What speakers match well with Atma Sphere?

For those of you using Atma-sphere amps, I recommend you try the RAM/Labs 6AS7GA Roger is selling. They are GE labelled and they do say "Made in the USA" so I doubt they are Russian and I have no idea when they were made. A really fantastic tube with my M-60s. I think he is selling them for $35/pc and as you can impagine EXTREMELY well matched. I don't know if Ralph has tried these or what he thinks of them, but they do sound awfully good.

Rosstaman... so what happened?! What did you do? Are ya happy?

Just a late couple of comments, Sdatch makes a good recommend with Coincident. I have the Total Eclipse paired with Ralph's Silver Edition OTLs and I'm a very happy camper.

Heard the Zu Druids powered by a two watter Yomomoto 08S at my local Audio Karma Fest and was very impressed and satisfied. Sweet and dynamic.

About what Macrojack commented, Ralph also has at home Classic Audio Reproductions to the best of my knowledge and they are packed with TAD 15" woofers, tweeters, and huge midrange horns, so in juxtaposition he might well have the best of both worlds for his OTLs IMHO.

Happy Listening!

Since no one responded to my prompt, I will tell you that Ralph Karsten, the owner, designer, inventor of Atmasphere, uses Zu Druids in his personal system. At 12 ohm impedance, they match up nicely with OTLs. I'm told the S-30 is a paticularly good match.

I had a stacked pair of Quad ESL 57 that were wired in series/parallel to keep the impedence at 16 ohms. The Atma Sphere 30 stereo amp was magic with 57 Quads.

Thanks for all your suggestions. It seems like the two speakers are evenly split. I'm impressed with the reviews for the Merlins VSM, but I really should hear both speakers. I had classes this weekend, otherwise THE Show and CES would have provided me with the opportunities. I did email Atma-Sphere, but they must be exhibiting in Vegas, as I haven't received a response. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

Happy 2006 to everyone!

Ross

One more vote for the Coincident Eclipse.
Although the Victory line is in my opinion superior, I feel that the Atma-Sphere amps mate better with the Eclipse.

I third the recommendation for Merlins. I VSMs with an S-30 for a while with stunning air and extension. I switched to Joule Stargates for a bit mor midrange and bottom end. If I was in the market now, I would seriously consider the M-60 with my VSMs.

Ask Ralph Karsten what speakers he uses.

I second the Merlins. I have owned very many speakers over the years (ie: Quads, Logans, ProAc, big Apogees, Verity Parsifal Encores, etc.) and the Merlins are simply amazing, given you do not do hard rock at ear splitting levels. They do not go super deep, but their bass is incredibly tuneful and articulate with world class resolution and soundstaging. They breath life into the music and should be a super match with the amps.

I agree with the above Coincident recommendations. The Super Eclipse II or III (latest version - 92db sensitivity) gets my vote.

Good luck with your search!

I second Sdatch's recommendation of the Partial Eclipse. I prefer the Coincident's Eclipse line to the Victory line but it is a matter of taste. If you are patient, you may be able to get a Super Eclipse within your price range. This is a great speaker with the M-60.

Merlins have always sounded great with Atma-Sphere. I also used Sonus Faber Electa Amators to good effect.

Coincident Partial Eclipse or Victory (if used) would fall nicely into your price range. They are fairly sensitive and have very OTL friendly impedances. I believe Tonian Labs also makes some high impedance models, but I am not very familiar with that marque. With the right sepaker, I think you'll be surprised how much amp the M-60 gives you for a reasonable price.