Denon POA-A1HDCI - Manual (Page 4)

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the processor and I am hopeful they can
take better advantage of this feature perhaps
by offering power monitoring via future
firmware upgrades to the AVP-A1HDCI
processor. There is also a 12V trigger for
those not using the Link control feature
found on the matching pre/pro. An RS-232C
connection (first time I’ve ever seen this
on a power amp) is available for external
control as well.
The Denon multi-channel power amplifier
features three channel level meters across
its front-panel. I like the idea here but don’t
particularly care too much for the white
backlighting. Personally I’d rather they run
across the street to McIntosh labs and
replace them with blue ones and make the
panels larger so they can be more easily
seen from a distance. Regardless, I like the
idea of monitoring power with old fashion
VU meters and it gives the amplifier a nice
high end appeal to it.
You can select the output level (dB
indicator) of each power amp channel by
using one of the channel level meters. The
channel level meter to the left of the unit's
front-panel displays the output level of Left
1, Left 2, Left 3, or Left 4 channel of the
amplifier. The channel level meter to the
right of the unit's front-panel displays the
output level of the Right 1, Right 2, Right
3, or Right 4 channel of the amplifier. The
channel level meter located in the center of
the front-panel of the amplifier display the
output level of the Left 5 or Right 5 channel
of the amplifier. I monitored the front 3
channels, especially since my mains were
configured in bridged mode to see if I ever
drove the needles into red.
According to the manual, the front panel
level indicators represent the following
power levels which are more ideal than
a reality for bridged amplifiers. Rarely
have I come across an amplifier that can
truly deliver 4x the power when bridged,
especially into a 4-ohm load as you will see
in the measurements portion of this review.
I believe however that these power figures
are more representative of dynamic rather
than sustained at least for bridged modes
of operation.
Design Overview
& Build Quality
The Denon POA-A1HDCI is a no holds
barred, no compromise multi-channel
THX Ultra2 certified amplifier design that
represents some of the best engineering
I’ve seen to date in a traditional linear
Class A/B amplifier. Each of the unit's
ten amplifier channels feature a discrete
power amplifier assembly and DC power
supply to eliminate interference between
channels. The POA-A1HDCI is equipped
with eight individual transformers to
supply power to each discrete circuit and
uses 4 main power transformers to drive
the ten channel power amplifiers with
separated coil winding for pure audio
playback. High current DC rectifiers
and companion high current filter/
storage capacitors (20 x 10,000uF 80V
105 deg C rated to yield a whopping
200,000uF total storage capacity) ensure
Output
Indicator
4-ohm 8-ohm
4-ohm –
bridged
8-ohm –
bridged
0 dB 300 watts 150 watts 1200 watts 600 watts
- 10dB 30 watts 15 watts 120 watts 60 watts
- 20 dB 3 watts 1.5 watts 12 watts 6 watts
- 30 dB 300 mwatts 150 mwatts 1.2 watts 600 mwatts
- 40 dB 30 mwatts 15 mwatts 120 mwatts 60 mwatts
- 50 dB 3 mwatt 1.5 mwatts 12 mwatts 6 mwatts