Advantage

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The products are still designed and manufactured in exactly the same way, in fact the product range is unchanged except for the addition of the soon to be released Beowulf mono-blocks. For those unaware all the Advantage products have been and will continue to be designed by Mike Bladelius hence the name change. Beowulf The Beowulf monaural amplifier is a milestone in amplifier design. The combination of bi-polar and MOSFET power devices in one chassis have never been realised before and creates great advantages in music reproduction and control of bi-wired or bi-amplified speaker systems.

Basically the Beowulf is two power amplifiers in one chassis. One amplifier section, based on bipolar power devices, is optimized to handle low frequency information, while the other amplifier section, based on MOSFET power devices, is optimized to handle high frequency information. Normally this is undoable, but thanks to a very careful matching of power devices in time domain, timbre and tonal balance, the Beowulf handles the changeover from the low frequency amplifier section to the high frequency section without any audible disadvantages. Every power amplifier section is capable of delivering 450W in 8 Ohms, 900W in 4 Ohms and 1800W in 2 Ohms continuously.

This immense strength is realised thanks to the huge switch mode power supply capable of supplying the amplifier sections with more than 10kVA of power. Thanks to the massive power supply of no less than 8 KVA, the Grendel delivers 350 W (8 ohm) per channel (mono modules) with no restrain of power even when all channels are driven at the same time. The stereo module delivers 2 x 140 W (8 ohm). Because of the modular design, combining mono and stereo modules is not a problem.

Technical specifications Monomodule: 350W 8 ohm < 0.1 % distortion 700W 4 ohm < 0.1 % distortion Stereomodule: 140 W 8 ohm < 0.1 % distortion 280 W 4 ohm < 0.1 % distortion Frequency range DC -100 kHz +/- 1 dB Input impedance 50 Kohm 8 KVA high performance power supply J-FET Single-ended coupled input stage High power output devices Bladelius Gondul/Advantage S12 Gondul, the goddess of Valkyrie was sent to earth to bring back the spirits of famous kings who fell in battle. Gondul plays all standard formats; CD/SACD/DVD-Audio/DVD-Video/MP3 etc. Its modular design allows the customer to choose his own plug-in boards. Currently the following modules are available; 3 DAC Boards providing different levels of performance.

Other boards are forthcoming. The player has a built-in analogue volume control that gives the highest obtainable performance at all levels. A large toroidal transformer is the heart and foundation for a carefully designed power supply. Gondul has 3 digital inputs and 3 digital outputs.

Technical specifications General Audio Performance Features, Level 1 Multi-channel DVD Audio playback Multi-channel SACD playback (1 bit) The player is fitted with two Crystal DACS per channel in a balanced differential configuration. MP3 playback capability Bass Management 3 Digital Outputs Fully modular design allowing upgrade to level 2 and 3 Additional Audio Performance Features, Level 2 An upsampling circuit gives the customer an ability to choose between 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 kHz. Jitter elimination by asyncronus re-clocking produces almost jitter free playback; (0-10 ps). 3 digital inputs (AES/EBW - Toslink - SPDIF) Additional Audio Performance Features, Level 3 Fully separate conversion for SACD, DVD-Audio and other audio formats.

Gondul is here fitted with 4 selected 24 bit PCM 1704-k DACS from Burr-Brown. They are symmetrically configurated in a balanced mode. For SACD-mode; 4 DACS, two per channel in a differential balanced mode (Burr-Brown DSD 1792). Digital filter DF 1706 handles 192 kHz 24 bit.

Sample ratio for DA-conversion 768 kHz 24 bit. Discrete Current/Voltage conversion. Optional Analogue Input board. An analogue input board is available.

It will turn Gondul into a complete preamplifier with 1 balanced input (XLR) and 3 single ended inputs (RCA). This new integrated amplifier Thor, designed in Sweden by Bladelius, has the same earth rattling power to transform sound into music and feeling into emotion. Thor derives its immense strength from a massive 1800 VA custom designed, toroidal transformer and 80000 micro farads of filter capacitance. The noise floor is extraordinary low and and Thor yields a seemingly endless supply of power for any load.

Thor features a fully balanced design that deliveres dynamic, detailed and lifelike presentation of music. Single ended MOSFET input-stage drives 16 high power beta matched MOSFET output devices to provide 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms. The DC-coupled design is fully balanced throughout the entire signal path. Using a balanced design ensures the lowest noise and distortion achievable.

Seven analog input pairs are provided for use with 2 balanced (XLR) and 5 single-ended (RCA) sources. A pair of pre-amp outputs allows connection to an external power amplifier while using the Thor as a pre-amplifier. The fully balanced design delivers dynamic, detailed and life like presentation of music. Freja is a 2 channel disc-player and plays all standard formats CD / SACD / DVD-Audio.

Upsampling converter 192 kHz. Linear power supply for the audio-curcuits with large toridial transformer. For best jitter performance the transport slaves to the DA-converters. Swiss made XLR connectors by Neutrik.