Усилители мощности моно — Grimm Audio PA1

The PA1 is a mono power amplifier from Grimm Audio of Veldhoven in the Netherlands, a company founded in 2004. Its public premiere took place at High End Vienna 2026 and is the first dedicated power amplifier from the brand, following the PW1 phono stage released a year earlier. The cabinet was drawn by industrial designer Michiel Uylings, and the output stage is an evolution of a circuit developed in 1985 by the late Henk ten Pierick, whose surname gives the model its name - Pierick Amp.

Key specs that matter

Each monoblock delivers more than 150 W into 8 ohm and 200 W into 4 ohm. THD is below 0.0001% at 1 W into 8 ohm. Signal to noise is 96 dB referenced to 1 W and 118 dB at 150 W, both into 8 ohm. The damping factor exceeds 800 relative to 8 ohm, output impedance is below 10 milliohm, and frequency response runs from 0.1 Hz to 300 kHz. Gain is selectable at 26 dB or 18 dB. One XLR input with 33 kohm impedance and one RCA input at 16 kohm are fitted, and speaker cables connect to 4 mm binding posts. Each unit measures 250 x 250 x 240 mm and weighs 15 kg. Power draw ranges from 65 W to 600 W in operation and falls below 5 W in low-power mode.

Engineering and use context

Grimm chose a wide-bandwidth class AB topology aimed at reducing phase modulation, thermal distortion and residual crossover distortion. Its fully symmetrical output stage uses an array of 96 small, fast power transistors kept in close thermal contact. Feed-forward correction acts on the power and signal stages, and a second-order global feedback loop follows it. The layout is balanced throughout on aluminium circuit boards, with no coupling capacitors in the input signal path. Energy comes from an Amplimo toroidal transformer backed by 90,000 microfarads of storage capacitance, and the linear supply switches automatically to the local mains voltage. Extensive protection circuitry is built in, and an optional auto on and off function drops the amplifier into standby after 40 minutes without signal. Grimm gives a 5-year limited warranty.

Pairing

The lower gain setting suits preamplifiers or DACs with high output voltage, while the higher setting helps with low-level sources feeding the amplifier directly. The very low output impedance and the power reserve into lower impedances allow loudspeakers with demanding impedance curves, and two units are needed for a stereo system.

Alternatives

Grimm Audio currently builds no other mono power amplifier, so the PA1 has no sibling in this category.