Предусилители — Bella Sound Kalalau

The Kalalau is the line preamplifier from Bella Sound of El Granada, California, and its name, which translates as Road to Paradise, refers to the path the signal takes through it. It is hand-built in the USA, priced at USD 20,000, and was designed to work with the brand's own Kahili stereo and Hanalei monoblock power amplifiers. The front is a hard maple faceplate with stainless steel inlays, and a remote control is included.

Key specs that matter

Five inputs are provided - In 1, In 2, In 3, Tape In and a Home Theater Bypass - each available on both Cardas RCA and XLR, and the Main Out and Tape Out are offered in the same two forms. Input impedance is 50 kOhm. At the attenuator maximum, gain is 10.3 dB through the single-ended path and 16.3 dB through the balanced path. Frequency response spans 1 Hz to 400 kHz with the attenuator at a 30 dB reference setting. Typical THD is 0.008% at 1 V RMS and 1 kHz, the unweighted signal-to-noise ratio is 103 dB at 1 V output over a 20 kHz noise bandwidth, and output noise is typically 50 nV per root hertz at 1 kHz. Volume moves through 63 steps of 1 dB each. Power draw is 3.6 W on standby and 34 W in use, on 120 V or 240 V mains. The unit measures 490 x 140 x 429 mm and weighs 21.3 kg.

Engineering and use context

Bella Sound built the Kalalau as an all-discrete J-FET design in fully balanced class A to combine low noise with high linearity. It is DC-coupled from input to output, so no capacitors sit in the signal path, while film capacitors bypass all four power supplies instead. Naked bulk metal foil resistors are used throughout the signal path, and volume is handled by Khozmo balanced attenuators rather than a potentiometer. The regulated supplies are filtered in three stages, and each amplifier channel and the power supply are enclosed in separate internal Faraday cages to keep them isolated from one another. Components are cryogenically treated. The chassis is milled, with a 12.7 mm floor plate as its base.

Pairing

Bella Sound matches the Kalalau with the 800 W Kahili stereo amplifier or a pair of 700 W Hanalei monoblocks, and the balanced outputs are the natural link to either. Because both output pairs are live, one set can drive the main amplifier while the other feeds a recorder through Tape Out. The Home Theater Bypass input lets a surround processor share the same power amplifiers as the stereo system. Sources with XLR outputs, such as balanced DACs or phono stages, can use the balanced path and its higher gain.

Alternatives

The Kalalau is the only preamplifier Bella Sound makes, so the brand offers no second model in this category.