# Proton Audio



## sotelomichael (Dec 2, 2008)

Hi I just bought this little guy for 20 bucks. There's hardly any information online. The guy I bought it from had it for 30 years professionally installed and removed. Sitting in closet for the major part of that. From what I have read they were pretty expensive back then, and the guy said once the audio shop demoed them he had to have it. He was running some 6x9s off of it and apparently it was very impressive. 

It looks in great condition for its age and wanted to know if anyone has used them before. I opened it up and cleaned up the board and pots with deoxit. 

Does anyone want to test bench this little guy? I can send it to you on my dime and you can give us your impressions/findings. If for nothing else than to just have something on this amp that people can refer to to find out about it.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Wow, I haven't seen one of those since high school. My brother had 3 of them in his Nissan truck. Don't remember them being real expensive. Didn't see many around back then either.


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## KillerBox (Jan 7, 2011)

I had a friend of mine that swore by them around 1990s. He ran Proton amps and Denon CD player. In my opinion they were middle of the line gear.

If I remember correctly, I think Technics was their parent company but, I could be wrong. If it will help, I can look in my 1993 Car Stereo value book and see what they say?


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

I got a pair of tens and component speakers from them, installed it all off a 4 channel ppi sadona amp in an old carola and still remember how good it sounded for how basic it was. the sub especially didn't feel like anything upmarket, but they sounded great.


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## JPOSEY (Nov 9, 2011)

Proton was a really nice audiophile brand home audio up through the late late 80's and early 90's. The company, I believe failed, and at some point was purchased and began producing products again. I'm not sure if the car audio stuff was introduced before they had their issues or after or whether it was their designs at all. These may have been their designs or they may have been sourced through a 3rd party. In any event, Proton was well respected.


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## diy.phil (May 23, 2011)

What a wire mess in that picture lol. But i dont think they were related to Technics. Nevertheless Proton is indeed a respectable brand back then.


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## hot9dog (Mar 23, 2013)

I had the Proton tape deck back in the day, I thought I was Billy bad ass with it. It was a very respectful company back in the day. If I saw this amp, I would grab it in a heart beat, not because it's valuable...but because it's a car audio milestone piece.


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## sotelomichael (Dec 2, 2008)

Yes I actually ended up selling it. Pretty fast too. It was either keep it in the closet or send it to someone that knows what they were looking at. 

The wiring inside is what older amps looked like for the most part. Can't even see the wiring in my nakamichi because it's sandwiched between two boards but I guarantee you the wiring inside is not super clean lol. Still doesn't change the clarity


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## spydertune (Sep 9, 2005)

Neat Factoid: The Proton 222 and ADS P40 are the same amp circuitwise & made by the same vendor. They are both pretty much bulletproof.


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## VTSummit (May 23, 2017)

I had a system in the early 90's that was mostly Proton gear. 571 eq fit perfectly in a Nissan NX change pocket. CA260 amp (which I still have) and Impact subs (which were "meh" at best).
I got all that stuff from Crutchfield, but mainly because I had a Proton home stereo that was unbelievably impressive. Their Dynamic Power on Demand feature on the D1200 amp was simply astounding.


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