Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere

63.224.1.139

Posted by Curtis Amplatz on September 14, 1999 at 12:49:18

I auditioned the Atmos-Sphere MA-1 Mk.II amplifiers playing through Magnepan MG12 speakers with a Wadia CD player and a preamp I donâ€™t remember at a local stereo store. About a $35,000.00 stereo by my calculation. I was immediately impressed by the clarity of the Atmos-Sphere amplifiers and immediately impressed by the lack of bass. The stereo store changed the Atmos-Spheres to Bel-Cantos and there was an increase in bass but the midrange appeared to be less clear.
I called Ralph Karsten of Atma-Sphere and expressed my concerns over lack of bass with his companyâ€™s product. He replied that with his set-up the amplifiers make extreme amounts of bass and that I was welcome to visit Atmos-Sphere and listen for myself. To this, I replied I would gather a few CDs and drive over. (Atmos-Sphere happens to be close to where I live.) Upon being informed of this, Mr. Karsten responded by saying that Atmos-Sphere did not have a CD player as he considered CDs not to be "high fidelity". I had to sit and think about that. I was really in the market for the M-60 Mk.II at $4000.00 per pair. I decided I was not going to risk that amount of money on an amplifier that may not reproduce CD sound well. So back to the Internet I went where I found Transcendent.
I spoke with Bruce Rozenblit of Transcendent about lack of bass with OTL amplifiers and he assured me his amplifier would produce all the bass I wanted. The purchase decision was made easier by the fact that Transcendent offers a two-week trial. So I purchased their 25 Watt stereo amplifier at $1895.00. I must report that the amplifier delivers all that Transcendent says it will. It has that clear OTL midrange and makes a lot of bass. I am very satisfied with the product and perhaps the best endorsement I can give is that I just took delivery of a Transcendent Preamplifier.
In fairness to Atmos-Sphere I must report that they were very accommodating and spent a lot of time answering all my questions. I did not listen to their amplifiers at the factory. Transcendent is also very responsive and spent a great deal of time with me over the phone isolating a bias adjustment problem with the amplifier I purchased from them. It turned out to be a bad tube, which Transcendent replaced free.

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Topic - Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Curtis Amplatz 12:49:18 09/14/99 (36)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - David M. 16:08:33 09/15/99 (1)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - DK 22:41:43 09/15/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - MikeJ 14:47:34 09/15/99 (0)

Bruce Rosenblitz can only take positive feedback - John 09:34:42 09/15/99 (5)

Re: Bruce Rosenblitz can only take positive feedback - bryan 11:20:11 09/15/99 (0)

Re: Bruce Rosenblitz can only take positive feedback - Chris Y 11:06:15 09/15/99 (3)

Re: Bruce Rosenblitz can only take positive feedback - bryan 11:26:29 09/15/99 (2)

Re: Bruce Rosenblitz can only take positive feedback - Chris Y 12:50:47 09/15/99 (1)

Re: Bruce Rosenblitz can only take positive feedback - Phil Sieg 13:22:27 09/15/99 (0)

Here we go again..... - bryan 19:27:07 09/14/99 (1)

Re: Here we go again..... - DK 22:48:44 09/14/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Chris Y 17:24:10 09/14/99 (8)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Dave Derrick 19:25:41 09/14/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Phil Sieg 18:21:20 09/14/99 (6)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Chris Y 08:39:21 09/15/99 (2)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Phil Sieg 08:44:36 09/15/99 (1)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Sean 00:06:23 09/16/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - DK 22:53:17 09/14/99 (0)

Phil... - Daryl 21:43:20 09/14/99 (1)

Re: Phil... - Curtis Amplatz 01:11:58 09/18/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Bryan P 16:34:32 09/14/99 (6)

*B*? - Tom Â§. 06:27:59 09/15/99 (5)

Not even close... - mark 20:08:21 09/15/99 (4)

Interesting..... - Tom Â§. 06:11:07 09/16/99 (3)

Re: Interesting..... - mark 06:48:47 09/16/99 (2)

Hey mark.... - Tom Â§. 07:50:29 09/16/99 (1)

Re: Hey mark.... - mark 11:21:47 09/16/99 (0)

His amps reproduce CDs just fine, thank you! - Rich 14:38:20 09/14/99 (0)

One question... - georgeh 14:15:28 09/14/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Phil Sieg 13:47:19 09/14/99 (4)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Curits Amplatz 19:33:49 09/16/99 (2)

The maker of your amp... - Phil Sieg 20:07:35 09/16/99 (1)

Re: The maker of your amp... - DK 21:21:30 09/16/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Curits Amplatz 19:33:49 09/16/99 (0)

Atmas-Sphere/MG12 Vs. Transcendent/???? - Tom Â§. 13:17:33 09/14/99 (0)

Re: Transcendent vs. Atmos-Sphere - Dan 13:00:18 09/14/99 (0)

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