Conrad Johnson ART27A and ART108A

Speaker systems vary in sensitivity with some highly regarded speakers measuring an output of 86 dB or less from one Watt at one meter to other high-efficiency systems producing as much as 104 dB. Further, room dimensions, speaker placement, and listening placement vary widely – also significantly impacting power demands. Accordingly, the power demands of different high-end audio installations vary widely. To address a range of these needs, we offer these two amplifiers utilizing the same basic circuits and built to identical standards, differing only in the number of output tubes, size of the output and power supply transformers, and scale of the power supply required to achieve their different output power levels.

The circuit for these amplifiers is designed for Class A operation of KT88 output tubes configured as triode devices – a single pair for each channel achieves 36 Watts per channel in the stereo ART27A suitable for highly efficient systems, while the mono ART108A employs four pair to produce 160 Watts – ample power for the vast majority of applications.

The amplifiers boast independent discrete regulated power supplies for the output stage in addition to separate regulated supplies for both input and inverter stages (with separate regulators for each channel in the ART27A).

Our design team has long appreciated the critical importance of parts quality in achieving top performance.

Our commitment to executing our reference level products with only the highest quality parts is unmatched in the industry. Precision laser-trimmed bulk metal foil Vishay resistors are used throughout the voltage gain stages and related power supplies. CJD Teflon dielectric capacitors are used for coupling the inverter stage to the output stage, and to bypass the large value polypropylene capacitors in the regulated power supplies for the voltage gain and inverter stages. Amplifier output is coupled to speakers through proprietary wide-bandwidth Translinear output transformers optimized for Class A operation of triode connected KT88s. Even the machined OFC connectors and the internal wiring have been carefully selected for optimal sonic performance. Attention to every detail enable us to extract the full potential from our circuit designs and ensures that our products will perform to this potential for years to come. The ART27A andART108A amplifiers are built without compromise to achieve a new standard in musical performance, and they are built to last.