Усилители мощности моно — Karan Acoustics POWERb MONO

The POWERb MONO is a single-channel amplifier from the Master Collection from Karan Acoustics, the Serbian company run by designer Milan Karan. It sits below the POWERa Mono in that range, being slightly shorter and just over 20 kg lighter than its bigger brother, and a stereo system requires two units. Karan's warranty on it lasts five years, and the amplifiers ship in wooden crates.

Key specs that matter

Rated output is 1,200 W into 8 ohm, 2,100 W into 4 ohm and 3,600 W into 2 ohm, with a peak figure of 1,500 W into 8 ohm. Voltage gain is 36 dB, and 2.0 V RMS at the input drives the amplifier to full output. Connection is by a single XLR socket for balanced sources or a single RCA socket for unbalanced ones, each with 30 kOhm impedance. Response is flat from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and falls 3 dB only at 300 kHz, with the lower limit reaching DC. THD and IMD are each 0.03%, and noise sits more than 120 dB below full output, unweighted. Rise and settling time is under 450 ns, and the amplification stages reach a slew rate of 1,500 V per microsecond. The casework measures 504 x 292 x 521 mm and weighs 81 kg.

Engineering and use context

Inside, Karan fits two 2,100 VA low noise toroidal transformers and a custom capacitor bank totalling 180,000 uF. Each polarity half of the audio channel has its own mains transformer and supply, so every amplifier needs two mains cables. Units are built for 115 V or 230 V nominal and tolerate 10% either way. The main chassis is one unibody part CNC cut out of solid aluminium, and it also acts as the heatsink for the output devices and is meant to form a non-resonant housing that helps lower the noise floor. Parts include Audyn and proprietary Karan capacitors, Vishay and Roederstein resistors and Cardas chassis wire. Karan presents the POWERb series as a more attainable version of the POWERa design, keeping the same approach with smaller supplies. Three Critical Mass Systems CS2 1.5 feet support the chassis.

Pairing

With 30 kOhm inputs and a need for 2 V to reach full output, the amplifier is best fed from the balanced output of a preamplifier. Karan's own Master Collection LINEa and LINEb preamplifiers share the chassis width of 504 mm, so the pieces line up on a rack. Two dedicated mains outlets per amplifier should be planned.

Alternatives

The Karan Acoustics POWERa Mono is the larger single-channel amplifier of the Master Collection.