My plan is to use active crossovers and probably a pair of 7 channel amps. I'd like to have 790(0)s, but I might just go 7125s. I wonder what the family price for a pair of amps and a 990 would be?

That's assuming I go Outlaw - I'm also looking at Sunfire and Arcam, and maybe Rotel. But Outlaw is the front runner.

Good discussion; however I never said that the proposed amplifier needed to be pure class A. That would be the only way that the power problem several of you alluded to would come up.

The quality of the switching circuitry available today is so high that a very good high current amp could be made that could drop from class A to class C under high current loads and still provide the kind of power I listed for those applications that would require it (such as Outlaw bragging rights without melting down the 15 amp breaker in your home breaker panel.

Power out has to be less than power in. Amplifier class has little to do with that fact.

Actually, it wouldn't have to be heavier. It would just have to improve efficiency. The vast majority of the weight of the current amps is taken up by output transformers and heatsinks.

There are companies out there that are outputting 400wpc into 4ohms in substantially lighter and smaller form factors, but they're doing it using more efficient PWM digital amps. As these amp designs are perfected and gain more market acceptance, they will take over the class AB amplifier space.

Cheers,

That's just crazy talk. We want our amps to eventually weigh as much as an Abrams tank.

Amps getting lighter, whoever heard such a thing?

I have seen an amp that had two power cords. I assume that this would allow you to plug them into two separate circuits each on a different 15 amp breakers which would allow you to reach beyond the 1800W normal house limit. A possible solution for a 7 channel 300 WPC, 2100W amp.

The Model 790 will be configured in exactly this way (see this picture of the old 790 design, taken by psklenar in May 2004) to achieve a 300Wx7 capacity. It'll need two dedicated circuits to reach full output, of course.

I want one. So what is the problem with the 790? Heat? If they have to put a fan in it that won't bother me. They can make fans pretty quite these days. Less than 30db.
Another amp that uses two power cords.

The design seen in Pat's pictures apparently had problems with heat rejection, and Outlaw decided to take it all the way back to the drawing board (at which point I suspect the 7125, 7700, 7500, and 7075 got ahead of it). Last I heard, though, it's still coming at some point.

Is it to late to ask for LED's on the front panel that would give you some type of power level status? I have never had a separate amp that didn't have something showing you how hard the amp was working until the M200.