ELAN Home Systems is bringing high-end digital efficiency and power to its D-Family of multi-channel amplifiers.
The company is now shipping the D12 Amplifier, first in a new class of high-efficiency amplifiers to be followed by the D16 Amplifier in March 2010.
“The only thing these products have in common with their predecessors is the number of binding posts on the back panels. These green, powerful, self-correcting amplifiers are what our dealers have been asking for — and our design team delivered in a big way,” ELAN’s president and chief technology officer Bob Farinelli stated.
The digital design behind each amplifier provides cool power at an 85 to 90-percent efficiency rating, and simultaneously delivers 115 watts at 4 ohms into 12 channels on the D12 and 75 watts at 4 ohms into 16 channels on the D16. The D12 is now available at an MSRP of $2,400 and the D16 will be available in March at an MSRP of $2,600.
ELAN engineers worked closely with Texas Instruments (TI) in developing the D12’s and the D16’s cool-running, digital amplifier technology. TI’s state-of-the-art analog-to-digital modulation was coupled with 8X oversampling and 5th order noise shaping to ensure highly reliable and sonically pure designs. The result of this collaboration is an all-new platform that is equally robust and efficient, according to the company.
The new design also enables low-power standby consumption while at the same time providing nearly instant turn-on for predictable operation. In addition, at just over five inches tall, the D12 and D16 are up to 40 percent slimmer than many competitive amplifiers.
The D12 will drive up to six stereo pairs of speakers, 12 mono speakers or any combination of the two. The D16 expands coverage with eight stereo pairs of speakers, 16 mono speakers or any combination of the two. With stability down to 4 ohms, two 8 ohm ELAN speakers can be connected to each channel without the need for impedance-matching volume controls. Plus each channel can be configured for mono, stereo, bussed mono or bussed stereo. The need for extra patch cables and Y-cords has been eliminated by equipping two universal stereo buss inputs with buffered outputs.
The D12 and D16 feature an IR control system that allows the volume for each stereo pair to be independently adjusted using a remote control in each room. Combine this with the stereo buss feature, and both the D12 and the D16 can be used with an inexpensive stereo receiver to provide a moderately priced, high-quality whole-house music distribution system with independent volume control in up to six rooms.
ELAN’s patent-pending ACE (Automatic Clip Eliminator) technology is also a key feature of both amplifiers. This microprocessor-controlled, dynamic leveling circuit is designed to eliminate clipping without the typical audio degradation of traditional compressor-based clipping circuits. Digital Signal Processing controls constantly monitor the temperature and power output for each of its individual channels and continuously work in the background to maintain crystal clear sound at any volume.
