Chord Electronics Alto

Chord Electronics Alto

The Alto is a technology-rich pro audio headphone and nearfield monitor amplifier capable of driving up to four pairs of headphones.

The Alto is the perfect tool for monitoring in today’s high-resolution environment.

It offers 50 watts per channel for nearfield monitoring, plus enough drive for its four headphone outputs simultaneously, via one front-panel 3.5 mm, one 4.4mm balanced jack and two 6.35 mm outputs.

Designed to fit into 19-inch racking, the 1U-tall Alto also benefits from both balanced and unbalanced inputs, plus a pair of balanced XLR outputs for bypass/external monitor control.

CHORD ELECTRONICS HISTORY WITH THE PRO INDUSTRY

Chord Electronics was originally founded by providing the professional industry with power amplifiers.

In those early days, Chord Electronics was introduced to the BBC by an engineer who was unhappy with the sound of the iconic Maida Vale Studios.

Rather than refurbishing the whole studio, it was decided that an assessment of the amplifiers was required.

A provisional 200-watt Chord Electronics power amp was designed and supplied to the engineers at the BBC, with a warning that it would take months for the amp to be approved for use.

However, the engineers were so impressed with the performance, that after just a few short weeks, and a great deal of testing, the amplifier approval was fast-tracked and given the go-ahead for use within the BBC.

At the time, the British Broadcasting Corporation set the baseline for the studio standard, so it wasn’t long before requests started coming in for more Chord Electronics power amplifiers from other world-famous studios.

These included EMI, Abbey Road, Sony (New York), George Martin’s Air Studios and Windmill Lane (Dublin). Working with the famous studio designer, Munro, created the opportunity to make custom equipment.

This led to the creation of one of the most famous amplifiers on the market at the time, the ‘Red 5’, branded by Focusrite, but designed and built by Chord Electronics.

Many custom studios were kitted out with Chord Electronics’ power amplification, and of those, a huge number are still using those same amplifiers to this day.

Chord Electronics continues to supply the professional industry with the highest quality audio electronics, regularly visiting and keeping in contact with those who use the equipment.

The company understands that without the recording industry, there would be no music to listen to, thus the company endeavours to help those who strive to achieve the best.

If you are a professional engineer, musician or represent a studio, and are interested in working with Chord Electronics, you can contact us through our professional email and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Chord Electronics Alto Specifications

Dimensions – 200 mm (W) x 44.45 mm (H) x 215 mm (D)

Frequency response – 6 Hz-60 kHz

Output power (Speakers) – 50 W into 4 Ω

Output power (Headphones) – 2250 mW into 100 Ω

Signal-to-noise ratio – 119.6 dB

THD (Speakers) –  0.003 % into 4 Ω

THD (Headphones) –  0.001 % into 100 Ω

Input maximum voltage – 6 V RMS

Output maximum voltage – 15 V RMS

Operation voltage – 80-250 V AC auto-switching

Crosstalk – -95 dB