Air Tight ATM-1E (2024 Edition) EL34 Power Amplifier

Air Tight ATM-1E

Stereo Power Amplifier (EL34)

Air Tight have a unique approach which has seen the company thrive and evolve for almost 4 decades. When designing a tube amplifier, most designers create a circuit, then try to find a tube that best fits the application. Air Tight choose a tube which has wonderful musical attributes, then designs a circuit to best serve that tube. This is one of the reasons that Air Tight amplifiers sound so pure and alive – cohesive design, synergistic selection of components and heirloom quality execution.

38 years ago, Air Tight’s first amplifier was the ATM-1, which used the EL-34 tube in a push-pull configuration. This was followed years later by the legendary ATM-1S which was made right up until 2023. The ATM-1 2024 edition (also known as the ATM-1E) is a brand new design of the ATM-1 concept released in 2024 and draws on the culmination of almost 4 decades of experience.

Work on the ATM-1E started in 2022 with the view of modernising the ATM concept. The output transformer & choke coil was designed and supplied from Tamura, and internally, the new amplifier has a completely redesigned circuit. Another difference from the original ATM-1 is the bias adjustment. The ATM-1E is equipped with a new accurate bias meter and independent bias ampere volume controls on top of the chassis.

The Air Tight philosophy dictates that to build a great amplifier takes time. Time to really understand the nature of that valve, time to experiment, adjust, listen, hone, evolve and refine the design so that it is a pure expression of that valve’s best capabilities. This philosophy informs as to what to expect from the ATM-1S. This is not just a stereo amplifier of the highest quality. It is also the company’s statement of the ultimate evolution of this type of amplifier partnering with these valves.

Compare this design philosophy and hand-made ‘coachbuilding’ attention to detail to your typical mass-produced amplifier available at most hi-fi shops. It is so rare to have this traditional approach applied to anything today, let alone a power amplifier at this level of cost. The ATM-1E is a beautiful, bespoke amplifier that combines heritage, brand credibility, audiophile performance with a touch of nostalgia. It has an uncanny ability to produce music with a natural tone, an inner glow that infuses every note, every lyric and passage. When you’re no longer interested in the intellectual critique, when all you want to do is listen to music and simply enjoy… the ATM-1E is for you.

Features

• Orthodox circuitry composed of a Mullard phase inverter with NFb under UL connection reproduces the sublime treble with second-to-none musicality inherent in the acclaimed EL34 valve.
• Hefty headroom in output capability achieved by a newly developed transformer boasting of 60W handling capacity ensures stable operation for long term use.
• Bias adjustment facilities (meter, switch & pots) provided for easy service-accessibility.
• Retained unchanged are those outstanding features such as point-to-point wiring without PCB, OFC wiring, etc
• CD-direct input
• Copper-plated chassis

Reviews

HiFi News, Ken Kessler, 2019

With that attitude, there’d be no more mechanical Rolexes, only throwaway watches. No, ownership of the Air Tight amps requires a bit more than money. It requires a weird and wonderful blend of nostalgia, an appreciation for hand-crafted mavericks. The Air Tights are to me simply the nicest products around for powering classy little boxes like the Sonus Fabers, for satisfying a craving for the past without the risk of running elderly components. The ATC-1 and ATM-1 aren’t really hi-fi products after all. They’re the stuff which dreams are made of.

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Stereophile, Art Dudley, 2014

The Air Tight ATM-1S is right up there with the best I’ve heard: the artisanal, the small, the artistically sensitive, the colourful and characterful, the smart. At $9500, it isn’t cheap. It isn’t a toy or a half-hearted effort or an appliance to be used in the oozing of background music. The AirTight is as serious an EL34 amplifier as I’ve heard, offering texture, colour, poise, and musical drive and rightness, all in good proportion to one another. It also looks nice and represents at least decent if not outrageously good value for the money. In that most artificial yet most sincere of all review constructs, the Air Tight ATM-1S is among the few power amps I’d care to live with. Strongly recommended.

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Schematics