I have an Atom that I really like don’t want to get rid of it. I have a tube amp hooked to right now, my speakers love tubes. I would like to put a tube preamp in the chain, can I do this with the Atom. And if I can do this what does two volume controls do to the system…what inputs do I use with the Atom…so it would be Atom>preamp>amplifier >speakers….is this foolish?
You can use the Atom as a source, but you’ll need to set the volume control to a set level, and use the pre out sockets.
What you can’t do, is use it as a source into another pre-amp and then back in to the Atom power amp.
If you did wish to use a different pre-amp (and power amp) the Atom doesn’t make a lot of sense really. You would be much better off with a proper dedicated network player such as the ND5XS2
It will work but you already have a preamp and you don’t need another one. Having said that, the valve pre may be better matched to a valve power amp if you have one, so it’s not impossible that you may perceive a sound quality improvement. You cannot, as Richard says, feed the signal back into the Atom power amp.
I really love looking at the Atom in my space, my speakers sound better with my PrimaLuna tube amplifier. I ran into a great deal with a PrimaLuna tube preamp so that’s why I am wondering if I can do this. Right now I have been running the Atom down to the PrimaLuna tube amplifier, from there to my speakers. So if I get the Preamp I would hook the atom to the preamp using it as a Dac streamer not back to the Atoms amplifier, does that work? Also if this works I will have two tube components that could break down, but I could hook the Atom to my speakers while I wait for parts, so that’s a plus. is this logical lol?
It will work perfectly well as long as you are aware that you are using two preamps as you cannot bypass the preamp in the Atom. Choose the volume control you prefer to use and set the other to a suitable level. Experiment with this as it may affect sound quality.
The preamp isn’t costing much so if the Atom and the PrimaLuna fight each other I won’t be out much taking the preamp,out of the chain…I will have volume controls all over the place…lol
I have definitely improved my sound quality changing out the tubes to Mullards from the 1960s in the amp…it’s like night and day…
The Prima Luna is a very nice, and quite expensive, amplifier. The Atom is excellent, but is only the cheapest of Naim’s an all in one systems. With your amplifier you’d be much better with an ND5 XS2 or NDX2. The Atom would be very much a limiting factor, not only its streamer but its preamp too.
I just hate to take a hit with the Atom,so far using the Atom with the PrimaLuna EVO 400 amplifier it sounds really good. The Atom with Airplay is really dependable and I like looking at it…big decisions, probably get the PrimaLuna Preamp and see how it sounds…
Can you trade in the atom for an atom he?
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If you traded in your Atom for a used ND5XS2 it should be more or less cost neutral and is likely to sound better. No redundant preamps.
Thanks everyone for the great advice…
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