Qwin
03-03-2015, 20:57
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk//Project_Images/Proton/prot_01.jpg
I recently acquired this mint condition Proton AA-1150 Power Amp. - Love those big analogue meters.
It was produced from around the mid 80's to the early 90's.
Conservatively rated at 50w per channel, it has a massive 7dB of headroom and a damping factor of >150, it will handle loads from 2 to 8 Ohm.
I'm hoping it will be up to driving my also recently aquired Yamaha NS-1000M's.
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk//Project_Images/Proton/prot_02.jpg
Build quality is high, being of dual mono construction and housing a pair of R-Core Transformers, Nichicon P.S. Caps and Sanken output devices. When tested by Stereo Review it had one of the lowest distortion figures of anything they had ever tested. They described it as “quite possibly the world’s most powerful “50-watt” amplifier”
See the full test in this linked PDF:
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk//Project_Images/Proton/AA-1150_review.pdf
Also for anyone needing the information, here is a link for the Service Manual PDF:
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk//Project_Images/Proton/AA-1150_service.pdf
More importantly, it is a very quite, sweet sounding amp that packs a real punch.
The Amp sounds very nice driving my Celestion 66's, which are in rotation at present, but the electrolytics in it look original and they have to be twenty odd years old. I can’t help imagining what it might sound like if these were renewed, a job for the future I think. :rolleyes:
I consider this Amp and other Proton products as real sleepers which get overlooked.
There is a lot of bad information on the forums about the relationship between NAD and Proton, as though one owned the other. I have researched this and can find no Corporate link. However, in its infancy NAD designed some audio gear and needed someone to make it. Proton was making its own Audio equipment and was part of a larger manufacturing outfit formed in Taiwan in 1946 by C.C.Hong, a pioneer of the Taiwanese electronics industry, his corporation having 15 manufacturing sites even in the early days. The Proton division was founded much later to produce audio products. So they were a major player compared to NAD which was purely an R&D/Marketing company.
Quite a few of the Proton and NAD amplifiers bear a startling resemblance to one another, both cosmetically and internally. This is where the rumours started, but the similarity is of no surprise to me, as many European Design/Marketing companies around this period used to have their products made in the Far East and it was common to go 50/50 on the tooling to keep the costs down. I worked for a company doing just that and we would go 50/50 on tooling and allow the OEM to brand the items (toasters, coffee machines, irons etc) as their own, as long as they only sold in the States and Asia and we only sold in Europe. I suspect there was some kind of arrangement along these lines between Proton and NAD to help NAD get going, though maybe not based purely on sales territory.
If Proton had just produced their own versions (copies) of NAD designs without permission, NAD would have stopped them in their tracks. No, it will all have been part of a deal and even Protons distribution network may have been used for NAD products. I think what ticked off NAD was that Proton tweaked the NAD designs giving them better power supplies and higher quality parts in general, so the Proton versions always out performed those branded as NAD, which is probably why the relationship ended.
Proton got out of the audio market as did so many companies and in the early 2000’s were a major player in developing high quality LED tv’s. They moved much of their manufacture to China, but it is interesting that the CEO at this time was a Miss Hong, maybe the grand daughter of the founder C.C. Hong? From mid 2000’s there does not seem to have been much activity from the Proton brand.
Sorry for the history lesson, just trying to correct some of the rumours.
Because they once made for NAD, people associate Proton products with a similar quality level. To me this is a disservice, all the reports I have read from owners, suggests Proton were a step up from NAD, especially with their wholly own designs. ;)
I recently acquired this mint condition Proton AA-1150 Power Amp. - Love those big analogue meters.
It was produced from around the mid 80's to the early 90's.
Conservatively rated at 50w per channel, it has a massive 7dB of headroom and a damping factor of >150, it will handle loads from 2 to 8 Ohm.
I'm hoping it will be up to driving my also recently aquired Yamaha NS-1000M's.
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk//Project_Images/Proton/prot_02.jpg
Build quality is high, being of dual mono construction and housing a pair of R-Core Transformers, Nichicon P.S. Caps and Sanken output devices. When tested by Stereo Review it had one of the lowest distortion figures of anything they had ever tested. They described it as “quite possibly the world’s most powerful “50-watt” amplifier”
See the full test in this linked PDF:
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk//Project_Images/Proton/AA-1150_review.pdf
Also for anyone needing the information, here is a link for the Service Manual PDF:
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk//Project_Images/Proton/AA-1150_service.pdf
More importantly, it is a very quite, sweet sounding amp that packs a real punch.
The Amp sounds very nice driving my Celestion 66's, which are in rotation at present, but the electrolytics in it look original and they have to be twenty odd years old. I can’t help imagining what it might sound like if these were renewed, a job for the future I think. :rolleyes:
I consider this Amp and other Proton products as real sleepers which get overlooked.
There is a lot of bad information on the forums about the relationship between NAD and Proton, as though one owned the other. I have researched this and can find no Corporate link. However, in its infancy NAD designed some audio gear and needed someone to make it. Proton was making its own Audio equipment and was part of a larger manufacturing outfit formed in Taiwan in 1946 by C.C.Hong, a pioneer of the Taiwanese electronics industry, his corporation having 15 manufacturing sites even in the early days. The Proton division was founded much later to produce audio products. So they were a major player compared to NAD which was purely an R&D/Marketing company.
Quite a few of the Proton and NAD amplifiers bear a startling resemblance to one another, both cosmetically and internally. This is where the rumours started, but the similarity is of no surprise to me, as many European Design/Marketing companies around this period used to have their products made in the Far East and it was common to go 50/50 on the tooling to keep the costs down. I worked for a company doing just that and we would go 50/50 on tooling and allow the OEM to brand the items (toasters, coffee machines, irons etc) as their own, as long as they only sold in the States and Asia and we only sold in Europe. I suspect there was some kind of arrangement along these lines between Proton and NAD to help NAD get going, though maybe not based purely on sales territory.
If Proton had just produced their own versions (copies) of NAD designs without permission, NAD would have stopped them in their tracks. No, it will all have been part of a deal and even Protons distribution network may have been used for NAD products. I think what ticked off NAD was that Proton tweaked the NAD designs giving them better power supplies and higher quality parts in general, so the Proton versions always out performed those branded as NAD, which is probably why the relationship ended.
Proton got out of the audio market as did so many companies and in the early 2000’s were a major player in developing high quality LED tv’s. They moved much of their manufacture to China, but it is interesting that the CEO at this time was a Miss Hong, maybe the grand daughter of the founder C.C. Hong? From mid 2000’s there does not seem to have been much activity from the Proton brand.
Sorry for the history lesson, just trying to correct some of the rumours.
Because they once made for NAD, people associate Proton products with a similar quality level. To me this is a disservice, all the reports I have read from owners, suggests Proton were a step up from NAD, especially with their wholly own designs. ;)