Multichannel amplifier
Even if your principal system is an astonishingly high quality audiophile set-up, what about the rest of the house? Or what about the 11 channels required for a full (or 7.1.4 at least) Dolby Atmos system? The $3995 ZoneMaster Model 1250 is a 12-channel power amplifier, extremely flexible, but also of high quality, coming from respected powermeisters Parasound in San Francisco.
Although there are 12 channels, it can be used for 11, or 10, or any number down to six. You don’t waste the leftover amplifications — the 12 channels are grouped as six ‘zones’, and each can have its two channels bridged to one (for higher power output) or can be set to be a mono pair (i.e. with left/right signals mixed and output by both channels). Zones can be grouped via two separate buses. All channels can be switched on manually or by 12V trigger.
This allows great flexibility. Add it to a 7.1-channel receiver with Dolby Atmos support, say, and use four of the 1250’s power amps for the ceiling speakers, then plug the receiver’s Zone B outputs into one of the bus inputs and feed this to the other eight channels to power other speakers around the home. Or use an AV preamp and put the Parasound on the power end.
The amps are Class-D units, 50W into eight ohms, 90W into four ohms, and actually rated to support two-ohm loads, so each output can support two loudspeakers via A and B terminals. So that’s 12 channels, potentially 24 speakers supported.
Setting up the system proved to be surprisingly easy. The important thing is to pause and think carefully, working out what you want each of the channels to do before launching into it.
With stereo music the amp surprised us: the music was delivered with a combined honey-like smoothness and precision of truly high-quality amplifiers. We ran several of our favourite Atmos scenes, enjoying impressive dynamic impact and precision in the hemispherical imaging.
This isn’t merely a workhorse; it’s an audiophile-quality product in its own right. Parasound’s avowed purpose is “to find the sweetest spot between price and diminishing returns”. The versatile Model 1250 just couldn’t be sweeter.
More info: www.networkav.com.au