News

Chord Electronics opted to use the High End Show in Munich (see full show report in the July issue, now on sale) to debut its next-generation analogue amplifier design – claimed to be its first fundamentally new topology since the company’s inception back in 1989. Developed and implemented by Chord’s owner and managing director, John Franks, the Choral Étude stereo power amplifier is described by the Kent-based company as heralding a new era for powerful, wide bandwidth, low noise and low distortion amplifiers. 

Based upon multi-feedback and dual feed-forward error-correction amplifier technology, the new design intelligently adjusts and compensates the high-powered MOSFETs, which have been arranged into two banks of four. Power output is rated (conservatively according to Chord) at 150W into 4ohm or 300W in bridged mono mode and comes from proprietary ultra-compact switch-mode high-frequency power supplies – one of which controls the auxiliary rails, while the other two feed the high-current active power rails. Connections incorporate both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs, alongside gold-plated speaker binding posts able to accept 6mm spade or 4mm banana plugs. Claimed by Chord to boast even faster power delivery than its existing designs, the Choral Étude claims a 108dBV signal-to-noise ratio and a 10,000 damping factor across the entire audio bandwidth. It shares the same aerospace-grade machined aluminium chassis as the Choral range and comes in a choice of silver or black finishes. It's ecpected to go on sale in the Autumn for £3,900 and you can click here for more from Chord.