Pearl Acoustics has revised its existing 170 integrated tube amplifier. The 170 SE has significant improvements under the hood. The company also announces a new power amplifier called the 7040. The 7040 operates in Class D, but without the typical Class D tone, the designers claim.
Pearl Acoustics 170 SE
The new 170 SE is not yet ready for delivery, in fact, Pearl Acoustics is still in the final phase of development.
“We have finally locked down the internals, improved the layout, simplified the architecture and upgraded many of the components. We have placed the production order for the first batch of our 170 V2.0 boards. We have completed the chassis design modifications and engaged a high-end UK builder to finish the cases to match our new 7040 amplifier (custom colours are possible).
In addition, we have worked with several tube manufacturers to determine which tubes we supply as standard and which we offer as an alternative, directly from our webshop. An interesting development here is our pleasure that the moderately priced PSVANE ‘Horizon’ KT150 tube offers a beautiful holography, as well as excellent bass, grip and detail, without any significant loss in output power. It is not too bright and again not attenuated in any way. Progress is being made with the mains and output transformers and we feel that we are on the right track, with an excellent manufacturing partner.
It is still difficult to predict when the 170 vehicles will ultimately be delivered, but we are now confident that this will happen before the end of the year,” the Pearl Acoustics press release said.
Pearl Acoustics 7040
With the 7040, Pearl Acoustics has already made a lot of progress. The new power amplifier will make its debut in mid-April at the Axpona audio fair in the US. The basis is a set of Purifi 7040 modules and the specified power is 250 watts per channel at eight ohms, 500 at four ohms and 950 at two ohms. The design is fully dual mono and the 7040 weighs only 8.5 kilograms.
According to Pearl Acoustics, the 7040 does not have the typical drawbacks of conventional Class D designs. The sound is said to be as good as that of a Class A amplifier or a high-end tube amplifier.
Photos of the 7040 are not yet available. The price will probably be around 5,000 euros, but that is excluding local VAT and also excluding transport costs.
We’ll get back to these Pearl Acoustics amplifiers when we have more details.
