia version of the tube. See my posts dated 4-2-2017 in this thread, and the link provided therein, and also the post in that thread dated 4-3-2017 by Tubegroover. It can be expected that sensitivity of preamp and power amp designs to what I determined was apparently the cause of the problem (measurably excessive heater-to-cathode leakage, resulting from either a design defect in the tube or a quality control problem in its production) will vary widely among different designs. I would suspect that some designs will be totally insensitive to it. And FWIW, apart from the hum issue the Sophias did sound great in my amp. Best regards, -- Al |
Charles, I don't think that's quite right. I think the manufacturer in China is called TJ or something like that. Then they are different branded. I think Sophia's claim to fame is they select the higher quality tubes and then put there brand on them. At least that is my understanding. ozzy |
