Atma Sphere S30 amp


I got my S30 amp yesterday and got in 12 hrs. of listening time with it.

Having started off on this audio journey with tubes I got lost somewhere down the road with SS amps. A friend of mine sent me a demo AA PX25 to try out with my Zu speakers and I was in shock on how organic sounding this little 6W amp sounded and I soon realized ( in 5 min.) I screwed up big time. My amps sounded plastic/fake and after reading a review about the AS S30 being a better all around amp than the PX25 and with more power I bought the amp new.

Even with stock 6sn7 tubes this amp is a keeper for me. I could have had listening to a OTL all this time and feel I wasted alot of $$$ and time on my SS amps. You never know until you buy and try.

This amp is not for everyone but for Zu owners I would encourage you to try this guy out.

Thanks to all you OTL owners who have posted here in the forms and for Pubul57 whose knowledge of these amps made my purchase an easy decision.

Hiphiphorray I am back with tubes and loving it.



glory

Showing 1 response by audiokinesis

Weebeesdad, in my opinion if the impedance stays above 7 ohms or so and is smooth (no big impedance peaks above the bass region), the S-30 is often still a strong contender. The S-30 will deliver increased power into an impedance peak, which is why you don't want such a peak in the midrange region. Now if a speaker does have a single impedance peak in the midrange but is otherwise a good candidate for the S-30 (no nasty impedance dips and decent efficiency), it some cases it is possible to design a circuit that equalizes that impedance peak. I did that for someone with upper-80's efficient monitors that stay above 6 ohms and he was pretty happy with the result. Contact me if you'd like a link to some online comments he posted.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer