| |
(Continued
from previous page)
Front and Back
The Dreadnaught is not your usual square "black
box" amplifier. The front panel has a curvy design with handles
built into the sides - invaluable for manhandling. In the flat centre
section of the front panel are three LEDs, labelled "Surround",
"Standby" and "Thermal", one large pushbutton
labelled "Standby" and a second, smaller button labelled
"Surround" - more on those later
The rear panel configuration depends on the options
that you order. Each balanced module sports an RCA input jack; a
female XLR input jack; 3 LEDs (thermal overload, fuse rail + and
fuse rail -); two little toggle switches, one for switching between
the unbalanced and balanced inputs, the other for designating the
particular input as on the "surround" or "stereo"
buss (more on that in a moment, I promise). The most striking feature
of the rear panel is the speaker cable connector - a new design
from Cardas, I believe - which has a single large screw-wheel which
clamps a cross-bar down simultaneously on the +ve and -ve spades
(spades, or at a pinch, bare wires, are the only methods of connection
available on the balanced module). I have never come across a speaker
connector which is as easy to hook-up or as sturdy as this one.
Back to the buss feature - the Surround button on the front of the
amp toggles on and off those channels which have been assigned to
the surround buss by their rear toggle switch, so, if you are a
two-channel purist, you can switch off all but the left and right
main speakers for music-only listening, making the full capacity
of the power supply available to just those channels. The rear of
the unit also has two handles to ease handling and positioning of
the amp; (optional) RJ45 and DB-9 connectors for RS-232 control;
two 3.5mm jacks for standby and surround buss remote triggers (these
are current pulse triggers - see http://smr-home-theatre.org/Reviews/xantech/
for compatibility with the more common constant voltage trigger
sources); main power switch; system fuse; and an IEC-type AC power
input connector, so you can use one of those tree-trunk sized, add-on
power cords if you really must.
Performance
So how does the Dreadnaught sound? In a word: stupendous,
amazing, mind-blowing, astonishing! OK that's several words but
I think you get the idea: I really, really, like this amp…
a lot. During the extended period that I have had the Dreadnaught
in my system, I have thrown just about every conceivable type of
source material at it, and it has not flinched once. In the usual
movie soundtrack torture tests (such as the opening scene of Saving
Private Ryan; the storm sequences from The Perfect Storm; the helicopter
sequences from Apocalypse Now; submarine interiors from Das Boot
and U-571; various DTS demo discs) the Dreadnaught never came close
to running out of steam, even at reference level, and I suspect
that the manufacturer's power ratings are on the conservative side.
There was no hint of muddiness or confusion with all five channels
active. The Dreadnaught is not however only a master of crash, bang,
wallop performances. Soundtracks which are more dialogue intensive
or where the effects are more subtle (like The Truman Show, Contact,
Sex in the City, The Sopranos, Amistad, Bedazzled, Chicken Run)
are reproduced with great ease. It is equally impressive with Dolby
Pro Logic sources - I listened to the standard PCM track on my Japanese
import of The Phantom Menace, and in straight Pro Logic mode, it
was very impressive. The Dreadnaught is no slouch when it comes
to music either: 5.1 sources like Roy Orbison & Friends: Black
& White Night, The Bee Gees: One Night Only, Peter Frampton:
Live In Detroit or James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre sounded
the best I have ever heard them. I also gave some of my favourite
CDs extended listening through the Dreadnaught. One of my favourite
recent purchases is the late Eva Cassidy's Songbird which is a remarkable
CD on any equipment - processed in Music Logic mode by my Lexicon
MC-1 and amplified by the Dreadnaught, it is truly outstanding (I
would recommend this CD to anyone - Eva Cassidy is surely one of
the greatest ever female vocalists and her untimely death a great
loss). My collection of Renaissance and pre-Renaissance choral music
(performed, for example, by The Tallis Scholars, The Anonymous Four,
and The Sixteen) has never sounded better. I even span up a few
of those black vinyl thingies on the Dualrecord deck that Alan Maier
restored for me and listened to a few of the albums that I have
not heard in years - Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Works from 1977
brought back (mostly) pleasant memories of preparing for my exams
in Grammar School.
I also experimented with the Dreadnaught's buss system,
assigning left and right main channels to the stereo buss and the
others to the surround buss, via the toggle switch on the rear of
each channel module. I also connected the output from my Xantech
switching module to the surround trigger input of the Dreadnaught
and set up my MC-1 so that selecting the CD input sent a trigger
to the Xantech and thence to the Dreadnaught, switching it into
stereo mode (I also made sure that I had put the MC-1 into two-channel
mode). The system works as advertised and although, personally,
I don't listen to two channel sources in straight stereo any more
(not when the MC-1's Music Surround and Music Logic modes are so
good), I can see that for the two-channel purist, it would be a
useful automation feature, as well as ensuring that the power supply
of the amp is devoted only to the two active channels.
Conclusion
The Dreadnaught is a top-notch performer, right up
there with the best power amplifiers available. I didn't find it
lacking in any respect, and I pushed it as hard as I could. Admittedly
my speakers are not the most difficult to drive (Von Schweikert
VR-2000s - 8ohm nom. impedance, 91dB sensitivity; LCR-30 - 8 ohm,
92dB and TS-200s - 8ohm, 90dB) but the Dreadnaught had plenty in
reserve for more difficult loads. In fact, I have heard the Dreadnaught
driving the superb Revel Salons (6ohm - 3ohm, 86dB) in my dealer's
listening room and it showed no signs of strain at reference level.
The build quality of the Dreadnaught is also exemplary. There are
only two downsides, the potential importance of which depends on
the location and set up of your system: the Dreadnaught is big and
because of its design it runs very warm - both good reasons not
to try to shoehorn this amp into your average "entertainment
centre" or equipment rack. This is also good because an amp
that looks this great deserves to be out on display on a stand on
the floor. That probably means that it will be hard to fit the Dreadnaught
into a room which is used for purposes other than as a dedicated
home theatre - the potential for tripping over it, spilling things
in it, or the cat sleeping on top of it in the warm, is too great,
but it will help keep your home theatre room warm in the winter.
However, performance of this quality does not come
cheaply: the basic chassis with power supply lists for $1,950, a
single-channel 200w balanced module for $810 and a two-channel module
for $1,000. That makes a 5 × 200w channel unit $6,000, but
that is not uncompetitive in comparison with similarly performing
amps and considerably cheaper than some of the more esoteric monoblock
competition. But I would consider that money well spent,  buying
you whatis, in my opinion, an amp that can hold its own with the
very best multi-channel amps around and probably most of the specialist
monoblock and two-channel designs. After buying the Dreadnaught,
I don't think you would need or want another amp for your home theatre,
except perhaps a second Dreadnaught if Tom Holman's 10.2 system
concept ever makes it into the home!
For those who cannot quite afford the Dreadnaught,
Theta has recently introduced a smaller, less expensive, amp - the
Intrepid - which employs the same design principals as the Dreadnaught
and which I reported on from CES (http://smr-home-theatre.org/ces2001/home_theater/page_10.shtml)
There is one other downside for me: now that I have
finished the review, Theta will probably want the review sample
back - getting it out of my hands, er… I mean my basement,
will not be easy.
Email:
Nigel Pond Visit:
SMR Home Theatre
Page Number:
1 |
2
|
|
