KRELL Releases S-1200 and S-1200U Surround Sound PreAmps

Coupling Krell preamplifier technology and the HDMI 1.3 surround formats, the S-1200 is marketed by Krell as an “ideal centerpiece for any high performance music and home theater system.” All eight S-1200U analog output stages are built to the same exacting standard and feature balanced and single-ended cable connections and Krell claims its preamplifier circuitry is employed within every channel utilizing discrete current based Class A, direct coupled circuitry for the greatest signal purity and highest bandwidth. Performance robbing op amps or integrated circuits are not used anywhere in the audio path. Preamp mode bypasses all digital circuitry and routes analog stereo inputs directly to a balanced resistor ladder volume control for ultimate music reproduction.

At the hub of the S-1200 digital signal processing is a pair of dual core 32 bit Crystal CS497004 DSP’s performing 1.8 Giga operations per second. Digital signals are then routed to 24 bit ESS Sabre DACS. Video content is treated to the same high performance engineering as the audio signals. All-discrete video circuitry takes full advantage of the new Deep Color HDMI 1.3 specifications (which, by the way, every current HDMI switcher/amplifier does now). Maximum color depth has been increased from 24 bits to 48 bits and bandwidth from 165MHz to 340MHz. Full video transcoding converts composite, S-Video, or component inputs to HDMI signals.  Furthermore, the S-1200U model includes up-conversion to a maximum of 1080p resolution.

The 1200 isn’t on their website yet, but you can download a spec sheet here.