Quad Artera Pre Pre-Amplifier

The Quad Artera Series’ first dedicated preamplifier sees the return of Quad’s much admired analogue sound tailoring controls. The new Artera Pre from Quad, Britain’s original high-end audio Company, draws upon the company’s rich technical heritage whilst being a design firmly of the present. The first dedicated analogue preamplifier to join Quad’s Artera Series, the company’s flagship range of solid state audio electronics, the Quad Artera Pre reintroduces a famous Quad feature – the Tilt control.

First available in 1982 on the classic Quad 34 preamplifier, the Tilt control was created by Quad founder Peter Walker as an audiophile quality answer to tone adjustment. He believed that in the real world, the ability to adjust tonal balance on an amplifier was useful to cater for different rooms and recordings, but that typical tone and EQ controls were clumsy and inadequate in their effect. While conventional tone controls adjust bass or treble individually, the Tilt control adjusts both ends of the frequency spectrum together – either attenuating the bass and lifting the treble, or lifting the bass and attenuating the treble, in steps of 1dB. In effect, it rotates, or tilts, the audible frequency range on a 700Hz axis, adjusting the overall balance of the sound to make it ‘warmer’ or ‘cooler’ without affecting the apparent volume or ‘colouring’ the sound.

Vinyl lovers and headphones users are well catered for with dedicated, high quality circuitry. The Quad Artera Pre’s low noise, Class A phono stage is configurable for both MM and MC cartridges, while an integrated headphone amplifier features a discrete, Class A output stage with low output impedance to drive even the toughest of loads. The Quad Artera Pre joins the Quad Artera Play+ CD Player/DAC/preamp, Artera Stereo power amp and Quad Artera Solus all-in-one system in Quad’s flagship range of solid stage audio electronics. The Quad Artera Pre and Stereo are perfect partners – the latter sports the latest version of Quad’s famous Current Dumping topology to deliver a captivating combination of dynamic power, vice – like grip and sumptuous sonic detail from a compact, cool-running power amp.