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  Cool amp Power amps and heat have been synonymous for as long as power amplifiers have been made.First it was tubes. Not only did they create heat from their inefficiency as amplifiers, but the tubes themselves heated up the room! Then came solid state. No tubes heating up the room, but the same inefficient design rules applied and half of the consumed power of the amp went into the air as heat. Great for the winter months, not so great in the summer. Especially if you live in the city! And when we switched from tubes to solid state, most of us think we lost something in the trade-off. What happened to the rich, lush, warm tube-like sound we love so much? A new era dawns It is possible to have both no heat and a lush, rich sound from a power amplifier. Too good to be true? Hardly. The PS Hybrid Class A power amplifier, affectionately becoming known as the HCA-2, provides a warm, powerful 150 watts per channel to your loudspeakers without any extra heat!  In fact, if you have 4 Ohm loudspeakers, as do most of us, the HCA-2 will generate up to 500 watts into your stereo system and run as cool as a cucumber.This is the perfect power source for anyone, whether you are concerned with heat or not, as few amplifiers will ever achieve the stunning soundstage and rich texture laden tonal balance of the HCA-2. So, how come no heat? The HCA-2 utilizes a new form of amplification known as SDAT™. SDAT™ is nearly perfect when it comes to delivering clean heat-free power to your loudspeakers. You can click here and read a detailed description of how SDAT™ works, but we'll give you the short and sweet of it here. The secret behind the SDAT™ efficiency is found in it's actual operation. The output MOSFET's are used in much the same way that a D to A processor works, or a CD works. Instead of continuously moving with the musical signal (which generates heat) the SDAT™ output stage has only two states: on or off. By varying the time that the output stage remains on or off, we can recreate an exact copy of the musical signal, but this time without any heat! Are there any downsides to this? Not any more. People used to shy away from this technology because it  was riddled with problems, both technical and sonic.But advances in output semiconductor technology as well as PS Audio's design engineering team successes have overcome these hurdles and produced a near-perfect output stage. Couple this near-perfect output stage with the rich and inviting sonic characteristics of a zero feedback class A gain stage, on the front end of the this amplifier, and you have one of the best sounding power amplifiers in the world. Check it out! We would encourage you to consider the HCA-2 technology in your home entertainment system. Whether you want to use a single HCA-2 to effortlessly drive your loudspeakers to sonic ecstacy, or stack a few of these babies on top of each other and power your home theater system, we believe the HCA-2 is the product of the year and will usher in a new era of cool running, great sounding power amplifiers! Read more about this amp! Read what others have to say about how it sounds and works. Take one home and try it out for 30 days to see what you think! |
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