EXPIRED For Sale Air Tight ATC 1 Pre Amplifier

Further Information

Air Tight ATC 1 up for grabs. Made in Japan. This is a 100vac preamp so step down transformer required which I can provide at additional cost.

This is will be a regretful sale but needs must.  Purchased approx. 4 months back as the preamp to a Kondo. Fantastic pairing. Only selling as the person I bought the ATC  from is selling a Shindo preamp and I can't have both. My loss is someone's gain.

The ATC 1 is very neutral and transparent. Wide open soundstage, very detailed and precise with deep bass, excellent mids and uppers. Very dynamic.

Currently running 5 x 12AX7 (3 Mullards for phono and 2 Brimars for line) creating tighter base for rock. I use 5 x GE 5751 Black Plate D Getters for electronic and ambient music as they bring a more fluid experience into the mix (whatever that means). The 12AX7s are included in the sale. The GE's are not included in the sale but I'm open to negotiation. None of the tubes mentioned are NOS.

Has upgraded Dueland caps and a new $500 volume control.

Cosmetically the front plate is immaculate. There are a few blemishes on other parts of the chassis, see images.

Description from HiFiNews:

"At the back of the amp, all is gold-plated, with inputs and outputs corresponding to the front controls. but with two extras. In addition to the main outputs there's a spare set for feeding a second power amp and a pair of sockets tagged 'EQ Out'. The latter takes the phono signal from input through its RIAA circuitry and straight out again, for feeding directly into the ATM-1 power amplifier, bypassing every unnecessary switch and stage in the preamp. This can be used in tandem with the standard outputs for some curious purist combinations.

The RIAA circuit itself is based on vintage concepts, just like the PCB-free construction, and consists of a three-stage low-impedance equaliser described as 'once employed by the Marantz 7'. This is the stage fed straight to the 'EQ Out' sockets. The single stage line amp is devoid of tone controls or filter circuits and features a low-impedance cathode follower output. The power supply, meanwhile, employs a solid-state ripple filter circuit for suppressing mains hum and noises.

Despite the size of the enclosure, which would suggest the use of a compact toroidal transformer, Air Tight opted for an EI core type because it provides 'sharper attack of sounds'. The cores are wrapped in silicon steel plate and copper plate to ensure perfect shielding. As for the power supply, phono and line stages, these are totally independent, the latter two being fully shielded. The chassis was made deliberately heavy to help minimise vibration and component interaction"

Specs:
PCB-free hand wiring
Discrete, highly rigid dia-magnetic chassis
EL-core power transformer

Valves employed 12AX7 (ECC83) x 5
Output voltage rated 2V, max. 15V
Output impedance 600 ohm (pre-out, EQ-out)
THD 0.05% (phono), 0.02% (CD Line)
Input sensitivity:

Phono: 1.8mV (output 1V)
CD Line: 150mV (output 1V)

S/N ratio 85dB (phono) & 98dB (line)
Dimensions(w x d x h) 43 x 33.5 x 10cm
Weight 7kg

Have original factory box plus documentation.

Happy to courier at buyer's cost and risk. Insurance recommended. Will be double boxed.

Reasonable offers will be considered. Low balling will incur a raised eyebrow and will be, politely, ignored.