Price Paid:  $400.00 from audiogon

Summary:
I bought this little beauty to replace a Parasound 100 WPC that simply did not have juice enough to run my EFE DIY speakers. I took the advice of Ed Frias who designed the speakers and is a big fan of ATI and bought myself a slightly used 1502. I have been around and into high end and studio audio all my life... I have never heard as much improvement from a sub 2000 component in my whole life. Wow! so much juice, way more like 200WPC... more detail than the parasound or pretty much anything in this price range, and although not "laid back" at all... its also a very non-fatigueing sound (somewhere between tube and ss). I am SO happy I got this cause it is discontinued and the other ATI's I have heard dont sound like this one. I am a very happy customer... I would recomend this amp to anyone... regardless of price range. The 1502 is really more like a 1500-2500 piece of equipment. Oh and good cables definitely help alot! cant say enough good things about the sound it makes...

Strengths:
everything.

Weaknesses:
none I can tell, not "high end" looking I guess?

Similar Products Used:
Bryston, Parasound, nakamichi, denon, nikko, ampzilla, cary audio, mac, vintage tube stuff, & more.

elrhee

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $360.00 from Audiogon

Summary:
I was using an ATI1505 for my woofer panels on my main speakers, as well as for my center channel and my surrounds. Overall, I was pleased, but I wanted to get some separate amps (ideally monoblocks) for my woofer panels. I decided to plunk down some cash for one ATI1502. I wanted to compare it bridged to on channel of the ATI1505. At first, there wasn't a whole lot of difference, but once it started to break in, the difference was very noticeable. I got a lot more bass. More bass than I had ever heard from my woofer panels. They are a 4 ohm load, and I was nervous about whether the amp would handle it. Ed Frias was a great help. He seemed confident the ATI would handle the load, and he was right. The amp does not even feel warm to the touch. I don't plan to run it on a fullrange speaker, so my comments are restricted to how it works in a bi-amp situation. For woofers, this thing is an outstanding buy.

Strengths:
Bass power and control, especially in bridged mode. Driving my 4 ohm load with no issues.

Weaknesses:
I want another one so I can run both bridged.

Similar Products Used:
Audio Refinement Multi5, Harmon Kardon Citation 16, Krell KSA-50, ATI1505, Classe DR-8, Classe DR-9, Levinson ML-11

20to20K

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $399.00 from One Call on clearanc

Summary:
I have 4 ohm Polk LSi15's that require alot of juice to sound their best. My Denon 3805 (120x7) does a decent job of driving them, but with a 4ohm center (LSIC) and two surrounds I was concerned about overtaxing the Denon. Originally I bought a vintage Denon POA-2400 off ebay for about $375. This was my first ever purchase of a seperate. I notice an improvement in sound quality and definetely in power but it was not the overwhelming experience I've heard others claim with this amp. I just assumed it was some combination of hyperbole and hysteria. My Denon recently had to go for repairs and I got tired of waiting for it so I began shopping for another amp. To avoid getting something else unreliable I shopped for something new. Finding something new that gave me at least 200watts RMS into 4 ohms for less than $500 was not easy. I lucked out and found this ATI on sale at One Call for $399 down from $799. I read the reviews on this sight and took the plunge. After I hooked it up I instantly got the dreaded ground loop hum. Before I got too depressed I ran out to Rat Shack to get a cheater plug hoping this quick fix would solve the problem. It did! I was then ready for my listening evaluation. I came in with the preconception that because this amp was rated at 150RMS(8 Ohms) and my Denon was 200 I wouldn't be able to drive my Polks as well with them. Boy was I wrong. One of my favorite evaluation disks is Herb Alberts "Rise". It one of the first ever digital recordings...done on a 3M 32 track recorder and mastered by Bernie Grundman in '79. Both the title cut and "Rotation" offer great material for evaluating speaker performance for this type of music (jazz fusion). Rotation is great for highs, soundstage, and channel seperation. There's tons of percussion, hidden instrumention, and channel sweeping sound effects. Many of which I heard for the first time on the ATI. The clarity and detail was so sharp...it was like listening to the recording for the first time. Rise has thumping bass and lots of cool effects as well. I actually heard a triangle playing in the fadeout that had gone unnotice before. I could get the 3805 to clip during the second bass break at about -8 or so on the volume level. Not so with the ATI. No matter how much I cranked it the sound remained clear, clean, and detailed. For acoustic music I listened to cuts from Joni Mitchell's Hijera and Keith Jarretts Trio live CD "Still Live". Both excellent recordings. Dave Grusin's Mountain Dance sounds sharper than I've ever heard it. I have new found respect for my LSi 15's. If you ever audition these speakers make sure you do so with a decent power amp. An AVR will not do them justice. I noticed all these dramatic improvements straight out of the box. I do not know if the alleged "break-in" period for amps really does exist. All I know is this thing sounds great now and if it gets any better I may feel the need to send them some more money! We'll...at least a thank you note! (Now who's dishin' the hyperbole!)

Strengths:
Clarity, power to drive 4 ohm speakers, soundstage(compared to AVR), price, 7 year warrantee, heavy duty power cord Built like a tank Attractive (in an ugly kind of way...)

Weaknesses:
Ground loop hum(easily fixed) Awkward to maneuver around (heavy but shallow) Gadgety flashing green lights (what's the point?) Yes, the binding posts are a little loose for banana plugs, but my went in and stayed in so what more can I ask?

Similar Products Used:
Denon POA-2400 Denon 3805, 2803 Various 2 channel receivers

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Audiogon

Summary:
I bought this amp to add two channels for a 6.1/7.1 setup but I have not gotten my Outlaw 950 preamp yet so I have been using it to power my front speakers(Paradigm Ref.20's). I am very please with the smooth, dynamic sound I am getting. It blends well with my Outlaw 750 amp and sounds great on music as well as HT. Detail and soundstage are excellent. If you are looking for an great two channel amp to add to your setup then I highly recommend this one.

Strengths:
Detail, soundstage, very powerful for its size

Weaknesses:
No remote trigger, binding post too big for my banana plugs

Similar Products Used:
Outlaw 750 amp

Price Paid:  $695.00 from AudioSpecialists

Summary:
Epilogue:

Recently, I reviewed the 1502s and found only one shortcoming, the inability to reproduce organ music precisely. To see if I could remedy this problem, I researched other reviews on this site to see if I could come up with some ideas about cabling.

Lo and behold, there exists a consensus among disparate reviewers that the XLO Sig and Ref, the Kimber KCAG interconnects and the Goertz speaker cables are 'hot'. Understand that these cables do not sound good when mated to Monarchy SM-70s.

I tried both the KCAG and the XLO Sigs with the ATI-1502s and found a match made in heaven. Either of these couplings is something special. The soundstage is simply awesome. The only aspect that is slightly strange is that I auditioned them with my Von Schweikert speakers, which are 'inverse microphonic' designs. The net effect is to bring the listener on stage with the musicians. Thus, when I played James Taylor, I felt that I was about two feet from him with the drums behind and to my right. The guitar was slightly too close to the mike. On the whole, it was pretty holographic... Just wish the recording were mixed a little differently... Ah, well nothing is perfect.

The cathedral organ music was perfect also.

Strengths:
Great detail, depth of soundstage; bass response

Weaknesses:
Nada de eso

Similar Products Used:
Monarchy SM-70s, McIntosh 752, etc