CTA 408

CTA 408

INTEGRATED VALVE AMPLIFIER

THE COMPACT SOLUTION – MINIATURIZATION NEVER QUITE MADE IT TO COPLAND

There is nothing like an excellent tube amplifier. An amplifier that simultaneously offer a midrange that is open and clear, highs with an unconstrained mobility and acceleration, and a deep, tight and free flowing bass reproduction.

The CTA408 Integrated Amplifier is intended for those who prefer the ease of a single chassis amplification, still wanting the performance of separates. It offers such amenities as separate MC and MM phono inputs, Monitoring in/outputs, Headphone amplifier and a startup procedure that vastly prolongs the tube life.

During the last decades, advances in technology has offered new possibilities for circuit optimization, using components and technology mainly unavailable for the previous designers of tube amplifiers.

Inside the CTA408 is one of the most carefully conceived tube amplification engines available.

• Driver stage tubes supported by MOSFET circuitry.
• Numerous individual power supplies, designed to operate with constant power, thereby isolating power stage fluctuations from entering the input stages and eliminating reverse modulation towards the AC supply grid.
• Dedicated Class A headphone amplifier, (speaker output mutes on headphone insertion)
• Excellent J-FET- Phono-amplifier. Active RIAA equalization employing more than one hundred discrete components inside a noise-shielding box of its own.
• The output transformers are Copland in-house design, fine-tuned for optimal power bandwidth. The massive core size of the transformers prevents core saturation, and they are able to transfer full power well below 20Hz to the loudspeakers with a minimum of phase shift. Multiple layers of interleaving wires ensures a superb linearity. The extended high frequency performance reduces the requirements for internal lag compensation after the amplifiers 15dB negative feedback loop is closed.
• The amplifier power plant is based on the KT150 power valves. These valves are the latest variant of the legendary 6550/KT88 power valves and in the CTA408, they surely demonstrate that the everlasting sound qualities of tubes can be extended into regions nowadays dominated by solid stage designs.

The huge power tubes are very pleasing to look and therefore, we have decided to make them visible behind lateral perforations on the front panel, thus creating a stunning design to match the sonic virtues of this amplifier.

CTA408 Specifications