Se pare ca pre-ul ATC-2 e pe lampi, mai exact 2 bucati 12AU7 (ECC82) si una bucata 12AX7 (ECC83).
Cat despre radacinile companiei, am gasit urmatoarele informatii:
"Air Tight was founded by Mr Atasushi Miura. His father, who began by building transformers for the fledgling Japanese audio industry in the 1930's, was the head of Luxman Corporation, a manufacturer of fine audio equipment acclaimed internationally for its excellent sound and construction. Mr. Miura was therefore immersed in high quality audio from an early age. Mentored by his father, he worked his way up through the Luxman company, attaining the status of audio Engineer responsible for designing the circuits for many of the highly regarded Luxman tube amps, and in time he too became head of Luxman.
In the mid-'80's, Mr. Miura sensed a shift in the audio industry toward lower quality, mass-produced components. Rather than become part of the slide into mediocrity, he sold Luxman and started his own new company, Air Tight.
Air Tight has attained legendary status in high-end audio circles, as much for the build-integrity and elegance of their products as for the exceptional sound quality."
"Belonging to the Sport Club (table-tennis) during 1952 - 1956 in his university days, Mr. Miura joined Lux Corp. (LUXMAN) upon his graduation by invitation of Mr. H. Hayakawa his 3-year elder club manager (who became the president later).
Lux Corp. founded in June 1924 by Mr. T. Hayakawa & his brother K. Yoshikawa was the oldest manufacturer in Japan of the electronic components, and already famous at that time for the output transformers & switches. In those days with spread of radio, some of the parts manufacturers such as Pioneer, Sansui and Trio have already started to make Hi-Fi amps.
Though being a 'radio' boy by nature, he has not got an education as an engineer and in the beginning at Lux Corp. he was mainly in charge of purchase and control of component materials, and later took part in building a factory for manufacture of audio amps.
In 1961 he married Mari the eldest daughter of Mr. Yoshikawa, the counterpart of the founders in charge of technical field and the then president, and begot a son and a daughter, thus becoming a member of the 'LUXMAN' family.
As from 1968 he started to lead the Sales Division as the general manager in Tokyo Office for sales promotion in the domestic and overseas markets. In this period he brought up the LUXMAN to be the top-notch brand in Hi-Fi audio, introducing many hit models such as SQ-38, SQ-505, MQ-60, CL-35, etc. to name a few.
During 1977 -1980 he was stationed in New York in the capacity of the president of the US affiliate, Lux Audio of America. At that time, so-called Hi-End Audio manufacturers such as Mark Levinson appeared in the marketplace, which exerted a great influence on his later creation of the Air-Tight brand.
Having retired from Lux Corp. in 1985, he formed A & M Ltd. with Mr. M. Ishiguro and started design for his 1st model ATM-1 amp. In those days, all the manufacturers are absolutely for solid-state gears and even Lux Corp. renowned for tube amps was inclined to stop the production. It being a sheer waste to leave on the shelf such outstanding amplifying components as tubes, he began to think to make what he wants if all shift to transistors & semi-conductors, motivated by the existence of such audio precursors as M/S. S. Marantz and M. Levinson he met in his US days.
Since his big senior Mr. H. Hayakawa left LUXMAN Co., Mr. Miura is the only person engaged in this industry. To requite the favours given by Mr. Hayakawa & Mr. Yoshikawa his father-in-law, he is striving to do something contributing to development of the cultural world of audio.
Incidentally, the A & M company was named after 3 acronyms: 1st, the initials of Atsushi Miura himself, 2ndly, Atsushi & his wife Mari, 3rdly, Atsushi & Masami (Ishiguro) his engineering partner "
Vizita la fabrica cat si alte detalii aici:
http://www.quinceton.com/airtight/FactoryTour2008.htm