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atmasphere

Responses from atmasphere

Why do amps sound different?
Phd, one of the distinctions of the Power paradigm vs the Voltage paradigm is under the Voltage paradigm, the specs often have no meaning as you already know. Under the Power paradigm, the specs correlate with what you hear. 
Phase switch on pre amp use?
The phase switch is likely to be audible only if you have a recording that is completely phase coherent- using 2 or 3 mics in the recording. Any more than that and the phasing information becomes too confused to hear the effect of the switch. I'm ... 
A question about front-ported speakers
I have my speakers 6" from the rear wall and they work great! The ports are front-firing.But- the front of the speaker is about 2 1/2 feet from the rear wall, so maybe they don't count? 
Why do amps sound different?
Amfibius, take a look:http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html'Current source' is a Voltage paradigm term for amplifiers that have a high enough output impedance such that they exhibit (or at least try to exhibit), constant power wit... 
Current Trends in multi thousand dollar speakers
Sean's assertion that an increase in impedance results in 'less power, less control' is incorrect. In fact 'control' (which is a poorly defined term and can only be related to damping factor) increases with impedance. Furthermore, many tube amplif... 
Tri Planar / ZYX Universe soundstaging
Hi Terry, certainly. If you have heard a proper reel-to-reel system, one thing that strikes you regardless of whether it is a master tape or a dub, is the quality of imaging solidarity and the black background. Also, there is simply no strain when... 
Why do amps sound different?
Although alluded to before, it seems that the amount of negative feedback is a big issue.2 amplifiers can easily have the same bandwidth, but one running with feedback and one without. The one without will likely sound more relaxed, since it lacks... 
Tri Planar / ZYX Universe soundstaging
My experience with the combination is that it can image much the same way that analog tape does. 
Triode versus Ultralinear/Pentode
Pubul57 is correct. Some amplifiers pull it off quite well- others don't. I rebuilt a Marantz 9 from years ago- the amp sounded OK on Pentode, but really, triode mode was the really useful mode if you were listening seriously. Most triode amps tod... 
Triode versus Ultralinear/Pentode
Pubul57, Merlins don't need a lot of power. We have had many Merlin customers over the years using our M-60 and I never hear about power issues. If you can get a triode amp that makes at least that much, unless you are in a very big room you shoul... 
What exactly causes clicks and pops on vinyl?
Something else that helps is to avoid phono sections that employ any sort of loop feedback. A zero feedback (passivly equalized) phono preamp will tend to make less of the ticks and pops fed into it. I have seen it be the difference between 'annoy... 
Triode versus Ultralinear/Pentode
Lloydc, your amplifier might be a good example of what I meant- that even though there is some advantage of the 'triode mode', that mode is not optimized in the amplifier in order to allow for the switching in the first place. Were it optimized, t... 
Tube amps have a signature sound
Chris, its on-topic as far as a signature sound is concerned, on account of the fact that tube amps use far less feedback or maybe none at all compared to transistors. I am referring to global or loop feedback.Local feedback can refer to loop feed... 
tube amps sounding like solid state and vv
I think some designers try to get distortion and frequency response to the best that they can, at the expense of other probably more important parameters. Tubes often take a more reasonable stance- 1% THD seems high for a transistor amp but is com... 
Tube amps have a signature sound
MrT, I interpreted your comments correctly. I want you to understand that I was not contradicting you either. What I was pointing out is that what you were reporting in your post has an underlying design issue, and what can be done about it.IOW yo...