The PS Audio Stellar M1200 monoblock power amplifiers have finally been shipped and lots of excitement has been surrounding these newest and most prodigious power amplifiers.
The Sound Advocate recently reviewed the exceptional M700 and Stellar DAC/preamp from PS Audio and to say that we were thrilled by the sound capabilities is an understatement!
The new amps will combine the rich warmth and musicality of vacuum tubes with some awe-inspiring power indeed, – and a seemingly infinite amount of headroom with the use of a 1200-watt high-performance output stage. These units combine the best of two worlds: ultra-linear, high-current, ICE Edge Class D technology (which we at The Advocate have found to give up Nothing in favor of Class AB.) for the output stage; and a discrete, Class-A vacuum tube for the all-important input stage.
Based on the sound quality of the M700 monoblocks, I can imagine The M1200’s should proceed to offer a rich, warm, and beautifully nuanced reproduction of music that comes first from the zero feedback and now the use of a class A vacuum tube input stage. Here nothing is lost in its hand-selected 12AU7 vacuum tube, fed from its analog power supply.
This ICE powered, hybrid amplifier should show no limitations; regardless of your speaker’s power demands or limitations as the M1200 will exert the once unachievable and uncompressed effortlessness afforded by this design.
The M1200 is rated at 600 Watts into 8Ω and an enormous 1200 Watts into 4Ω. Designer and engineer Darren Myers wanted to combine the most powerful amplifier output stage along with the sound of vacuum tubes on the input stage without any type of constraints, regardless of the speakers used with it. This, along with remarkable musicality.
“The truth is, for a given loudness within a room all power amplifiers deliver the same wattage to match a loudspeaker’s sensitivity. What’s missing in most systems is a power amplifier with overkill-headroom. Only then can we fully appreciate what a massive improvement unfettered dynamics brings to the system.”
After countless hours of testing, the M1200 is finally here. (and it must be stated at an ’astonishingly fine’ price point as well.) It will be interesting to see how audio enthusiasts take to this grand hybrid, Class D design. I might go out on a limb and state, (as the M700’s are currently one of my reference amplifiers,) that “with the M1200 monoblocks, you may…. need not look for an upgrade for many years to come!
WHERE the MUSIC BEAT meets the AUDIOPHILE ELITE !
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