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What is missing here?

In this months Absolute Sound magazine there is a nice review of an amp that many of us would probably consider based not only on the review but on the topology utilized with the amp. The amp in question is the new Air Tight ATM 300R. This amp utilizes the 300B tube and according to Dick Olsher " The Air tight ATM300-R wowed me with countless hours of listening pleasure. It consistently brought to life the full sonic promise of the 300B". Sounds amazing right??


Except, nowhere ( except in the specs section) does it mention that this amp is limited to 9Watts/Ch!! And at that it is putting out about 10% distortion! So not only is the amp severely limited to which speakers one can match it to, but those speakers had better be ULTRA high efficiency. While most experienced a’philes will expect the extremely severe limitations of this kind of max output, how many casual listeners who read this article will realize the extreme limitations that this amp comes with? Certainly none of that is mentioned in the review, which brings up the question...why not??? How many even somewhat seasoned a’philes have made the mistake of matching a flea powered amp with a less than favorable speaker load? Let’s hear about it....
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daveyf's avatar
daveyf OP
2,871 posts
 
@millercarbon  The specs section is not really where most readers are going to look that closely, at least IMO. The information on the output is not highlighted in any way in the spec section. Like I stated, the extremely low output is not mentioned anywhere in the body of the review. 

@noromance  How many times have you utilized a 9 watt amp in your system with 87db speakers? I have heard a number of speakers with 87db efficiency that also drop down to below 2ohms, try driving these with a 9watt/ch amp. 
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,771 posts
 
@daveyf I used run a Class D T amp which has about 3 watts! In fairness, it didn't crank well. It is remiss not to include the output in the specs. Maybe they forgot. Perhaps AS assumes anyone who knows their stuff would know the 300B in SE mode only does 8 watts!
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cleeds
5,950 posts
 
daveyf

... how many casual listeners who read this article will realize the extreme limitations that this amp comes with?
The limitation is noted in the article, as you've acknowledged.

I don't think "casual listeners" are likely to be reading Absolute Sound, and the magazine is written and edited for its audience. And I certainly don't think "casual listeners" are likely to even consider a $15K 300B tube amplifier.
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Just another product for the money-to-burn crowd! 
freediver
1,195 posts
 
If you had told me the price up front I could have quoted the ending pretty much word for word without ever reading the review,though it is missing the comparison to an even more expensive amp that was much better overall...
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