Atma-Sphere S30

abomwell · « **on:** 21 Jan 2022, 12:12 pm »

On my initial phone call with Clayton I asked him what amplifiers he recommended to use with the X5's which I was about to order. He mentioned several that he had heard and liked including LTA, Don Sachs and the Atma-Sphere S30 which he said was really excellent. I purchased and compared an LTA ZOTL10 with a Carver Crimson 275. While both were excellent I preferred the Carver and subsequently sold the LTA. Last week I was looking at the Atma-Sphere website and, on a lark, looked up their dealers. Turns out Clayton has recently become a dealer for Atma-Sphere and was able to order me an S30 MK 3.3. He suggested getting it with the V-Cap upgrade, which I did. The amp is custom made and should ship in about two weeks. I'm really pumped to see what this amp can do to improve what is already an awesome sounding system!

TomS · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 12:28 pm »

Clayton said the same to me, interesting pairing. I had the preamp with phono stage and monoblocks long ago. Ralph was always fantastic to deal with, and offered some nice upgrades from time to time at very reasonable cost.

2Bad · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 12:52 pm »

Quote from: abomwell on 21 Jan 2022, 12:12 pm

On my initial phone call with Clayton I asked him what amplifiers he recommended to use with the X5's which I was about to order. He mentioned several that he had heard and liked including LTA, Don Sachs and the Atma-Sphere S30 which he said was really excellent. I purchased and compared an LTA ZOTL10 with a Carver Crimson 275. While both were excellent I preferred the Carver and subsequently sold the LTA. Last week I was looking at the Atma-Sphere website and, on a lark, looked up their dealers. Turns out Clayton has recently become a dealer for Atma-Sphere and was able to order me an S30 MK 3.3. He suggested getting it with the V-Cap upgrade, which I did. The amp is custom made and should ship in about two weeks. I'm really pumped to see what this amp can do to improve what is already an awesome sounding system!

Interesting... I was looking at S30 amp the other day and it really does sound like killer combination. There are two V-Cap upgrades available...

V-Cap Teflon coupling caps, or the
V-Cap Copper Foil Teflon coupling caps

Which one did you end up going with ???

Also, looking forward to your thoughts when things arrive and latter when the S30 and X5's are broken-in.

abomwell · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 12:58 pm »

I'm not sure which V-Cap upgrade Clayton chose to order. Good question! I'll ask. My X5's are pretty well broken in having over 500 hours on them now, so it's just the S30 that will take some time I suppose.

abomwell · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 01:03 pm »

I would probably order the preamp too but I'm happy with my DSPeaker Anti-mode X4 which has room correction and PEQ functions that are invaluable in my (square) room. It also has balanced outputs that the S30 will like.

Actually a better signal path, I think, is to use the digital output from the DSPeaker to my Benchmark DAC2. And feed the S30 from the balanced outputs of the Benchmark. That way the path is digital from my server to the Benchmark DAC.

zybar · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 01:49 pm »

Quote from: 2Bad on 21 Jan 2022, 12:52 pm

Interesting... I was looking at S30 amp the other day and it really does sound like killer combination. There are two V-Cap upgrades available...

V-Cap Teflon coupling caps, or the
V-Cap Copper Foil Teflon coupling caps

Which one did you end up going with ???

Also, looking forward to your thoughts when things arrive and latter when the S30 and X5's are broken-in.

Big fan of Atma-Sphere gear (still have their pre-amp)...I am guessing that the amps sound great with the new Spatial speakers.

You can also really alter the sound of the amps and preamps with different NOS tubes.

George

I.Greyhound Fan · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 04:53 pm »

You will love the Atma-Sphere. I have friends that own their gear and it sounds great.

foo_me · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 05:10 pm »

Not to sidetrack the thread but I asked Clayton the same question when I ordered my X5s and he mentioned atma-sphere and also another company called Whammerdyne. Did he mention that to you?
There isn't that much information though and their website sounds a little gimmicky, I did chat with a few owners and they really loved it and as I also had a collection of 2A3 tubes, I ended up going with them.
Still waiting on my X5s though so can't say how well they match together just yet.

abomwell · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 06:01 pm »

Yup, I believe that is another one he mentioned.

Downtheline · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 11:17 pm »

Quote from: foo_me on 21 Jan 2022, 05:10 pm

Not to sidetrack the thread but I asked Clayton the same question when I ordered my X5s and he mentioned atma-sphere and also another company called Whammerdyne...and as I also had a collection of 2A3 tubes, I ended up going with them.

Which one did you get? Interesting amps

Tom Bombadil · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 11:23 pm »

Speaking of the Carver 275, have you seen the indepth lab tests and investigation of what parts are in it? Inside of those big black output transformer cases lie tiny, inexpensive Edcor 15W tranformers. Amp is sold as producing 75wpc, but measurements show that it can produce only 15 wpc at 35Hz. Even less at 20Hz. THD also measures far higher than specifications. It does get up to around 75w at 1000Hz.

Early B. · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 11:28 pm »

Quote from: Tom Bombadil on 21 Jan 2022, 11:23 pm

Speaking of the Carver 275, have you seen the indepth lab tests and investigation of what parts are in it? Inside of those big black output transformer cases lie tiny, inexpensive Edcor 15W tranformers. Amp is sold as producing 75wpc, but measurements show that it can produce only 15 wpc at 35Hz. Even less at 20Hz. THD also measures far higher than specifications. It does get up to around 75w at 1000Hz.

Do you have a link?

2Bad · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 11:36 pm »

Quote from: Early B. on 21 Jan 2022, 11:28 pm

Do you have a link?

Funny... I just read that review a couple of days ago.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/carver-crimson-275-review-tube-amp.29971/

geerock · « **Reply #13 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 11:44 pm »

Quote from: 2Bad on 21 Jan 2022, 11:36 pm

Funny... I just read that review a couple of days ago.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/carver-crimson-275-review-tube-amp.29971/

Geez! I just read that. Almost hard to believe the measurements, but then those "proprietary" trannies are exposed to show Edcors and you have to believe the guy doing the measurements was spot on. I remember an article put out by Carver showing Bob winding those transformers in a workshop. Shocking that the amp sounds as good as it does, which is pretty good. I'm just scratching my head here.

2Bad · « **Reply #14 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 11:52 pm »

Quote from: geerock on 21 Jan 2022, 11:44 pm

Geez! I just read that. Almost hard to believe the measurements, but then those "proprietary" trannies are exposed to show Edcors. I remember an article put out by Carver showing Bob winding those transformers in a workshop. Shocking that the amp sounds as good as it does, which is pretty good. I'm just scratching my head here.

What I found totally unacceptable is when the reviewer mentions... "I was sad to see the VU meter glued to the case".
I'll keep clear that that amp thank you.

abomwell · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Jan 2022, 11:59 pm »

Ouch, what a scathing review! I'm especially glad I ordered the S30!!

2Bad · « **Reply #16 on:** 22 Jan 2022, 12:05 am »

Quote from: abomwell on 21 Jan 2022, 11:59 pm

Ouch, what a scathing review! I'm especially glad I ordered the S30!!

Yes... looking forward to your thoughts on the S30.

Tom Bombadil · « **Reply #17 on:** 22 Jan 2022, 12:39 am »

Quote from: geerock on 21 Jan 2022, 11:44 pm

Geez! I just read that. Almost hard to believe the measurements, but then those "proprietary" trannies are exposed to show Edcors ...

They aren't even good quality Edcors. Near bottom of the line, frameless OPT, price is around $35 each, probably less in quantity. If Carver had used middle of the line 50W (Or even the better quality 30W) Edcors then they would measure much better.

Early B. · « **Reply #18 on:** 22 Jan 2022, 12:55 am »

Quote from: 2Bad on 21 Jan 2022, 11:36 pm

Funny... I just read that review a couple of days ago.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/carver-crimson-275-review-tube-amp.29971/

Wow. There was no need for me to read beyond the first post. The pics of the guts tell me everything I want to know about its quality. Happens very often in high-end audio -- an overpriced, pretty box with crappy parts inside. RULE -- Never buy an audio component without looking under the hood. You don't have to be technically proficient to know what quality looks like.

foo_me · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Jan 2022, 08:22 am »

Quote from: Downtheline on 21 Jan 2022, 11:17 pm

Which one did you get? Interesting amps

DAA-3. Using it with my office speakers (old Alon lotus SE) and just incredibly transparent. It’s slightly underpowered for my speakers but never heard it better even compared to more powerful amps. Am eagerly waiting to hear them with the X5s. Also have another similarly powered custom 2A3 amp and you wouldn’t think they outputted the same 4watts. Not in the same class. It’s amazing how different the same tubes can sound in different amplifiers.