[hertz]

Hi,
Looks like The ATI 1202 costing around 700$ scored pretty well at the amp comparo. I have never heard of this amp or the manufacturer. Can somebody throw some light please ?

[mcgsxr]

http://www.ati-amp.com/

Looks to be playing more in the multichannel, distributed audio world, but decent gear, great value.

[Daygloworange]

I've owned mine for a year and a half. It's dead quiet, and has great bass control, and good timbre. Quite neutral, which is what I like. And yeah, it's a bargoon.

Cheers

[phowell1]

I agree. It's very nice for the money.

atb

[Rafal]

How would you guys compare it to the tube amps (let's say Dynaco ST70)? Does it have a smooth sweet midrange and highs that the tube amps are known for?

[bluenose1]

I gave the 1202 high marks on both days.  Here are some of my comments from my tracking sheet on Sunday...good dynamics, tight bass, smooth extended top, good vocals, overall nice balance. If you're in the market for a good amplifier at a very reasonable price you really should check this one out. The price is surprising.  I saw one on eBay today for $495US. plus shipping of about $53.US

[hertz]

Would you guys rate this amp over a bryston 3bsst ? Or even a Nad 272, odyssey khartago or Rotel amps ?

[Daygloworange]

hertz,

When I auditioned my ATI at a local music store, I A/B'd it against and NAD, a Yamaha, and a current model Bryston(possibly the one you mention). It clobbered the NAD and the Yamaha, and on the speakers they had in the store, was a very, very close call to the Bryston. Having owned a Bryston 2B years ago, and being very happy with it, that's what sold me on the ATI.

Coming out of the TAAS Amp Comparo, I feel very pleased with how it performed alongside the other amps in attendance. Whereabouts are you? If there is a local dealer around you, I would suggest you take some of your favorite CD's there and give one a whirl.

Cheers

[Rafal]

hertz,

When I auditioned my ATI at a local music store, I A/B'd it against and NAD, a Yamaha, and a current model Bryston(possibly the one you mention). It clobbered the NAD and the Yamaha, and on the speakers they had in the store, was a very, very close call to the Bryston. Having owned a Bryston 2B years ago, and being very happy with it, that's what sold me on the ATI.

Coming out of the TAAS Amp Comparo, I feel very pleased with how it performed alongside the other amps in attendance. Whereabouts are you? If there is a local dealer around you, I would suggest you take some of your favorite CD's there and give one a whirl.

Cheers

Did you have, by any chance, an opportunity to compare ATI 1202 to 602? I don't know if I'd need more power than 602 provides.

On another note, do you know if they can be bridged or paralleled?

It has really peaked my interest.

Cheers,

Rafal

[Daygloworange]

Did you have, by any chance, an opportunity to compare ATI 1202 to 602? I don't know if I'd need more power than 602 provides.

No I did not. The 602 is 50w/channel while the 1202 is 120w/channel.

On another note, do you know if they can be bridged or paralleled?

Honestly, I don't know what makes for that capability. But if it can be done, then yeah, two 602's running as mono blocs would be cool. The benefit of course would be better channel separation and less crosstalk.

Cheers

[Bob Reynolds]

Would you guys rate this amp over a bryston 3bsst ? Or even a Nad 272, odyssey khartago or Rotel amps ?

I've owned an entry level Rotel integrated many years ago, I have Bryston 7B SST in my main system, the ATI 602 replaced a NAD integrated in my office system.

In my book, if you have the dollars buy a Bryston for its warranty. Otherwise, ATI gets my vote; note the ATI 7 year warranty is also excellent.

My only complaint is that they do not provide a companion 2-channel preamp.

[TheChairGuy]

I had read somewhere along the line that ATI is an outgrowth of that well-known 70/80's brand of electronics called SAE - which I think stood for Scientific Audio Electronics. (also based in So. California).

I've owned (still own one) a couple of great tuners from them in the past....so I can well imagine what they might achieve in power amps these days.

[WEEZ]

TCG,

Yup, I think it's mentioned on the website. (I'll bet the small 60wpc amp is sweet)

On the subject of SAE; my brother still has a 200wpc SAE stored somewhere. It has big meters on the front and is fan cooled! He used to drive it with a Holman preamp, which he also still has, I believe.

I've heard good things about ATI.

WEEZ

[phowell1]

I have a bit of experience with SAE. My first stereo featured a 90 watt sae receiver, which i now think was the worst part of my system, but thats not to say they didn't make other stuff that was decent.

It looked cool though.

atb

ps the ati is a great amp for the money!

[Jim N.]

The Linkwitz Orion speakers can be ordered with an ATI 6012 amp to drive them. I may be mistaken but I thought that Outlaw had some equipment manufactured or designed by ATI.

The ATI tree does go back to SAE, the latter once including James (GAS/Ampzilla, Sumo) Bongiorno.

http://www.wardsweb.org/audio/sae_history.html

[Daygloworange]

Jim Salk uses ATI's to power his active HT 3's.

http://www.salksound.com/ht3a.html

Cheers

[hertz]

Hi Daygloworange,
I am right now based in India / Bangalore. I have lot of friends out there. I can ask anyone to pick it up for me if they supply 240v version.

Was the Nad you compared the c272 ? http://nadelectronics.com/reviews/The-Absolute-Sound-C162-C272-Review
What were the observations which swung you towards the ATI. Jim Salk’s speakers are supposed to be terribly revealing. If the ATI’s swing it, they must be good.

Thanks.

[Daygloworange]

hertz,

The NAD was, I believe, an integrated. But a lot of NAD's have removeable jumpers between the pre and amp section. That was the case here.

I listened to the NAD first. The dealer had a demo disc ( I had forgotten my CD's at home  ) that had some jazz pieces. It must have been a recording to use as in house demo's because I didn't recognize the song and it was long and the tune would stop while instruments took solo's. There were drum, vocal, piano, saxophone, brass, and bass solo's all throughout the piece.

The difference when we removed the jumpers and ran some RCA's from the NAD's pre to the ATI were significant. The vocal range was fuller and smoother through the mid range, the brass were not as aggressive. There was also a solo piano piece on the CD. This is where I really heard a big difference. The low mids and lows were much fuller and much more musical. With the NAD, it was more of the attack of the hammers and the pitch of the notes. With the ATI you could really hear the body of the piano. It sounded much more like the real thing. The resonance of the soundboard of the piano was very much more like there was one in the room. It was really night and day.

When I compared the ATI to the Bryston, the differences were too small to be able to tell. The speakers we used were Energy 2 way bookshelf speakers. I could not have picked between the Bryston and the ATI in a blind comparison in that setup.

Here at the Comparo, I did hear a difference between the Bryston 9 B ST and the ATI 1202. If I remember correctly, I found the Bryston to extend a little bit lower, or at least have a bit more bass, but I believed the ATI to have a slightly better bass control. A little bit different top end between the two. Not sure how to explain the top end differences, they were there, but they were subtle.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

[hertz]

Thanks daygloworange.
Let me check with ATI if they supply 240v.