OTL Asylum

RE: Atma-Sphere S30 with a passive pre-amp

71.146.15.44

In Reply to: RE: Atma-Sphere S30 with a passive pre-amp posted by fred.hammersmith@videotron.ca on May 07, 2008 at 06:50:22

Hi Fred,

I am not able to answer your question directly about source impendance, etc. But, I can give you my impression of my experiece with TVC volume controls. I have a pair of Ralph's M60's and as you said the Atma-sphere amps are really fantastic ! Over the years I have owned tube and solid state preamps and like you, I was at a point where I wanted to save some money and get the most bang for the buck. I had looked around and heard and read alot about passives and in particular the TVC volume controls. Based on the reviews and other peoples comments, I bought a Bent Audio TVC using the S&B transformers with Seiden switches. The Bent unit was a kit and I spared no expense in building the unit with the best wire and connectors I could find. Even at that the unit did not cost me that much to build in comparison to a good tube preamp. The Bent unit was extremely quite and the Seiden switches are something absolutely amazing. The tactile feel and quality is something akin to a Rolex watch and are so smooth and quite and transparent. The build quality of the Seiden are second to none including Shallco. All other switches seem clunky and crude in comparison. The TVC did a good job in that it was extremely transparent, good sound staging and depth. But, as you have metioned it was very sensitive to source impedance and capacitance. I was using balanced cables to the M60's with Jensen balanced transformers and a myriad of high quality, short interconnects. I even took out the Jensens to see if there was some negative impact from their use with no avail. No two sources would sound the same. I have some tube sources and with the Bent, I experiened alot of motor boating and in general I could not use the Bent with my tube tuners. I am a big movie fan and with my DVD video player I did not have enough gain. In comparison to the worst tube preamp that I had owned the Bent was harmonicaly lean and lifeless. The nuance and macrodynamics were not there. I was left very unsatisfied and frustrated despite all the positive reviews and comments about the attributes of passives and TVC. I finally admitted to myself that I had made a mistake and called Ralph at Atma-sphere. I know that you made the comment about having to stretch to buy the S30's but you really have not heard what those amps are capable of until you use it with one of Ralph's preamps. Every thing that you like about the S30 is enhanced beyound words. I reviewed the the MP3 preamp on this Asylum if you want to take a look at my comments about that amazing preamp. If you ever hear your OTL's with a Atma preamp you will never go back to passive in any form.

Regards,
Jack

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