Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Axiom A1400-8 Digital Amplifier

I wasn't trying to argue or be confrontational; I hope I did not offend you.

I'd agree that I'd be more excited, and that traditional Axiom customers would be much more likely to support an amp at half that price. Perhaps an A800-8 or A500-2 someday.

The main amp is a new category for us but in reality it is a logical progression. Amp design started here at Axiom with the DSP-controlled subwoofers. I had always wanted to produce a DSP-controlled subwoofer with tons of headroom since we started playing around with this at the NRC in 1989. Our barrier was that we were having our subwoofer amps made by an OEM vendor and that severely limited our design envelope. Tom and I started talking about the possibilities back in 2001 and it was soon becoming clear that the only way we were going to be able to do it was to start making the amps ourselves. Tom had a design concept that was just too exciting to me to leave as an idea. It was then that Tom joined Axiom full time and the research work began in earnest on his new design. Even though in the beginning the focus of this new design was to make subwoofer amps, it was pretty clear early on that we needed to take this technology broadband; it simply just worked too well not to. For Axiom I like to bring out products that have some kind of distinct and measurable advantage at their price point. Though we could easily bring to market another 7-channel amp at $1,500; we would not have anything extra to offer compared to what is on the market currently (in fact we are selling the Sherwood amp in that category for those looking for a step up to a big receiver). We knew however that we had the ability to go the next step up and replace the mono block category with a single multi-channel amplifier by using the technology that was in our sub amp and taking it broadband. The A1400-8 is that amp.

Lots of specs will start coming out on the A1400-8 over the next few weeks for those of you who have been inquiring. We just received the final version of the output coils today that will allow us to finalize a lot of these specs.

So far we don’t have any plans for a toaster oven; though I have owned some class A/B amps through the years that would have made some decent toast on the heat sinks. Of course the A1400-8 with its high efficiency would hardly warm up that piece of bread.

Ian,

Thanks for the input. Is Axiom planning a cheaper 2-5 channel amp that will contain the same technology?

Yeah, I want one. I look forward to the more detailed specs.

Absolutely not. I just realized that my tone was a bit harsh. No offence taken, none whatsoever.

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I wasn't trying to argue or be confrontational; I hope I did not offend you.

I'd agree that I'd be more excited, and that traditional Axiom customers would be much more likely to support an amp at half that price. Perhaps an A800-8 or A500-2 someday.

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Hutzal,

In fact we are going to have a 2-channel version which will follow the 8-channel by a few months. It will be bridgeable into mono as well for some pretty exciting output at 4 and 8 ohms.

Amp headroom is a very underappreaciated audio concept. Just about every speaker or sub I have ever owned has performed better with more powerful and clean amplification. The sound of clipping amps annoy me too much. Most people underestimate just how much power is required to reproduce transients cleanly and accurately. Orchestral crescendos, sudden loud kick drums or dramatic bass riffs need huge instantaneous increases in power supplied to the speakers. Alan wrote this great article on just how much extra power is required as SPL increases. Doubling loudness or increasing SPL by 3db requires twice the power. Its a logarithmic function. http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.html

The amp in the EP subs is one of the finest amplifiers to be found in any subwoofer, far better that the Indigo plate amps favoured by other sub manufactuerers. While there is more to a sub than the amp, most people focus on the driver and neglect just how important the amp is to quality sound reproduction. All the subs I had with conventional plate amps were sold long ago.

Cheap and expensive are relative terms. What's expensive to somebody may not be so to someone else depending on their objectives and requirments. I've always used Bryston amps: 7bsst monos, 14bsst, 9bsst and lately a pair of 4bssts bridged mono to provide 1000w per side. If the specs on the A 1400-8 or its 2 channel version are as good as has been suggested then the price is cheap indeed compared to the price of comparable amplifiers. I'm looking forward to comparing specs and A/Bing an eight or two channel version with my Brystons. If they sound and perform the same, the used Brystons go up for sale and I'll be saving a pile of $$s.

If anyone needs a toaster I have an old Sony amp that can be useful at breakfast time.