My first experience with tubes - Atma M60's - marc g.

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My first experience with tubes - Atma M60's

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Out went the Bryston 250wpc and in went the AtmaSphere M60 monos at 60 watts/each. Speakers are JBL L200's, with Pass Labs preamp, Fianl Tool table, Discovery cartridge, some fancy cables. No digital listened to - yet.
Simply amazing. Who would have thought the Atma's could push the JBLâ€™s so well? Not me. Not my friend who lent them to me. Sure, it was expected the sound would be great, but to be great AND drive the speakers so well was a surprise. One of the most interesting ones was one a random choice I pulled from the shelf - Metallica's Master Of Puppets. Thought that was perfect as I knew I'd have to play some music of this type because I thought this was the music that the amps might not serve as well. WRONG!!!! It was playing this album that we took the chance and upped the volume from where we had been before. It just rocked, plain and simple. Virgil Fox's organ was recreated with a real sense of umpphhhh too. Some driving Industrial/Dance was kickin hard as well. While the Atmas couldn't do quite as much bass and slam as the Bryston, what little was missing in quantity was easily made up with quality. Overall, the sound was a bit more laid back, and very detailed (especially the bass).

This opens up all kinds of doors in terms of amplification now that I know I donâ€™t need 250wpc of power to drive my speakers. After all, 250 watts of quality tubed power is very expensive, forgetting issues of re-tubing and the related heat.
That was one night and I have about two more nights with them so will likely have more to say about them later. Tonight I'll change some cables and phonostage back to those of my own to see how the amps fair out with gear that they would see every day if they were something I were to buy. I can say this much at this point though.... there's no point in me looking at Agon anymore to see what used 500wpc Brystons are going for these days as Iâ€™m now convinced that would be more of a lateral move.

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Topic - My first experience with tubes - Atma M60's - marc g. 09:43:21 08/30/04 (5)

Congratulations! - Al Sekela 17:22:24 08/30/04 (2)

Re: Congratulations! - marc g. 09:06:11 09/01/04 (1)

System keeps changing - Al Sekela 13:56:13 09/01/04 (0)

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