|
Review 2 of 2
Price Paid:
$1200.00
from American Theater Sys Summary:
For a few years I wanted to upgrade from my older Denon POA8200/8300 amplifiers. I auditioned several quality amplifiers over the years: Aragon, Proceed, Rotel, B&K, Anthem, Outlaw. The Aragon 8008x3 and Proceed HPA-2 represent the best sound but were out of my price range. The other amplifiers just didn't represent a large enough improvement to justify an expense.
Fast forward to 2004, I finally took a chance based on the recommendations of some peers and purchased the ATI AT1805 blind. Rated at 180 watts/channel (all driven), it did not list as powerful as the Rotel or Anthem but it is. I was blown away by the transparent sound. Matched with my Sonus Faber Grand Pianos, it refined the upper end of the soundstage. There was definately more air in the presentation.
Bass was improved with much more punch. With my old amps, some extremely heavy scenes (Matrix lobby shootout) would suck the life out and lose presence. The ATI paces its way with the inefficient Grand Pianos without losing a beat. Rear channel dynamics are greatly improved. It's obvious that the improved power make a difference over the long run to the surround speakers. I'm extremely happy with the sound quality.
About the amp. Build quality is excellent. ATI places their $$$ where they belong, internally. Two thick toroidal transformers occupy the front of the chassis and account for most of it's weight. The amp is modular; that is to say each channel is represented by a module with it's own heatsink attached to their respective caps, conductors, and circuit board. This allows for you to upgrade the amp later down the road. I have five channels now. I plan on picking up 2 more down the road when I upgrade to 7 channels for $200 each front the factory. It appears to be as simples as plug and play.
The back panel is clean and well spaced. The modular design allos for plenty of spacing between input and output. No balanced inputs here, just the normal line variety. However, they are beefy and well-anchored; the back panel refuses to flex when torqueing on the interconnects. The binding posts are collared, so no spades here, at least I haven't figure out how yet.
The front panel is nothing special. It's a quality piece of heaving aluminum with a matte black finish. It also has a minimalist amount of switches and lights. I purchased the extra handles just so they can assist when tugging it around the rack. This dude is super heavy (over 80 pounds). Definately bring a friend when moving this thing over distance or lifting it more than a few inches.
Internally, this thing is very similar to Outlaw's products. That should be of no surprise, I hear that ATI designs them. The difference? ATI appears beefier and is made in the USA. I actually paid less for the ATI than a comparable Outlaw $755 ($1299). I feel I received a similar, but nevertheless superior American-made product. I like being able to talk to the designer and owner of the company when working through configuration issues (thanks guys!).
Overall great product with enormous value. I give it 5 stars for value and 4 for performance. I would give it 5 but I've heard some much more expensive amps (Proceed), those represent what I think is the pinnacle of my speakers' driving potential. Of course the competition in the sub-$2K range is stiff. This amplifier happened to be the right amp for my system and wallet. I plan on holding on to it for quite some time. Strengths:
Transparent sound, build quality, American-made, warranty (7 years), lots of reach and depth, power. Weaknesses:
Some people characterize this amp as bright. For my speakers that turned out to be a good thing. For others? If you have bright speakers, you might want to experiment first. Similar Products Used:
Rotel RMB-1095, Outlaw 755, Anthem MCA-50, Proceed AMP-5/HPA-2, Aragon 8008X3.
| 
5 of 5
4 of 5
