Audio Video News

A buck per watt is a bargain in anybody's book today. It's an especially good value when those watts feature audiophile specifications, and plenty of dynamic headroom.

Sound too good to be true? Not if we're talking about Outlaw Audio's new Model 200 "M-Block" single channel amplifier. It's rated at 200 watts/ 8 ohms and 300 watts/ 4 ohms, and carries a factory-direct price of only $299. The Easton, MA-based electronics maker sells the Model 200 only through the Internet. "No middleman in between" translates to great savings for music and movie fans.

The Outlaw Audio Model 200 M-Block uses a proprietary hybrid Class A/B/Class G amplifier design that is conservatively rated at 200 watts into a 8-ohm load, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, < 0.05%THD, or 300 watts into 4-ohms. The short-term dynamic power rating is 300 watts into 8 ohms. The compact amplifier is just 1-3/4" high, or one rack-unit in pro-audio jargon, while its footprint matches conventional 17 inches wide components. Several can be stacked for multichannel use, for bi-amping audiophile speaker systems, or for powering multi-room whole-house audio systems. The M-200 weighs only 18 lbs.

The price savings are considerable when the M-200 is compared to most multichannel amps now on the market. The M-200 is said to offer "inherently perfect channel isolation" thanks to its use of a separate power supply for each amp. Each "M-Block" features a large-diameter pancake toroidal transformer with a 400VA rating, and two filter capacitors with a combined rating of 20,000 µF to ensure a steady current supply no mater what the input signal.

Input is via a gold-plated RCA jack: the output signal connects via high-quality five-way binding posts. The amp operates in Class A/B power up to 80 watts, the M-200 transitions within two microseconds (2 millionths! of a second) to Class G above that. This technique is said to achieve "a remarkable combination of signal quality, high power levels, high efficiency, and low operating temperatures without the use of a cooling fan," according to an announcement from Outlaw. "The transition to Class G is absolutely inaudible, because the 2 microsecond transition lasts about 1/25th the duration of a single cycle of 20 kHz audio. For the Class A/B operation mode the output stage uses four 15-amp bipolar transistors, while the Class G operation employs two 40-amp high-power MOSFETs." Frequency response is rated at 20Hz- 20kHz; signal-to-noise ratio is a very respectable 100dB.

No front-panel power switch is provided, because the M-200 is intended to be always on or in stand-by mode. There is a rear-panel Master Power Button for shutting the unit off from AC power. In standby mode the Model 200 is turned on or off by a standard 6-35VDC trigger signal applied to a rear-panel jack, or when the "music sense" circuit detects the presence of an audio signal at the input jack. When the audio signal stops for 10 minutes, the amplifier automatically turns off. (Most self-powered subwoofers work the same way.) A three-color LED status indicator glows green when the unit is on, yellow when the unit is in standby, and red if it goes into protect mode.

Outlaw Audio designs and markets a full line of home theater components, including power amplifiers, an audio-video processor, 6.1 channel AV receiver, the ICBM (Integrated Control Bass Manager), and analog and digital interconnect cables.