Air Tight ATM2 Direct Driven by CDP?

I used to own an Air Tight ATM-1, a fairly similar amp using 6550's. The amps built in attenuator works just fine and is quite transparent, in fact probably more so than the variable output of a cd player. But if you have both units go ahead and experiment and see which you prefer. The good news is you don't need a preamp, though you may one day want one. One thing, I believe the Air Tight is single-ended only if that matters. Great sounding gear though, those Tamura transfomers are the real deal! Happy listening!

Mahalo e Jond. Thanks for the view and the fine point re the Air Tight's attenuator v. the variable output on a CDP. I'm encouraged. I've also noticed on your Virtual Systems post you have a Herron preamp, which has been highly recommended to me in combo with its own power amp, but I'd have to guess how it would interact with the ATM2. Did you ever put it together with your Air Tight ATM-1? Thanks again for the quick post.

I have owned the ATM1 ( I think I sold mine to Jond?), the ATM2 and now own the ATM3 Monos. I would strongly suggest using the Attenuators off the AirTight. If your Cary has a fixed out which has less in the way then the Variable, this would be the best way to go.

while the built in Attenuators are very tranparent, I beleive they can be further upgraded by Tom Tutay to an even higher quality version.

"If your Cary has a fixed out which has less in the way then the Variable, this would be the best way to go."

I'm sorry. But I don't follow this very crucial comment above. My Cary has a VARIABLE OUTPUT, but I can set it to any specific level and use the ATM2 attenuators to control volume.

I heard from the dealer today, though, that this method would REDUCE dynamics as compared to using a preamp and that I might lose a fullness of sound as well. Comment?

Thank you.