| The X0 is a line stage preamplifier system houses in three separate
chassis, with two chassis devoted to analog gain stages and one for power supply and
digital control circuitry. The control chassis offers both remote and manual control of
the select and gain settings of the analog circuits and features a vacuum fluorescent
display. Digital and analog power supplies are completely independent, and the circuitry
is shielded from digital and radio frequency noise. The "Supersymmetry"™
circuit topology is featured in the X0. Each channel uses completely balanced circuitry
through the entire signal path. There are five balanced/single-ended inputs and one
balanced/single-ended tape monitor input. There are both balanced and single-ended
connections for tape and main outputs.
The Supersymmetry circuit topology improves the performance of a balanced amplifier by
precisely matching the characteristics of the two balanced halves of a simple Class A
circuit. To the extent that distortion and noise can be made identical on the two output
connections, they will not be seen at the balanced output. Ordinary matching techniques
can achieve improvements by a factor of 10 or so under the best conditions, but the
Supersymmetric technique lowers distortion and noise by another order of magnitude without
requiring high feedback.
The X0 utilizes a radically new type of volume control for which a US patent is
pending. Developed by Wayne Colburn, it sets new standards in the performance achievable
in active attentuation, with distortion and noise at 1/10 and dynamic range 100 times the
previous state of the art. Volume and balance are independently adjustable over a 70 dB
range in 1 dB steps.
The control software of the preamp allows one input to be set to unity gain,
facilitating use of the primary audio system in a home theatre system. A true monaural
connection is also available between the two analog chassis.
Each chassis measures 17"W X 12"D X 3.5"H and weighs 35 pounds in the
shipping carton. |
