Designing modular audio components has not been a major focus of the audiophile industry. Aside from some of Theta Digital the ultra high end audio brands have shied away from any such designs.
Theta Digital has done it again with the announcement of the Dreadnaught D modular power amplifier. The Dreadnaught D has the distinction of being Theta’s first Class D power amplifier.
Theta’s Dreadnaught D is designed to accommodate up to 8 channels of amplification The built in power supply uses dual power cords, power switches and toroidal transformers. Inside the chassis, there are 4 slots designed to receive proprietary Theta Digital amplifier modules. There are three modules (one two channel and two mono) available for the Dreadnaught D.
All of Theta’s amplifier modules are based on the Bruno Putzeys’ N-Core class D amplifier circuitry.
The stereo amplifier module is rated at 225W RMS per channel at 8 ohms and 400W at 4 ohms with no more than 0.05% THD from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
The first mono module option has identical performance to the stereo with 225W RMS 225W RMS per channel at 8 ohms and 400W at 4 ohms.
The second mono module option pumps up the power and is capable of bridging two modules to deliver over 500W RMS at 8 ohms with over 800 W RMS at 4 ohms.
While audiophiles can clearly choose a number of configurations, pricing for popular configurations is as follows: MSRP for 225W x 7 is $9,995.00; 400W x 3 plus 225W x 2 is $10,695.00.
Stereo amplifiers are available with 225W x 2 at $6,149.95 and 500W x 2 at $7,445.00.
The Dreadnaught D began shipping June 1, 2015.
