This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below |
 |
 |
The signal path is ultra short. Hegel states that the signal in their preamplifier runs through only two transistors and between one to three resistors. First the signal enters one of the smaller PCBs mounted above the mother board for the volume control, a nice black Alps potentiometer that’s outside the signal path to merely control a resistor array triggered by transistors. This array is surface-mounted and powered from a discrete transformer secondary.
|
 |
Post attenuation the signal meets the voltage gain section placed close to the rear panel. Here we find pair-matched mid-power transistors. Those promise significant current reserves. This circuit is based on Hegel’s proprietary SoundEngine concept and consists of two complimentary 2SK2013/2SJ313 Mosfet pairs in a balanced arrangement. Here we see traditional thru-hole construction to rely on premium parts like metalized precision resistors of ultra-tight tolerances. One of the RCA outputs has jumpers to select between variable/fixed output. This accommodates a recording device, external headphone amp or subwoofer.
|
 |
As already stated, the power supply section is extremely sophisticated. It consists of many multi-stabilized and filtered stages powered by a Hegel-made triple-secondary toroid. Adjacent are many filter capacitors of varying sized including 6 x 10.000uF audio-grade Nover units and 14 smaller Rubycons. Polypropylene caps nicely decouple the power supply rectifier diodes. The overall construction is very solid and draws attention with its oversized power supply, discrete volume control circuit and Mosfet-based buffering and voltage gain. The RCA sockets aren’t gold-plated and the circuit itself is balanced to express the designers’ emphasis on fully symmetrical operation.
|
|
|
Technical data according to manufacturer:
Inputs: 2 x XLR, 3 x RCA plus home cinema bypass
Outputs: 1 x XLR, 2 x RCA
IR input: 3.5mm
Trigger: 12V output
S/N: >130 dB in balanced mode
Crosstalk: < -100dB
Distortion: < 0.005%
Intermodulation distortion: < 0.01%
Dimensions: 6 x 43 x 30cm HxWxD
Weight: 10kg
|
 |
H30. This cosmetically matched aluminium beast weighs in at a very substantial 55kg.
Front. Here we merely get a big mechanical power switch in the middle, an LED above and the engraved company logo.
|
 |
Back. Here we encounter big beautiful and very convenient gold-plated speaker terminals, RCA/XLR inputs for both channels and discrete mono inputs for bridged operation. The RCA sockets are far superior to those used on the preamp.
|
 |
Inside. This circuit too extends across a few PCBs. In the middle sit two mighty stacked 1KW/ea. toroidal transformers. Into 8Ω this allows the amplifier to output 1.1kW power in bridged mode. Each transformer has two main secondaries for the output stages and two more for the driver and input sections. The circuit splits into voltage and current gain sections aka DualPower. The input and control sections employ low-power J-FETs in a specific application that minimizes harmonic distortion. The power supply is stabilized. Per channel there’s also one high-class polypropylene Auricap from Audience whose function I couldn’t determine beyond noting that it did not belong to the amplification section.
|
|
|
In the current gain stage we get two separate bridged amplifiers per channel to form a fully complementary signal path from input to output. Each channel runs seven pairs of complimentary bipolar transistors per phase for a total of 14 pairs per side. These are 15-ampere Motorola MJL1302 and MJL3281 units. They are accompanied by sixteen Nover filter capacitors per channel to accrue to 320,000μF of total capacitance. Close to the fascia we have four integrated rectifier bridges to underline how we are looking at four discrete amplifiers in one enclosure to make a bridged-balanced amplifier.
|
 |
Technical data according to manufacturer:
Output power: > 1 x 1100W at 8Ω
Minimum load impedance: 1Ω
Inputs: 1 x RCA and 1 x XLR
Input impedance: 20kΩ XLR | 10kΩ RCA
SNR: > 100dB
Crosstalk: < -100dB
Distortion: < 0.003% (at 100W and 8Ω)
Intermodulation distortion: < 0.01%
Damping factor: > 500
Power supply: 2000W, 320.000μF capacity
Output stage: 56 high-speed bipolar transistors, 15A/200W
Power consumption: 120W idle, 30W eco mode
Dimensions: 21 x 43 x 55cm (HxWxD)
Weight: 55kg
|
 |
|
opinia @ highfidelity.pl
|
 |
 |
|
 |
