M1200 Amplifier

The Stellar M1200 mono amplifiers are a high power super linear amplifier with a vacuum tube input providing uncompressed performance.

The Stellar M1200 monoblock power amplifier combines the rich warmth and musicality of vacuum tubes with the jaw-dropping power and seemingly infinite headroom of a 1200 watt high-performance output stage. This extraordinary hybrid amplifier knows no limits. From the subtlest musical whisperings to the loudest crescendos an orchestra or rock band is capable of, Stellar M1200 never flinches. Regardless of your speaker’s power demands or limitations, enjoy the once unachievable uncompressed effortlessness afforded by this design. Pure musical bliss for any loudspeaker made, from the smallest to the biggest. Stellar.

DESIGN

To preserve both uncompressed dynamics as well as the tiniest of nuanced details requires a cost-no-object input stage, like that of a high-performance vacuum tube. The amp’s delicate input signals, now faithfully preserved by its vacuum tube input, then need to be amplified without restriction by taking advantage of a new type of Class D output power module. This extraordinarily high current, low distortion, MOSFET output stage combines state-of-the-art topologies with decades of design and listening experience to produce what we believe is the most musically satisfying amplifier of its kind.

APPLICATION

Power amplifiers delivers only the number of watts required by your speaker to achieve the desired loudness. Even the most powerful amplifiers deliver only what’s asked of them. What’s been missing in most amplifiers is adequate headroom and effortless linear performance—something only a vacuum tube-based powerhouse like the M1200 can unquestionably provide. From the most subtle of details to unheard of explosive dynamics, Stellar M1200 represents the pinnacle of high powered musicality that must be heard to be believed. Regardless of the power demands—or power limitations—of your loudspeakers, Stellar M1200 is the perfect choice if effortless musicality is in your future.

Technology

OVERVIEW

The Stellar M1200 mono amplifiers solve a classic problem with nearly every power amplifier made: sonic compression. When the orchestra gets loud and complex, or the band really starts to rock it out, most power amplifiers get out of their comfort zone and we hear their stress and strain as compression. The M1200 was designed to play any music into any loudspeaker with zero compression. Rated at 600 Watts into 8Ω and a whopping 1200 Watts into 4Ω, the M1200 combines the best of two worlds: ultra-linear, high-current, ICE Edge Class D technology for the output stage; and a discrete, Class-A vacuum tube for the all-important input stage. The M1200’s rich, warm, and beautifully nuanced reproduction of music comes first from the zero feedback, class A vacuum tube input stage. Here nothing is lost in its hand-selected 12AU7 vacuum tube, fed from its own analog power supply.

THE VACUUM TUBE INPUT

The power amplifier is technology always present in stereo systems. Yet, despite the fact everyone uses them, few appreciate the power amp’s critical role in preserving music’s nuanced details because most amplifiers fail to preserve them. Overtones from plucked instruments, subtle cues defining placement, depth, soundstage width, and transient decays are often lost in the power amplifier. The M1200 loses nothing because of its vacuum tube input stage. In the M1200 a zero feedback class A vacuum tube input stage captures every whisper of music while preserving intact the most dynamic crescendos and quick rise time transients with zero loss. The listening experience with the M1200 is nothing short of a revelation. Where most amplifiers do their best to preserve dynamics, they fail to present them as if they were live. The M1200 eliminates the tendency of nearly every power amplifier to change its sonic character as the music gets louder.

OUTPUT STAGE

The Stellar M1200 has a massive power supply and ultra-linear, high-wattage power amplification stage based on a modern Class D ICE module. Class D output stages provide near-perfect linearity, low distortion, and high efficiency. Modern Class D amplifiers, like the type used in Stellar, extend high frequencies to about 50kHz. Human hearing limitations are 20kHz, though most listeners rarely have hearing exceeding half that. Providing excellent frequency extremes, low distortion, high efficiency, high damping factor, and a generous and powerful output of 1200 watts into the most common loudspeaker loads of 4Ω, the M1200 is nothing short of breathtaking. The massively powerful nature of the M1200 works well with any loudspeaker—big or small—providing huge amounts of headroom and effortless sound quality for even the most demanding orchestral crescendos.

Features

• MONO POWER AMPLIFIER PAIR
• ZERO-LOSS TUBE INPUT STAGE
• POWERFUL MOSFET OUTPUT STAGE
• RCA SINGLE ENDED INPUT
• XLR “TRUE” BALANCED INPUT
• 600 WATTS PER CHANNEL 8Ω
• 1200 WATTS RMS INTO 4Ω
• 2Ω STABLE
• ICE EDGE TECHNOLOGY
• DAMPING FACTOR > 1100
• FRONT PANEL STANDBY BUTTON
• VERY LITTLE HEAT PRODUCTION
• DUAL, SOLID, COPPER PLATED OUTPUT POSTS
• 27LBS. EACH
• INPUT 12v TRIGGER

Reviews

As it happened, however, my system was in flux, with gear whizzing in and out the door; so, I put the M1200s first on the WAMM main loudspeakers without harboring too great expectations. Boy, was I in for a surprise! The M1200 is not a good amplifier; it is a superb one.

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the abso!ute sound Jacob Heilbrunn

PS Audio Stellar M1200 proved itself to be one hell of an amplifier when it was delivering the sound of all the pianos I auditioned

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Roger Hargreaves, What HiFi