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Thread: A Visit To Malvern Audio Research

  1. #21
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Bristol

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    I'm Justin.

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    Next up - Atma-Sphere M-60 OTL monos.





    I had heard these at Munich sounding very odd driving some horns. Here, the sound just floated out in a super spacious, very easy to listen to way, but at the same time with some very strange colourations. They didn't sound like anything I had ever heard before. Really curious stuff, I thought. Is it the amps, or the speakers, or both?

    Here's the video I shot at the time. There's some odd camera noise on it, but later on in the video the electronic music really did sound odd, to say the least, and thankfully there's no camera noise on that bit.



    Here, at the Malvern Audio Research there was an obvious incompatibility with the Audio Detail preamp. We had to crank the volume up to eleven to get any appreciable volume. And even then the results were less than inspiring. They just weren't going to work. I theorised that the obviously high output of a Lampizator DAC would drive them well, so we had an idea. Next door was a Lampizator GG with Jupiter caps by-passed with Mundorfs, some Lampizator Special 45s (made by EML, no longer available a limited edition run) and a very special NOS GEC 5U4G (expensive rectifier). We thought we'd try the M-60s in that.

    Note that MAR are not Atma-sphere dealers, and these amps were brought along by someone else.

  2. #22
    Join Date: Jan 2013

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    I'm Justin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    Cheers Justin, the AT33SA would probably be more in keeping with the equipment you were listening too. Nice Shabita stylus so should have sounded quite detailed?
    The salient point was it cured the HF issue. The AT ART7 was better elsewhere as I said, and detail through the AT33 was good though you get a lot more perceived detail from the ART7, but quite a lot of that was obviously from the raised HF.

  3. #23
    Join Date: Jan 2013

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    Quote Originally Posted by YNWaN View Post
    I’ve heard those speakers a number of times (four or five) and they are really quite flexible in the way they can be driven. As a result they can sound very different from one setup to another. I would also add that one of the most opaque, soggy, lack-lustre and bland sounds I have ever heard emanated from a pair of impressive looking Ming-Da monoblocks....
    The two we tried were good in this context. Honest. If the UK Ming Da distributor can't get them to sound OK what chance do they have

    Have another Ming Ding shot


  4. #24
    Bigman80 Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    Hi Justin, which AT33 cartridge did you use was a AT33ptg or AT33SA. I think the ART7 is typical of AT over egging the pudding with their bright top end.

    Another much underestimated MC cartridge by Audio-Technica is their AT-F7.
    Had an ART7 In my system and the top end was laudable. The whole experience was very positive. Lost out on the Nth degree of detail to the Ortofon Vienna but no HF issues heard here. I am actively looking for an ART7 Although the AT33SA is very tempting as it's the right money.

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

  5. #25
    Join Date: Jan 2013

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    OK. So next door things were sounding far more traditionally normal, in the form of some hORNS FP-15s. I have heard these before, too, and suspected they were good. And they blinking well are. Very good indeed. I rate them highly. Great extended bass and dynamics, real clarity and separation, ace sound staging of the pinpoint kind, no obvious faults I could identify with the speaker when paired with a great amp.

    So here is the default set up.

    First up the amps. These are custom built Tektron GM70 amps. Later modified by John Howe (the chap that works on Quad amps a lot and sells a John Howe edition).



    These amps are an ace match with the FP-15s. They get the bass right, have great dynamics, and contribute to all the assertions I made about the speakers above. Excellent stuff. GM70 amps can obviously be great.
    Last edited by User211; 31-12-2017 at 13:55.

  6. #26
    Join Date: Jan 2013

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigman80 View Post
    Had an ART7 In my system and the top end was laudable. The whole experience was very positive. Lost out on the Nth degree of detail to the Ortofon Vienna but no HF issues heard here. I am actively looking for an ART7 Although the AT33SA is very tempting as it's the right money.

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
    It wasn't here. That's all I can say but I say it with absolute certainty! Speakers with a different frequency response and other variables may well tell a different story. It's all a game of system matching at the end of the day.

  7. #27
    Join Date: Oct 2012

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    Yes I've listened to those very ones, the hORNS FP-15s and I do rate them very highly.

  8. #28
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    Another Tektron shot...





    The whole caboodle above. The preamp is a passive Hattor, higher end stuff from that Khozmo dude. Lovely dual mono affair. I'd really like to try it in my system, preferably with the optional valve active stage. See here.

    George did a review of it on the Wam a while back, and bought one. I am not sure which resistors were in this one.

    So oddly though the preamp was passive, the output of the Lampizator DAC drove the Atma-sphere M-60s far better than in the previous system. BTW the Universums have a nominal 8 Ohm impedance so that shouldn't have caused the Atma-sphere's any real issues, or so you would think.

  9. #29
    Join Date: Jan 2013

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    Quote Originally Posted by Firebottle View Post
    Yes I've listened to those very ones, the hORNS FP-15s and I do rate them very highly.
    They've got some seriously rigid birch ply cabs. A well built solid speaker no doubt about it. Consequently they sound clean in a way any Audio Note E variant doesn't. Which isn't to say they can't sound really good in the right room and set up. But my preferences verge towards more rigid, solidly built efforts with big drivers. Not surprising when electronic and bass heavy reggae music is a staple part of my diet.

  10. #30
    Join Date: Jan 2013

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    So which amps were the better match?

    Well the Tektrons aced it. The M-60s overdid the bass. The other flaw showed itself with steel string guitar. Since I play one it was obviously apparent to me that the M-60s weren't revealing any of the bite and "aliveness" of a steel string acoustic. The Tektrons did it.

    The M-60s pushed the soundstage forward and generally didn't sound as alive as the Tektrons. But despite the noted flaws they still had some very positive attributes with respect to transparency and imaging. Not a bad result, just not in Tektron league.

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