ATI amps

[hifisound]

Hi all,

There are hardly any reviews for ATI amps (Amplifier Technologies Inc.) nor they seem to be discussed much. Any feedback on them ?

Siegfried Linkwitz also bundles the 6012 with his Orions .... so they should be very good on the measurement front.

Thanks,
Hifisound

 

[reignofchaos]

Had heard one of their amps at ARN. They are strictly for HT not for music.

 

[hifisound]

Hi reignofchaos,

What do they lack exactly ?
I read somewhere on audiogon that they are like Brystons without the great 20 yr warranty.

Thanks,
Hifisound

 

[reignofchaos]

They sounded super ordinary - no mid range body to speak of, total lack of musicality, the top end was a bit piercing but not that detailed either. The bottom end though had lots of slam, lacked a bit of naturalness and decay that I'm expecting from decent amps. This was a 4 channel chip amp and at the same time we had a Jaton Operatta which was another chip amp for comparison and also an Odyssey Stratos Extreme.

Both the amps, especially the Operatta killed the ATI in every way. ARN might still have that ATI (not sure!). If so, you may go listen to it yourself.

You have a very good speaker - it deserves more than the ATI.

 

[keith_correa]

They sounded super ordinary - no mid range body to speak of, total lack of musicality, the top end was a bit piercing but not that detailed either. The bottom end though had lots of slam, lacked a bit of naturalness and decay that I'm expecting from decent amps. This was a 4 channel chip amp and at the same time we had a Jaton Operatta which was another chip amp for comparison and also an Odyssey Stratos Extreme.

Both the amps, especially the Operatta killed the ATI in every way. ARN might still have that ATI (not sure!). If so, you may go listen to it yourself.

You have a very good speaker - it deserves more than the ATI.

ATI makes little known but very highly regarded 2 channel amps. Looking for musical fidelity in a 4 channel amp is probably not a very good idea. And IMO, comparing 2 channel and 4 channel amps is usually a case of apples vs. oranges comparison.

@hifisound - I suggest that you go audition the ATI 2 channel amps if you can. Let us know what your ears hear.

 

[hifisound]

Hi Keith,

did you mean the 1202 ?

 

[keith_correa]

did you mean the 1202 ?

Yes, and it's smaller brother - the 602.

 

[hifisound]

Hmmm.

1202 is good option to try , its quite cheap and compact too, only worry being it might be bit underpowered for contours (than my current 372)

 

[keith_correa]

only worry being it might be bit underpowered for contours (than my current 372)

With 86dB on the Contours, and 120 W on the 1202's, underperformance would be the least of my worries. But yes, you will have lots of headroom when you crank it up - good thing that.

 

[square_wave]

ATI is an OEM for quite a few biggies out there.

Quite a few manufacturers including Salk sound, Linkwitz use these in their active speakers. If you notice, Salk sound use AVA amps when they do shows with their passive speakers.

I think these amp are your typical spec / measurement band wagon amps. Like your bryston and such. In the right kind of application especially active setups they might really shine.

 

[hifisound]

Anybody had a chance to listen to both Bryston as well as ATI ?

 

[odyssey]

Yes, what would you like to know?

Cheers

 

[hifisound]

Well, are they similar in sound signature ?

 

[square_wave]

Anybody had a chance to listen to both Bryston as well as ATI ?

I have heard these amps once. The multi channel one. Never heard a two channel amp from this stable.

If you can pair a two channel amp from ATI with a worthy tube preamp, it may really work with your dynaudio.

That 372 is not what you should be using with that speaker

 

[hifisound]

My post signatures always evoke such reactions (please dont take it the negative way )

The moment NADs are seen together with my contours , the first reaction is please remove those NADs, especially the 372

When I bought the contours, I split the budget such that the contours could be bought.
It was the best spk I could shoot for then (2004) .Even better some of the costlier ones I heard. And then I bought the NADs in remaining amount. Though I had even heard amps upto krell integrated, I found the 372 fine (was even thinking of buying 218thx then ) . Had also heard the NAD silverlines. But for the kind of music I heard plus from what I could discern between different components then, I found the 372 + 542 very good and cheaper too, plus able to drive contours well.

Now I do feel the lack of details sometimes in the electronics.

Currently I am planning to get the room acoustics right, after which I am going to go for a Benchmark (or similar ) DAC+pre. Then I will be hunting for a good power amp.

Since I will be purchasing DAC+pre first, I will feed it output to 372's power section directly and see if that makes a difference too.

Once I was going just going through Orion website which when I saw the ATI amp. This looked like a no-nonsense but fully capable amp to me ( a perpception though could be as well wrong) but saw no discussions or reviews anywhere, which why I posted this post!

 

[JayaRaa]

Digging up old thread, but just curious what happened to the OP. Did he hear/buy the ATI amp or not?

Does ARN or anyone deal with it ATI anymore?