Precide SA

   A Swiss company that manufactures speakers and headphones using drivers based on Air Motion Transformer (A.M.T.) technology. Its product lineup includes two models of speakers equipped with A.M.T. mid-high-frequency drivers, two models of dynamic headphones, and headphones with an A.M.T. driver. The designer of the A.M.T. speakers is their inventor, Dr. Oskar Heil, who has been refining his design for thirty years.
      Speakers that use A.M.T. drivers are certainly unique designs, but the most interesting application is the use of A.M.T. drivers in headphones. What’s more, the design of the headphones themselves is, by any measure, fascinating. The ERGO headphones feature a completely open design in which contact with the listener’s ears occurs in a rather unusual way. The support points are evenly distributed across a wide headband that encircles the head and behind the ears, creating a sort of “barrier” against external noise. The drivers are enclosed in very large, flat chambers that gently rest against the head over a very large surface area, ensuring that airflow around the ears is not impeded. The headphones are designed not to distort the natural sound field consistent with the form created by loudspeakers. The shape of the headband ensures proper alignment of the drivers along both the vertical and horizontal axes, in accordance with the physiological structure of the human ear. Traditional headphone designs, when worn on the head, distort the shape of the outer ear, forcing sound directly into the ear canal and disrupting the physiological way of experiencing music.
    The two headphone models, the ERGO 1 and the ERGO 2, are equipped with dynamic drivers, while the ERGO A.M.T. headphones feature drivers based on Air Motion Transformer technology. The input impedance of the latter is 4 ohms, which means they can be connected directly to the speaker output of a power amplifier using a switch that is available as an option when purchasing this headphone model. The second option is to purchase the ERGO A.M.T. with a dedicated headphone amplifier, to which a signal source can be connected directly. The ERGO AMP1 amplifier can also drive any type of headphones with an impedance of up to 600 ohms. As mentioned earlier, A.M.T. drivers radiate sound in both directions, which results in speakers using these drivers having rather unusual shapes. The woofer is housed in a chamber that forms the base of the speaker, while the A.M.T. is positioned above its upper edge, allowing sound waves to propagate both in front of and behind the driver. Precide manufactures two speaker models under the HEIL A.M.T. brand. These are: the KITHARA floorstanding speaker with a sensitivity of 94 dB, and the AULOS bookshelf speaker with a sensitivity of 89 dB. Thanks to the excellent soundstage created by these speakers, they are a great choice for all enthusiasts of the so-called “tube” sound.

“Precide” also manufactures PCOCC copper cables. These are marketed under the name MDM and are available in both signal and speaker cable versions. PCOCC is an excellent alternative to “exotic” designs based on silver, gold, or various hybrid configurations. The greatest advantage of PCOCC copper is its excellent crystal packing, which means the material has virtually no gaps between the crystals. This allows for a significant reduction in the cable’s impedance and inductance.