Atma-sphere 3.0 to 3.1

Ralph, what are your favourite NOS tubes in the V1 position?

We've got a lot of people that offer their favorites there, personally I don't play with the NOS tubes that much- I buy LPs and CDs instead :)

The Ken-Rad and Sylvania metal-based chrome-dome get the highest marks in that location, followed by the round-plate Tung-Sol, RCA red base, and the Western Electric.

I gotta stop reading this stuff. I'm going to end up buying some M-60s and give my girlfriend a cubic zirconia engagement ring...
Has anyone been able listen much to the M-60s with the volume knob option? It sounds intriguing to be able to forgo a pricey preamp, having relied on an integrated for some time...

I have not, but I have been listening to passives and they are great with the right amp. I think the Atma-spheres are not ideal for an external passive, but I suspect that with Ralph building it into the unit customized for the specific load and sensitivity of the amp and no ICs that it is great, of course you loose a bit of flexibility compared to an standalone preamp. Would love to A/B a MP1 versus the integrated passive volume control.

Passives work fine as long as you don't have any interconnect cable. Otherwise they tend to limit bass and punch as you turn the volume control down. That's why we offer the option for the M-60s.

The MP-1 is specifically designed to control the interconnect cable, and as a result the cable between the preamp and amp is not critical and you can run really long lengths (+50') too. That allows you to keep the amps right by the speakers and run short speaker cables.