Introduction

CHAPTER 1

Bob Carver, AmpliÞer Designer, Physicist

Dear Friend:

Thank you for purchasing my SunÞre Cinema Grand Þve channel power ampliÞer. I hope you enjoy it and the music it makes as much as I have enjoyed creating it for you.

This magniÞcent ampliÞer represents my very latest thinking - and my best ampliÞer design ever. I’ve spent over twenty years developing it, and cannot imagine how I could make it any better, or reÞne it any further. No matter what, its perfor- mance is, at Þrst, somewhat difÞcult to believe.

The Signature 400~Þve can produce 400 watts rms per channel into 8 ohms and 800 watts rms into 4 ohms. The 200~Þve can produce 200 watts rms per channel into 8 ohms, and 400 watts rms into 4 ohms.

The big breakthrough feature of the Cinema Grand is its uncanny tracking downconverter, which uses 18 Herculean Mosfets in the Signature 400~Þve and 12 in the 200~Þve.

The circuit boards are heavy glass epoxy, double sided, with a Faraday shield on the back side. All resistors in the sig- nal path are 1% tolerance, metal-Þlm. Critical capacitors are Þlm devices with high dielectric strength and ultra low absorp- tion characteristics. An enormous Cinema Grand power source built around a massive power transformer provides the ultimate muscle for limitless dynamics.

I could go on and on, but here’s the best part: I’ve included two kinds of outputs on the front left, right, and center :

(1)a standard voltage-source(i.e., near zero impedance) output for all typical applications and:

(2)a higher-impedance current-sourceoutput, which many prefer for electrostatic, planar magnetic, or ribbon speak- ers. Or you can biwire your system with the voltage source driving the woofer(s) and the current source driving the upper part of the system. In many cases this provides by far the best possible interface between the ampliÞer and the speaker system.

Whichever way you decide to hook up the SunÞre Cinema Grand, it will create a multilayered soundstage that is deep, wide, three-dimensional, and utterly believable. The optional current-source output can coax forth a sensuous, delicately detailed musical voice long associated with low-powered classic tube ampliÞers. (The current-source characteristic of vacuum tubes is the dominant factor in the soundstage delivery of classic tube ampliÞers.)

User's Manual