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atmasphere

Responses from atmasphere

Class A, AB
Neilmc , if the amp is AB it will be class A (does not go into cutoff) to a certain point and above a certain power the amplifier will operate in the 'B' region, IOW part of the amp goes into cutoff as the waveform amplitude increases. There is no... 
What do defective phono tubes sound like?
Jloveys, the static discharge was likely not been 'seen' by the cartridge. Its often a discharge between the ungrounded arm and the turntable. So no worries! 
mo' better bass: any substitute for watts?
Saki70, as Bob pointed out above, it takes both voltage and current to make power. The issue is that if we are to make 200 watts into a set of Ohms which might be 3 ohms, the voltage and current can be easily calculated (assuming for the moment th... 
What do defective phono tubes sound like?
Sirspeedy, your description of the problem sounds like a static discharge to me. If the arm is improperly grounded it is possible for it to *not* hum, but have discharge problems, especially with low humidity. The needle tracking the LP will creat... 
Speltz/Atma-sphere & Merlins
If the ZERO is not loaded properly it will ring (adding harshness and obscuring detail) like any other inductive device. Ideally the speaker load should be 4,3 or 2 ohms, and if loaded that way the input will be 16 ohms. Other combinations are pos... 
mo' better bass: any substitute for watts?
Mapman, no, however the match between the speaker and amplifier is paramount. If the speaker has a low impedance at low frequencies, you are going to have to provide the current that making power into that load demands by law (Ohm's Law- no pun in... 
mo' better bass: any substitute for watts?
Hi Bob, If you've not looked athttp://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.htmlmaybe now would be a good time.Of course it is quite true that if you make 100 watts into a given impedance, it doesn't matter what made the power, the current an... 
mo' better bass: any substitute for watts?
Yes, tubes and transistors; the jury is out on Class D as it inherently is not Class A.Tubes generally are usually operated closer to Class A than transistors usually are; most transistor amplifiers are biased at such low idle currents that its dr... 
Triplanar Mk VI or Mk VII?
The MkVII also has tighter tolerances on the VTA tower and actually tighter tolerances all around. I got a 'MkVI.5' once and had it updated it to the MkVII; it was totally worthwhile. 
MBL 101E and tubes?
The mbls are not that hard to drive with tubes. The issue that you run into is that they are designed for an amplifier that makes constant voltage into any load, i.e. a transistor amplifier.If the tube amplifier has enough negative feedback, it wi... 
Are Atma-Sphere MP-1 and VSE RTP-3D similar?
Dracule1, I think you are wise to have the view that a manufacturer will have a 'colored view' of their equipment. I use the word 'biased' myself. For the record, many of the manufacturers that get into this industry are quite dedicated. I think y... 
mo' better bass: any substitute for watts?
Correct. In the old days, some amplifiers had a 'Damping' control, which was a potentiometer that allowed you to adjust current feedback (not voltage feedback). Essentially, this allowed you to get a better match between the amp and speaker. This ... 
mo' better bass: any substitute for watts?
Bob_reynolds, we *do* have some control over that 'configuration' of voltage vs. current. It has to do with the output impedance of the amp.A higher output impedance can deliver excellent bass if properly matched with the speaker; conversely an am... 
VDC at a tube preamp's output
Sure. There is a patent on the process, which is very similar to the Atma-Sphere power amps. The Patent Office supported 23 claims in the patent, which allows for a very simple method of creating a balanced DC coupled output. The output uses a cir... 
Harshness in tweeters: the price of transparency?
Kurt, it sounds to me like you are running into more than one issue. I could be wrong, but at home I can run the system up to 110 db without any added harshness. In fact the system comes off sounding the same at that volume as it does at 85db- the...