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Aesthetix ATLAS
ATLAS amplifiers are capable of driving virtually any high quality speaker. An innovative hybrid design incorporates a bipolar output stage, bipolar driver stage, and vacuum tube input gain stage. They stand alone as the only hybrid amplifiers with zero feedback, essential for maintaining harmonic integrity, air, space and coherence. The Atlas provides your choice of full range or high-pass inputs. This unique built-in filter is ideal for speakers featuring powered woofers, such as Vandersteen, or for audio and home cinema systems using outboard powered sub-woofers. Saturn Series design themes are evidenced in the specialized all-aluminum chassis construction and elaborate power supply design.
Altas Stereo is available in three versions: Standard, Signature or Eclipse. Atlas Mono is available in two versions: Signature or Eclipse. Atlas Stereo can be factory upgraded to the Signature version, all Atlas units can be factory upgraded to Eclipse edition.
- Zero feedback, fully differential amplifier with complementary balanced bridge design for open sound.
- Tube gain stage using one 6SN7 tube per channel provides harmonic accuracy and soundstage layering. This single gain stage provides all of the voltage gain for the entire amplifier.
- Stereo amplifier: 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms; 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms
- Mono amplifier: 300 watts per channel into 8 ohms; 550 watts per channel into 4 ohms.
- Amplifier has a built-in high-pass crossover: 6 dB / octave, 16 settings from 40 Hz to 200 Hz in approximate 10 Hz increments.
- Single-ended and balanced inputs provide extended compatibility.
- Direct input bypasses all crossovers and switching for ultimate purity.
- Bus technology reduces power supply impedance between output devices for more instantaneous current.
- Power supply uses two transformers and three chokes. The high current section uses a dedicated transformer and choke input power supply. The vacuum tube B+ power supply has choke input and is discretely regulated. The result is unequalled clarity and control.
- Cardas patented rhodium-plated binding post with single knob lockdown.
- All aluminum chassis construction assures durability.
- Stainless steel cover for transformers prevents magnetic fields from interacting with sensitive audio circuitry, preserving low level musical nuances.
- RS232 control and trigger for special installation requirements.
- Available in black or silver faceplate.
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Professional Reviews 93/100
Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
95/100
Build Quality
91/100
Value for Money
88/100
The Aesthetix ATLAS blends pristine transparency, effortless dynamics, and richly dimensional imaging with the grip of a high-power hybrid design. The Absolute Sound found its bass taut and textured, its stage expansive, and its delivery unstrained on demanding speakers. Add adjustable high-pass crossover flexibility, and this is a serious amplifier for revealing, full-scale systems.
What Reviewers Are Saying
Pros
Pristine transparency and black backgrounds uncover low-level detail without sacrificing natural tonal body.
Effortless dynamic authority drives demanding Magnepan 20.7 loudspeakers at high levels without audible strain or compression.
Spacious, three-dimensional imaging places performers in distinct positions across a wide, deep soundstage.
Built-in adjustable high-pass crossover simplifies subwoofer integration while direct inputs preserve a purer signal path when it is not needed.
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Cons
May yield slightly less ultimate soundstage depth than the finest high-power all-tube amplifiers.
Its extended, revealing treble may be less forgiving of bright or hot recordings than a softer-sounding tube amplifier.
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 95/100
Reviewers describe an unusually transparent, spacious and musically natural amplifier, combining tube-like body with notably controlled solid-state bass. The Eclipse version is repeatedly praised for effortless delivery into demanding Magnepan 20.7 loudspeakers, while the original stereo Atlas was commended for its resolution, timing and imaging.
Transparency Resolution
96/100
The Atlas Eclipse is said to remove the earlier Atlas' veil, with a pristine, black-background presentation that lets low-level detail and hall reverberation emerge clearly. The Absolute Sound describes its transparency as exemplary, while the stereo Atlas is also praised for excellent resolution.
Tonal Balance Musicality
93/100
The stereo Atlas is characterized as sweet-toned in a way that remains consonant with real music. With the Eclipse, reviewers heard natural piano, rich and bodily horns, textured bass, and extended treble that remained clean and fatigue-free over long listening sessions.
Dynamics
96/100
Dynamic authority is a major strength. Both Eclipse reviews report full-range reproduction with power, finesse and no sense of compression or strain, even when driving Magnepan 20.7s at very high levels.
Soundstage Imaging
95/100
The stereo Atlas is credited with air around individual instruments and a deep, convincing sense of space. Eclipse reviewers similarly describe performers occupying their own positions across an enormous stage, with three-dimensional image body rather than flat cut-out localization.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
91/100
The Atlas combines a substantial-looking chassis with practical engineering, including a front-panel menu system and adjustable crossover facilities for subwoofer integration. Eclipse reviewers also note exceptionally quiet operation, low heat, a simple single-6SN7 gain stage per channel, and a built-in high-pass crossover, supporting its user-friendly hybrid implementation.
Value for Money
88/100
At $12,000 for the stereo version and roughly $14,000-$17,360 in the supplied pricing, the Atlas occupies a serious high-end price bracket. Reviewers nevertheless regard the Eclipse execution as reasonably priced in today's market, citing elite sound, flexibility and ease of use; one comparison found similarly effortless performance otherwise required larger tube amplifiers at considerably greater cost.
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Authorized dealers for Aesthetix ATLAS
- A/V Solutions — in-store — Pleasanton, California, United States (website)
- Alma-Audio — online and in-store — Majadahonda, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (website)
- Altitudo Audio — online and in-store — Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (website)
- Aris Audio — in-store — Salt Lake City, Utah, United States (website)
- Art Sonique — France (website)
- Assai Audio — in-store — Centro, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (website)
- Audio Center (website)
- Audio Connection — online and in-store — Verona, New Jersey, United States (website)
- Canadian Hifi — in-store — Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada (website)
- David Lewis Audio — in-store — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (website)
and 28 more verified dealers