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ATC P1 amplifier

Let me share my experience with my new ATC P1 Amplifier

LLong story short, i looked for a good amplifier, not too expensive to drive my AN-J speakers and i decided to go with an ATC P1 Amplifier recommended by stereophile. There not a lot of information on the Audiogon Forum, so i decided to share my experience with you.

I received the P1 one week ago. The cabling between the preamp and the amp is a long distance unbalanced cable (50 Ft). I precise here, that the cables between the Preamp and Amp was also brand new.

Impression after after 100 hours

Sound test just after cabling the system : horrible (no Bass, super cold, no soundstage, ect….)

After 20 hours : Bass appears but very tiny, still no soundstage.

After 40 hours : Bass continue to grow, soundstage appears, sound begin to be more smooth

After 60 hours : Bass is here but not deep. I decide to change the position of the AN-J (very close to the back wall). Sound Better.

After 100 hours : Bass is more deep but don't start before 125 hz, it's probably a speaker limitation. Soundstage is more and more open and deep, sound is crystal clear in high frequency, smooth and super details.

To be continue....
georgelfre
jond's avatar
jond
5,845 posts
 
I have to agree with George that's an extremely long cable run, particularly for a single ended interconnect. Definitely try a shorter cable. Something else to consider your driving a high sensitivity speaker with very benign impedance that was designed for low power tube amps with a 150 wpc digital SS amp. It may simply be a poor amp/speaker match.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

Even with balanced cables if the pre/source is capacitor coupled, the same bass roll off problem will occur if the cap is too small with the 10kohm input impedance of the amps.
This is why I asked what pre/source is being used to drive the amp?

Cheers George
georgelfre OP
8 posts
 
Hi guys.

I really surprise because my subject was about the ATC/P1 amplifier, not the length of my cables.

So, let me precise some little things. I worked in recording business few years, and trust me, 50 Feets of balanced (XLR) cables is a really common things. It's very interesting too see some Audiophile people 'panicked' with this sort for of things. It's really not a problem.

But when you need to have long distance cables you must choose correctly your devices and your cable. I am totally agree with that. The design of my listening room (including the equipment) took me 1 years, and another to build the room. I don't know how many sound engineer built a listen room with 2 helmholtz resonators, but i did ! So trust me, my design is solid.

Now, back to the P1. After 150 hours the sound i now open, deep, with a good soundstage. I am not sure if the sound will continue to change but it seem to be stable. I am really impress by this little amplifier. It's not dry, or difficult to listen. The sound is warm, really quick, and neutral. Woow.

The match with the Audio Note AN-J speakers is perfect.

What about the bass ? The bass is now totally in place. I have a little drop from 125 hz to 20 hz, but with a bookshelf speakers it's normal. I will adjust that with a subwoofer.

My 2 cents
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