Do Mono Block amps provide better sound ??

Ralph and others,

I am curious about whether the issues surrounding monoblocks also generally apply to low-powered amps. The lowest power Atmasphere amp, the S-30, is the only non-monoblock in the line. Is this just to hit a specific price point or is there less need for the separation that monos provide for low powered amps? I also don't see many SET amps that are monos.

No not really is my opinion but thats merely because my speakers dont need power so much .
The difference of monoblocks to a stereoversion is in the transformersection of the amp ,at least with krell and mark levinson , as far as i have read.
The transformers and caps are (overbuilt ) in the monos .
That usually improves dynamics and control .
So with a very current hungry ("big")speaker i would say go for mono if not a stereoversion woul be sufficient

To David12 ... You bring up an interesting point. I have always felt an integrated amp has sonic advantages over separates if it is done correctly. Unfortunately integrateds do not offer the really high power levels I crave in amplifiers.

Roscoeiii, the size of the amp is not important in this conversation- the benefits are the same. Price certainly has a lot to do with it too. You have an extra chassis, and certainly the need for more power transformers. These can be some of the most expensive parts in the amp.

In the S-30, the filament transformer is shared between the two channels. The B+ transformer has separate windings for each channel. In the driver supply, there are separate power supply legs for each channel. Since the driver is fully differential, it has fairly constant power draw on it, but even so we found it better sounding by having separate legs in the power supply.

Had we built the amp on separate chassis, it would have cost nearly as much as the M-60.

for example the krell evo 302 has a 3000 VA transformer
{http://www.krellonline.com/evolution302.html}

The krell i have at the moment has 4000 VA per channel 8000 VA in total while its only 100 watts more , that was the main reason i bought it over a ML 436 which has much less .
Thats why krell monos are animals .
Oh and 1 thing i forgot a big powersupply has a lot to do with good basperformance ,another reason to go mono.