FS Earthquake Cinenova Grande 7 Amp - Brand New!

[getech]

This is an incredible amp to run Klipsch (any model). You will hear musical notes that you never have heard before. It has headroom that beats all headroom. Lists for $5995, can sell for $2949 + shipping.

Recent review:

Earthquake Cinénova Grande Seven-Channel Amplifier

Power that will surely register on your Richter scale.

Earthquake is not a bad moniker to have attached to an amplifier that
can crank out some 300 watts across each of its seven channels. That
kind of power, with the right speakers in front of it, can certainly
set your listening room to rolling and rumbling. The name also applies
well to the minor seismic event that will result when you drop this
122-pound behemoth into your equipment rackassuming that you have an
equipment rack that can hold it. But, as endearing as weight and power
are in an amplifier, they don't tell the whole story of an amplifier's
potential. Finesse and athleticism are just as important in a big,
bulky amplifier as they are in a big, bulky linebacker.

A look inside Earthquake Audio's Cinénova Grande seven-channel model
indicates that the team at Earthquake has gone to considerable lengths
to prove that a potent combination of speed, grace, and power can be
harnessed on a large, multichannel chassis. A good chunk of the
Cinénova Grande's bulk is its massive 4KVA toroidal transformer, which
tips the scales at more than 40 pounds. All seven channels share this
transformer, but that's about all they share. In every other respect,
the channels are independent monoblocks, right down to the fact that
you can remove and service each as a separate module. Each channel has
its own power supply and preamplification stage and possesses no less
than 20 15-gigahertz output transistors, which helps to account for the
speed this thing has.

Each block also has a substantial amount of heatsinking and protection
with individual thermal sensors, in addition to peak LED indicators on
the back panel and a pair of 10-amp fuses on the power-supply rails.
The individual rear panels supply a single-ended (RCA) and a balanced
(XLR) input, five-way binding posts, controls for an independent filter
with options for high-pass, low-pass, or bypass operation, and a
crossover range from 20 hertz to 5 kilohertz. A pre/pro normally
handles the filtering, but this is an interesting feature. I set up the
Cinénova Grande with a variety of playmatessome priced below its
level, and some priced abovewhich gave it the opportunity to prove
itself across a broad range of price categories. The speakers included
a couple of excellent systems from Energy and B&W. For pre/pros, I
went with the Lexicon MC-12 and the Parasound C2. The same diversity of
price and strength of performance applied to the source units, as well,
with the Marantz DV8300 and the Simaudio MOON Orbiter universal
players.

It was hardly surprising that the Cinénova Grande kicked away
from the gate with a truly impressive display of raw power. I set it to
work immediately in two-channel mode with a diverse array of
cage-rattlers, playing everything from Beethoven's Fifth, to the
pipe-organ assault of Lindenkirche Berlin (Burmester Vol. 2), right through the 30-instrument barn dance of "Katy Hill" (The Three Pickers,
Rounder Records). The Cinénova Grande met these challenges with a
massive, wide-open soundstage, and it refused to constrict even the
smallest of nuances anywhere in the presentation. Having seen the
corresponding concert of The Three Pickers several times, I
know where everyone is supposed to be and, thus, knew right away that
the amplifier was reproducing the stage immaculately. Visual aids were
hardly necessary to lay the soundfield out properly in my mindthat's
how good a job this amplifier does of reproducing distinct events, even
in a crowded, hard-driving context.

All of this power was laced with acumen and dexterity. As good as the
Energy Veritas 2.4 speakers are, they are most successful with an amp
that can drive their occasionally laid-back midbass through with
authority but can also keep a handle on their sometimes-exuberant top
end. You can't just throw raw power at these speakers and expect them
to perform their best. The Cinénova Grande did a highly successful job
of addressing both of these aspects, resulting in a near-perfect tonal
balance from top to bottom, with no hints of editorializing or
overmanipulation.

You'd expect impressive dynamic range from an amp with this
kind of résumé, but you'd probably still be surprised by what it does
with high-resolution material, opening the window even further. I hit
it with symphony after symphony and found myself constantly noting how
well this amp preserves soft, subtle nuances, like dancing piccolos.
But it also gives large, powerful events, like brass and percussion
barrages, incredible authority and excitement. I decided to use the
in-the-orchestra perspective to really see what this amp could do with
all of the channels blazing. In turn, one of this amp's most memorable
displays of power, agility, dynamic range, and everything else came
with a playing of Respighi's Pines of Rome
(AIX Records). You haven't entirely heard the magnificent climax that
defines this piece until you've put yourself in the middle of it. It
may not be the textbook way to listen, but it will blow you
awayespecially with a combination like the Cinénova Grande and B&W
speakers exploiting every last element of the frequency range with
off-the-chart dynamics, raw power, and a free-flowing sense of ease and
composure.

The Respighi experience put me in the mood for a more active surround field, so I tried out some war movies like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, as well as big adventure films like the Lord of the Rings
trilogynone of which cheat you on surround effects. Thankfully, both
the Veritas 2.4s and the B&Ws are the kind of surround speakers
that can make good use of their massive wattage allotment. It would be
a shame to put undersized surrounds with this amp. I ultimately used
the Energy and B&W speakers in a seven-channel array that about
blew the door off the room, but not in a way that was uncomfortable or
overly aggressive. Undoubtedly due, in part, to all of its extra
headroom, this amp possesses that rare ability to tear through the
densest, most complicated material with incredible punch, power, and
control, without ever dropping hints that it's having to work very hard
to do so. There were none of the sonic indications, like dynamic
compression or fatigue, or even the physical signs, like excessive
heat. The experience of using this amp is not unlike driving a high-end
luxury sedan where the engine is purring along, barely breaking a sweat
at 3,000 RPMs, and only when you look at the speedometer do you realize
you're going 120 miles per hour.

Power is the lifeblood of a home theater system, and you don't have to
know much about it to know this: You want it to be clean, you want it
to be true, and you want a lot of it. Finding all of this in one
package isn't cheap or easy, and that's why true high-end amplifiers
like the Cinénova Grande cost what they do. If you don't give power its
due when you build your system, it's easy to end up with either a whole
bunch of hapless, distorted watts or an amplifier that sounds good at
modest volumes but not much else. Power with composure and athleticism,
such as that which the Cinénova Grande presents, is a rare thing, and
it's worth paying extra for. Everybody remembers a good earthquake, and
the Cinénova Grande is no exception.

Highlights


Power to burn


Modular, monoblock configuration


Balanced inputs