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ClickTheta has released its first Class-D amplifier, and it’s a thousand watt monster monobloc
Shown for the first time at the 2012 Las Vegas CES, the Prometheus MonoBloc is claimed to deliver 1,000 watts continuous into a 2-ohm load. Into a conventional 8-ohm load it’s rated at 250-watts. Into 4-ohm loads, it’s rated at 500-watts. Australian Hi-Fi Magazine asked Theta’s John Baloff why Theta had switched from the linear amplifier designs that have gained it a world-wide reputation for performance. ‘We see Class-D as being the future,’ he said. ‘The world is headed towards minimising power consumption, and Class-D achieves this. Also, Class-D generates far less heat than a linear design, which has implications for long-term reliability. Also, it means we can deliver high power output from an extremely small chassis. If the Prometheus was linear, the chassis would be at least four times the size it is and it would generate enormous amounts of heat. I’ve been running this Prometheus at the show for three days now, and if you feel the amplifier chassis, you’ll see it’s barely warm.’
Balfour said that Class-D technology had been perfected in recent years, and audiophiles needed to rethink their attitude to Class-D amplifiers as a result. ‘I’d be the first to say that the very first Class-D amplifiers were a plague [on sound]. Put one of those early Class-D amplifiers on and you’d have to run out of the room to protect your ears. That’s all changed. I was truly surprised by the high quality of the sound when I first heard the Prometheus.’
Theta’s Prometheus isn’t just a powerhouse: it’s also whisper-quiet, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 128dB. Unlike early Class-D amplifiers, it has a very high damping factor: Theta claims a damping factor of 2,500 at 1kHz. ‘Theta’s motto has always been “Digital Done Right” said Jeff Hipps, Theta Digital’s Vice President, Sales and Marketing. ‘Our first CD players forced discerning listeners to revise their opinions about CD playback. I predict Prometheus will have the same effect on amplification.’
Available in titanium or black finishes, the Theta Prometheus will be sold in mirror-image pairs for $US12,000, or individually for $US6,000 each.