Mine does run hot, but I would say it is on for at 4 to 5 hours a day in the week ,morning to night at weekends and my monthly bills aren't big by any means. I have owned a lot of amps over the years,the usual suspects top spec olive naim,big dynavectors,meridian and also had a dabble with valves. Colin's seca is top of the pile for me. If I had the shecks I give the iridium house room on reputation alone.
I should have mentioned. I got my Ultra Black cables back from @Jim and have been able to move my Royds a bit further apart - just like Joe A recommended.
The effect is even more magical, with instruments within the soundstage having even more focus, realism and tangibility (is that a word?).
I bet they sound ace, Dave. The imaging that Atom rig projected was awesome, spreading the speakers out a bit should increase the awsomeness factor significantly.
My speakers are 3.4m apart (I measured them yesterday), and I sit 1.8m back from the centre line. I am enjoying some pretty astounding imaging myself right now, even with the Lightspeed.
I have a Mighty Atom stereo amplifier here at home now, what I am told is an earlier version of the ones Dave has. Although I have just a single amp, it is slightly more powerful. It's very much the same deal as the other Atoms, but with FETs on the output instead of transistors.
This one definitely has a warmer sound than the other Atoms, but exhibits the same extraordinary abilities and characteristics. They are extraordinary because my previous amp is mahoosive, with four separate transformers totalling 1000va, yet it cannot do what the Mighty Atom does. Not even nearly! (BTW, the Atom the same size as my DAC :O ).
I am using a modified computer source, Young DAC (with modified PS), LDR Lightspeed attenuator, Atom amp & TQ Black speaker cables into Royd RR3 speakers, with NVA SSP interconnects. I would love to hear this Atom with a matching TQ Listen pre, as I have a niggling suspicion it prefers active pre-amplification. I certainly have to open up the Lightspeed a lot more than I ever have before. But is it an issue? - Not really.
My Royd speakers are 83dB @ 1 watt/1m (in)efficient, and are a proper handful to drive. My 90w TSS amp managed well, but even that was noticeably better when it had help (I once Bi-amped with it). It failed to sing (especially with bass) at lower volume, although it romps along with a bit of welly. I had previously used a very similar high current 70 watt amp into the RR3s, and that audibly clipped at even moderate volume! The Mighty Atom grips these speakers like I never heard before, by the scruff of the neck, and flings music out of them. I honestly don't think I'm missing anything with a single Atom, compared to @Uglymusic's Bi-Atom setup.
Music is flowing out so easily, even at the highest volume it feels effortless and enveloping, without ever falling apart or getting remotely shouty. Even poorer recordings lose a degree of their sibilant edge.
Bass is exceedingly well controlled, to a truly draw dropping degree, with bags of natural timbre and texture, all the subtle stuff, even at high volume. Yet turn it down quieter, and it's all still there, even a fullsome bass (a shapely bottom?). My TSS just sounded bass light when quiet, as most amps do. This, I thought, was a function of human hearing, yet I swear the Atom overcomes this to a significant degree. It's all there, not exaggerated, it never ever booms or overhangs. Yet somehow it projects more power, and is most certainly faster in the bass than I have heard these speakers before. There's also a cheeky thing going on with the leading edge of the bass notes, something which prevents me from sitting still but makes me tap & dance. There is something slightly 'flat earth-ish' lurking at the soul of this amp. It likes a choon.
The mid-range is so luscious, full of texture, musical detail, it just floats in the air. I am thrilled with what I am discovering in every album I play. Very delicate interplay between instruments, especially in folky material like Basia Bulat's heart of my own is laid out so clearly, gorgeous stuff I never heard before.
Top end treble is sweet, lacking any stridence (which is something I occasionally suffered in my previous setup). Having played drums in a former life, cymbals sound like I always wanted them to (and rarely achieved without an outstanding room). The shimmering warmth and exotic overtones of a Zildjian 'K' series is spot on, and it's a sound I could happily drown in.
Maybe the most striking thing here is the imaging the Atom projects, it truly is three dimensional. Never before has my speakers so totally disappeared, leaving so deep a stereo image. I had never prioritised this aspect of music before, although I always enjoyed it. Now it is spread out (not diffuse), there is physically room in my room for the whole ensemble. I never appreciated how such imaging allows musical detail to breathe, how it allows individual singers, backing singers, musicians to all add their thing to the music in their own space, allowing me to follow their interactions and intentions almost intuitively, Astonishingly, this ability of the Atom is just as impressive with dense, busy material as with smaller groups.
As these performances project from points in the air in front of me, the individual sounds and instruments have a remarkable tangibility, almost a shape that can be perceived. I mentioned the leading edge of the bass instruments, well every sound/instrument has it, an edge, followed by timbre and texture, a shape, followed by a perfect decay. Each instrument does this in it's own location in the air in front of me, never wandering even for a fraction of a second, or the illusion would be broken. I have albums where I thought the recording was poor, well now they make sense. I can only wonder if this is evidence of Colin & TQ's pursuit of perfect phase coherence, with no distortion. I have been using TQ speaker cables for a good while, and similar impressions began forming when I tried to 'get' were TQ were about then.
I am therefore smitten with the Mighty Atom, I am left rubbing my chin thoughtfully when I consider how small it is, but what it does. It has warmth, and I have never liked warm amps before. I am a detail freak, but this amp projects more detail then I ever heard before, yes, HiFi detail, but more importantly, musical detail, that interaction between musicians, the will and intent off the conductor, the sound of the room, mood of the singer, whether she/he believes what they are saying...
Admittedly, this particular amp is slightly different and is perhaps a shade warmer than I remember from before, also I have TQ speaker cables and a DAC that was designed with phase accuracy as a main goal. The RR3 speakers are designed to be phase accurate also, so perhaps a theme is developing here? Synergy in a system is the most important thing (bar the room it's in), so the wonderful music I hear may not be so extraordinary in other systems. It may not, but I would be surprised if it weren't.
The Mighty Atom. Designed by our very own Mr Atomic, @Brain_Dead. Well done Col!
Alan now I am getting intrigued by these Atoms ! As you know I have a very similar set up re the TSS/RR1's but have a bit of a 'too warm' Class A prejudice which seems a bit unfounded where Atoms are concerned. Other plus points are you do not need a forklift truck to install any PSU's and can sneak them in under the radar where SWMBO is concerned. It is only a little box dear and did not cost much :-/ Ahem !!
The Listen runs warmer than the Atoms because of the Class A headphone amp. So the Atom under the Listen always feels a bit warmer than the one on the bottom of the stack. The bottom one powers the bass/mid, so would be expected to work hardest.
As always, there's the invitation to come down and have a listen - trains from London Bridge and Kings Cross/St Pancras run to the People's Republic of Worthing.
That's cool, Col. Sounds like he is having a very similar experience to mine, as I've mentioned here.
They seem to be still getting better or there are ways of getting more out of them - I think it's a bit of both. With the RR3s further apart, there's certainly more good stuff happening.
Comments
My speakers are 3.4m apart (I measured them yesterday), and I sit 1.8m back from the centre line. I am enjoying some pretty astounding imaging myself right now, even with the Lightspeed.
This one definitely has a warmer sound than the other Atoms, but exhibits the same extraordinary abilities and characteristics. They are extraordinary because my previous amp is mahoosive, with four separate transformers totalling 1000va, yet it cannot do what the Mighty Atom does. Not even nearly! (BTW, the Atom the same size as my DAC :O ).
I am using a modified computer source, Young DAC (with modified PS), LDR
Lightspeed attenuator, Atom amp & TQ Black speaker cables into Royd
RR3 speakers, with NVA SSP interconnects. I would love to hear this
Atom with a matching TQ Listen pre, as I have a niggling suspicion it
prefers active pre-amplification. I certainly have to open up the
Lightspeed a lot more than I ever have before. But is it an issue? - Not
really.
My Royd speakers are 83dB @ 1 watt/1m (in)efficient, and are a proper handful to drive. My 90w TSS amp managed well, but even that was noticeably better when it had help (I once Bi-amped with it). It failed to sing (especially with bass) at lower volume, although it romps along with a bit of welly. I had previously used a very similar high current 70 watt amp into the RR3s, and that audibly clipped at even moderate volume! The Mighty Atom grips these speakers like I never heard before, by the scruff of the neck, and flings music out of them. I honestly don't think I'm missing anything with a single Atom, compared to @Uglymusic's Bi-Atom setup.
Music is flowing out so easily, even at the highest volume it feels effortless and enveloping, without ever falling apart or getting remotely shouty. Even poorer recordings lose a degree of their sibilant edge.
Bass is exceedingly well controlled, to a truly draw dropping degree, with bags of natural timbre and texture, all the subtle stuff, even at high volume. Yet turn it down quieter, and it's all still there, even a fullsome bass (a shapely bottom?). My TSS just sounded bass light when quiet, as most amps do. This, I thought, was a function of human hearing, yet I swear the Atom overcomes this to a significant degree. It's all there, not exaggerated, it never ever booms or overhangs. Yet somehow it projects more power, and is most certainly faster in the bass than I have heard these speakers before. There's also a cheeky thing going on with the leading edge of the bass notes, something which prevents me from sitting still but makes me tap & dance. There is something slightly 'flat earth-ish' lurking at the soul of this amp. It likes a choon.
The mid-range is so luscious, full of texture, musical detail, it just floats in the air. I am thrilled with what I am discovering in every album I play. Very delicate interplay between instruments, especially in folky material like Basia Bulat's heart of my own is laid out so clearly, gorgeous stuff I never heard before.
Top end treble is sweet, lacking any stridence (which is something I occasionally suffered in my previous setup). Having played drums in a former life, cymbals sound like I always wanted them to (and rarely achieved without an outstanding room). The shimmering warmth and exotic overtones of a Zildjian 'K' series is spot on, and it's a sound I could happily drown in.
Maybe the most striking thing here is the imaging the Atom projects, it truly is three dimensional. Never before has my speakers so totally disappeared, leaving so deep a stereo image. I had never prioritised this aspect of music before, although I always enjoyed it. Now it is spread out (not diffuse), there is physically room in my room for the whole ensemble. I never appreciated how such imaging allows musical detail to breathe, how it allows individual singers, backing singers, musicians to all add their thing to the music in their own space, allowing me to follow their interactions and intentions almost intuitively, Astonishingly, this ability of the Atom is just as impressive with dense, busy material as with smaller groups.
As these performances project from points in the air in front of me, the individual sounds and instruments have a remarkable tangibility, almost a shape that can be perceived. I mentioned the leading edge of the bass instruments, well every sound/instrument has it, an edge, followed by timbre and texture, a shape, followed by a perfect decay. Each instrument does this in it's own location in the air in front of me, never wandering even for a fraction of a second, or the illusion would be broken. I have albums where I thought the recording was poor, well now they make sense. I can only wonder if this is evidence of Colin & TQ's pursuit of perfect phase coherence, with no distortion. I have been using TQ speaker cables for a good while, and similar impressions began forming when I tried to 'get' were TQ were about then.
I am therefore smitten with the Mighty Atom, I am left rubbing my chin thoughtfully when I consider how small it is, but what it does. It has warmth, and I have never liked warm amps before. I am a detail freak, but this amp projects more detail then I ever heard before, yes, HiFi detail, but more importantly, musical detail, that interaction between musicians, the will and intent off the conductor, the sound of the room, mood of the singer, whether she/he believes what they are saying...
Admittedly, this particular amp is slightly different and is perhaps a shade warmer than I remember from before, also I have TQ speaker cables and a DAC that was designed with phase accuracy as a main goal. The RR3 speakers are designed to be phase accurate also, so perhaps a theme is developing here? Synergy in a system is the most important thing (bar the room it's in), so the wonderful music I hear may not be so extraordinary in other systems. It may not, but I would be surprised if it weren't.
The Mighty Atom. Designed by our very own Mr Atomic, @Brain_Dead. Well done Col!