Интегральные усилители — Canor Audio AI 1.20

The AI 1.20 is a solid-state integrated amplifier from Canor Audio, a company otherwise known for vacuum tube designs. It works in class A and is built with a dual-mono architecture that gives each channel its own power transformer, housed in separate sections of the case, and like other Canor integrated models it can be converted into one half of a monoblock pair.

Key specs that matter

As a two-channel unit the AI 1.20 delivers 2 x 30 W into 8 ohms and 2 x 50 W into 4 ohms. Joined as a monoblock it gives 1 x 100 W into 8 ohms and 1 x 130 W into 4 ohms. There are five RCA line inputs, plus two XLR sockets that work only in the monoblock connection. Gain is 30 dB, input impedance is 30 kohm and input sensitivity is listed at 290 mV. Canor specifies total harmonic distortion below 0.0009 percent at 1 kHz and 5 W, and a frequency range of 20 Hz to 25 kHz within 0.5 dB at 5 W. The signal-to-noise ratio is above 90 dB in stereo mode and above 100 dB in monoblock use. The damping factor reaches 250 into 4 ohms and 500 into 8 ohms. The case is 435 x 170 x 485 mm and weighs 28 kg net, and power draw is 375 VA from 230 V, 50 Hz.

Engineering and use context

The power supply carries 264,000 uF of filtering capacitance in total, which is 132,000 uF per channel, fed by the two separate transformers of the dual-mono design. Volume is handled by a relay attenuator built as two standalone blocks, one for each channel. PCBs are milled with the CMT process Canor developed in-house. The toroidal transformers are custom wound and separated by a 10 mm aluminium partition, and a shielded tunnel through the centre of the case contains filters with nanocrystalline coils against interference. Power transistors are mounted directly on a copper plate that spreads heat across the heatsink, allowing class A operation at high idle current, and the input circuits use low-noise J-FET type transistors. The front panel is solid aluminium, finished black or silver, and the amplifier ships with a remote handset. For monoblock use two units are linked as Master and Slave, which turns a stereo amplifier into one of a pair of single channel amplifiers with higher output. The high damping factor figures follow from the solid-state output stage and set the AI 1.20 apart from the brand's tube-based integrated models.

Pairing

The higher output into lower impedance covers loudspeakers of lower nominal impedance, and the RCA line inputs take sources such as a CD transport with DAC, a network streamer or an external phono preamplifier.

Alternatives

Canor Audio's tube-based AI 1.10 integrated amplifier shares the same case size and uses four KT88 output tubes that can be switched between triode and ultra-linear operation.