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I recently purchased a massive block of umph for my systems. I use Lexicon and Rotel audio preamps. My prior power was from my mint Nakamichi PA-1 five channel amp. This amp is actually made by ATI from reading, but there’s not one lick of test data out there. Hoping I’ve added the last amp I’ll ever need. I believe I was given a really good deal on a mint amp.
I believe it’s an ATI AT-1807. Morris Kessler at ATI will build amplifiers for other companies, but doesn’t do clean sheet designs - they’re all the same design, just with the addition or deletion of 12v triggers, balanced inputs, etc. I don’t know every brand they’ve sold them under, but Crestron, JBL Synthesis are some of them. Frankly, one of the best deals going right now is the Monoprice Monolith amplifiers - 7x200 for $1,700 or so, and they are also ATI amplifiers, built by Morris in his L.A. factory. BTW, if you look at the big Earthquake amplifiers, they will look really familiar - they were originally a direct copy of the ATI amplifiers, though I do not know if they have made any circuit changes since. Morris also did the assembly for the last generation of Adcom’s high end amplifiers, though they were MOS-FET and Adcom’s design. He also bought B&K, Theta, and DataSat (who also sell ATI amplifiers with their name on them).
I did a few audiophile shows with ATI when they came out with their first amplifiers, and it was a lot of fun - we’d open them up and put them on a table, and just let people gawk. ATI amps had/have huge toroidal transformers, which they wind in-house, and also were the first mid-grade amplifiers that I know of that were really cleanly laid out. If you opened up a B&K, Parasound, or Adcom amp in the mid 90’s, they’d be a mess of wires, with fuses hidden on circuit boards that were impossible to get to. ATI amps had no wiring - all the boards went right to the back of the chassis and had the connectors on them. Super clean. In almost 25yrs, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a failed ATI amp, though I’m sure there have been some.
That said, I think they are on par in sound quality with the amps I mentioned - Parasound, etc. However, each of those brands (Adcom, Parasound, B&K) had some models that had a little magic in the sound quality, and others that didn’t. Every ATI amp I’ve ever heard sounds the same, which is quite good, but I’ve always found another amp that did something better, so I’ve never owned one. If they were cars, they’d be Toyotas, which is really good, but maybe not super exciting.
Hope this helps
Like you’ve said, ATI amps are super solid, well designed, and well made. I’ve seen many over the years and never run into one with any sort of problem.
Widget
I've finally reached the point of being fed up with the Brystons, and I've added a Monoprice 7X to my system. Looks like the same amp as the Crestron and ATI branded product, and Outlaw and JBL have versions as well. Sounds exactly the same as the Brystons, but with less heat. I'm happy, I and with seven channels in one chassis I have gained space in the rack for more CD and DVD storage.
Attachment 87848
ATI origins.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Widget
On October 20, 2003, the Wachners sold BGW Systems to Amplifier Technologies, Inc. of Montebello, California. Under ATI, BGW has introduced several new amplifier designs[10] but has reduced its industry profile; BGW's last appearance at an industry trade show was at the NAMM Show in January, 2003.[11]
Though several of BGW's products met THX quality assurance standards in the mid-1990s extending through to 2002,[12] BGW is no longer represented on THX product listings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGW_Systems
I hope your rack isn’t on casters:). I managed a home theater store in the 90’s and we used to have problems with people buying Sonus and Salamander racks and then loading them so full of amps that they broke the casters off:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Don C
Yeah - he buys companies and then sits on them, not really innovating. I heard a story that when he bought B&K, they had such a back stock of components (transistors, etc), that he was able to sell off the components and completely recoup what he paid for B&K.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEAWOLF97
Here’s my knowledge of ATI - Morris Kessler was one of the founders of SAE in the 60’s. I understand that he also married a woman from a monied family, and through some combination there, was able to purchase the land he still owns in L.A. and build a factory, which he still runs. Anyway, he ran SAE until he sold it in the late 80’s (to Georgia Moroder, apparently!). When I met him in ‘96 or so, he had just started ATI, though apparently his building a 16ch amp for Crestron may have predated ATI. He was also a huge Ferrari nut - when I toured the factory, he had a 288GTO sitting in the warehouse, and lots of stories about getting parts from Ferrari and SAE audio equipment to Ferrari personnel in creative ways that avoid customs:). He also still had a tech on staff that fixed SAE equipment.
Don’t know if this adds anything, but it’s nice to dump it out of my head:)