| Available in silver or black, the PLINIUS Odeon is the
culmination of more than two years actual development time and twenty-two years
of PLINIUS heritage. When we first stepped onto the Multichannel development
path we found that although there were already many fine home theatre amplifiers
available none had really addressed the requirements of music lovers. Right from
the outset the PLINIUS Odeon had to satisfy a real world musical presentation.
For us this meant that if one replaced an SA-102 or an SA-250 in a
two-channel system with our Odeon amplifier there would be no chance of feeling
short changed. The design team headed by Gary Morrison set about emulating the
performance of our SA-102 in a form that could be built into a multichannel
chassis without compromise. While the circuit work was developing our Director
of Design Ross Stevens was creating havoc with our engineers in building the
chassis he wanted to house the circuitry. By January 2002 we had a working
prototype and our early comparisons with the best available Home Theatre
amplifiers proved that we had something very special indeed.
Production was delayed while specialist bending equipment was designed and
fabricated, resulting in a custom machine able to reliably reproduce the complex
two piece aluminium chassis surround. Internally the Odeon is striking in both
its complexity and engineering excellence. The power supply is huge and uses 4
transformers connected in parallel to provide the drive necessary for up to six
channels delivering 200 Watts each continuously. The main circuit board has the
control circuitry plus the initial power supply filtering. The full benefit of
the power supply can be heard when the Odeon is used in a two channel system,
giving one a sense of immense reserve regardless of the speaker demands.
There is further power supply filtering on each amplification module. All
single channel modules are fitted with input and output terminals offering both
Single Ended and Balanced input connections. Of course nothing stands still and
during the gestation period of the Odeon further requirements of Multichannel
amplifiers became apparent. In order to future proof the Odeon we have designed
a Dual Channel Amplifier Module which can be fitted at the time of purchase or
easily added later as the system evolves.
The Dual Channel Module has a power rating of 2 x 100Watts and allows
expansion right up to twelve channels if necessary. Therefore any combination of
5.1, 6.1, 7.1 etc is available and can be field fitted. The PLINIUS Odeon can
also be used in a two channel system as a stand alone tri-amplifier delivering
power and finesse to the most demanding speaker systems. This is a highly
developed amplifier and will form the nucleus of the best multichannel or two
channel audio systems. |
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