Chapter 1: Introduction - Sunfire Cinema Grand 200-seven User Manual

CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Dear Friend,
Thank you for purchasing my SunÞ re Cinema Grand seven channel power ampliÞ er. I hope you en-
joy it and the music it makes as much as I have enjoyed creating it for you.
This magniÞ cent ampliÞ er represents my very latest thinking - and my best ampliÞ er design ever.
I've spent over twenty years developing it, and cannot imagine how I could make it any better, or
reÞ ne it any further. No matter what, its performance is, at Þ rst, somewhat difÞ cult to believe.
The Signature 400~seven can pro duce 400 watts rms per channel into 8 ohms and 800 watts
rms into 4 ohms.
The 200~seven can pro duce 200 watts rms per channel into 8 ohms, and 400 watts rms into 4
ohms.
The big breakthrough feature of the Cinema Grand is its uncanny tracking downconverter, which
uses 18 Herculean Mosfets in the Signature 400~seven and 12 in the 200~seven. This allows the
Cinema Grand to produce phenominal power output, without the heat generated by conventional
designs.
The circuit boards are heavy glass epoxy, double sided, with a Faraday shield on the back side.
All resistors in the signal path are 1% tolerance, metal-Þ lm. Critical ca pac i tors are Þ lm devices with
high dielectric strength and ultra low absorption characteristics. An enor mous Cinema Grand power
source built around a massive power transformer provides the ultimate muscle for limitless dynamics.
I could go on and on, but here's the best part: I've included two kinds of outputs on the front left
and front right channels:
(1) a standard voltage-source (i.e., near zero im ped ance) output for all typical applications and:
(2) a higher-impedance current-source output, which many prefer for electrostatic, planar
mag net ic, or ribbon speakers. Or you can biwire your system with the voltage source driving
the woofer(s) and the current source driving the upper part of the system. In many cases this
provides by far the best possible in ter face between the ampliÞ er and the speaker system.
Whichever way you decide to hook up the SunÞ re Cinema Grand, it will create a multilayered
sound stage that is deep, wide, three-di men sion al, and utterly be liev able. The optional cur rent-source
output can coax forth a sen su ous, delicately detailed musical voice long associated with low-powered
classic tube ampliÞ ers. (The current-source char ac ter is tic of vacuum tubes is the dominant factor in
the sound stage delivery of classic tube ampliÞ ers).
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Bob Carv er, AmpliÞ er De sign er, Physicist
User's Manual