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A built in PS Audio High Current Ultimate Outlet! a $400 value!

PS Audio Controll amplifier

Starting at $2195

PS Audio manufactured its first preamplifier 30 years ago.

Simple in features yet robust in performance, the PS preamp was considered to be among the very best in the world at the time.

We continue that tradition with a revolutionary new preamplifier, the GCP 200.

Preamps are about control. Control over what the system is playing, control over the volume, the balance, input and sonics.

Preamps are critical links in the audio chain as they bridge the connection between source and power: lose any of the dynamics or imaging information in the preamp and it’s gone forever.

The new Gain Cell™ IS the preamp

If you have a chance to read about any of our new power amplifiers, integrateds or multi-channel amplifiers, you’ll know that the Gain Cell™ is the heart of these products. The Gain Cell is the front end analog stage that feeds the SDAT™ power amplifier and is largely responsible for how the amplifier performs and sounds.

The GCP 200 preamplifier is even simpler: inside there are two Gain Cells and not a whole lot more. Sure there are input connectors, input switching, power supply, front panel controls, the remote etc. but all the control, all the amplification, the volume and balance elements are all located in the Gain Cell.

The GCP 200 is the cleanest shortest most pure path of any preamplifier we, or anyone else, has ever built.

We don't 'throw away' the signal to control the volume

How many preamps do you know of with no attenuators inside? We'd wager to say 'none' because the GCP 200 is the only preamplifier in the world that can make that claim.

Now, we don't mean you can't control the volume. Certainly the GCP preamp has full control over the volume and balance with either the front panel knob or the remote control. What we mean is that we have eliminated the volume element itself: the potentiometer, the stepped attentuator that normally controls the volume.

The new GCP 200 preamplifier has no old fashioned volume element or attenuator inside. That’s right, no pots, no stepped attenuator, no ladder DAC’s, no Burr Brown or Crystal CMOS electronic stepped attenuators, no balance control. None, nada, nothing. The GCP preamplifier is a pair of Gain Cells and a front panel control (or remote) to adjust the Cell’s gain. It’s that simple.

We do not attenuate or 'throw away' volume, we change the preamp's gain to produce the exact volume you want in your system. It's a very different concept and one important to understand if you are to appreciate the beauty of the Gain Cell.

Why do we say 'throwing away volume'?

In a typical preamplifier, once the input has been selected, the preamp’s internal gain stage amplifies the signal at a constant level. You then need to add a volume control or attenuator, either before or after this stage to “throw away” whatever signal you don’t want.

All volume controls, regardless of their design, attenuate or lower the signal level by redirecting the audio to ground. When they do this they add a sonic signature that is undesirable. Even the finest volume controls add distortion and sonic grunge to the signal because they introduce another element in the signal path.

The GCP series, using our Gain Cell, is the world’s first and only preamplifier with no attenuation of the signal. Instead, the GCP changes gain: more or less amplification as a means of controlling volume.

The difference in sound between this revolutionary new approach and any other preamp is huge. Traditional volume and balance controls do nothing but degrade the audio signal. Without this degradation the amount and quality of musical information is staggering. You have no idea what you were missing until you hear it reproduced by the GCP 200.

The key is the Gain Cell

The Gain Cell™ is the single most revolutionary advancement in analog audio design since PS A

udio was founded in 1973. Not just a gain stage, the Gain Cell represents an entirely new way of thinking about audio amplification. Gain Cells are not based on the traditional gain block that uses varying amounts of feedback to control the gain, as is typical in solid state and tube designs. In fact, the Gain Cells are entirely different in their concept and operation and perform mostly in the current mode rather than the voltage mode.

The PS Audio Gain Cell is a single block of analog gain in a potted module. You can place any size signal into the Gain Cell’s input, from any source (balanced or not), and the Gain Cell will handle that input with near perfection. In fact, you can place up to 10 volts rms into the Gain Cell with no problem whatsoever. For reference, a typical CD or DVD player outputs perhaps 2 volts rms, some Audiophile DAC’s can produce a whopping 5 volts rms, but the Gain Cell won’t care.

Once the Gain Cell has received the input, you can adjust the gain of the Cell anywhere from -100dB (essentially no gain) to +30dB instantly; and because the Gain Cell is 100% analog there are no steps in the gain. This means that you can adjust the gain in increments smaller than a thousandth of a dB if you wanted to (a gain step this small is undetectable by the human ear). Further, the performance of the Gain Cell does not vary with gain. Wherever the Gain Cell is set it will perform identically, so from the loudest to the softest gain, the Gain Cell will sound identical.

Inputs and outputs

There are 6 inputs and three outputs per channel on the GCP 200 preamplifier.

Each channel has one balanced XLR input and 5 RCA style inputs.

The GCP 200 has four outputs that consist of a pair of balanced XLR, an RCA single ended and an auxilliary output for driving a second power amplifier or subwoofer.

The auxilliary output is unique to the GCP 200 and the GCC Control Amplifier series because it solves an age old problem of degrading the preamp’s sonics when you run a cable that is too long. In fact, any cable over two meters is a candidate to degrade the performance of a preamplifier as it will “bog down” the performance of the preamplifier or integrated. PS Engineering devised a clever solution to this problem with the introduction of the separate buffered output jacks found on the back of both the GCC Control Amplifier and the GCP 200 preamplifier.

You can run interconnect cables as long as you wish to feed your subwoofer or second amplifier for bi-amping and suffer no degradation whatsoever.

This special output has the full frequency range of the GCP preamplifier and, used to drive a long length of audio interconnect, it will not degrade the performance of the GCP 200 preamplifier’s main signal.

HT Bypass feature

You can assign any input as a Home Theater Bypass so you can plug the left and right front speaker feeds from your surround processor into the PCP-200 preamplifier. Using your remote control, simply press 'HT bypass' and the preamp goes into its fixed amplifier mode enabling your surround processor to control the volume.

High Current Power Supply

As with the original PS Audio preamplifiers from the classic IVH through the PCA-2, PS offers an optional High Current Power Supply or HCPS module for the GCP 200.

Inside the HCPS is a separate transformer and huge banks of capacitors and regulators that provide tremendous energy storage and pure power to the preamp.

The biggest advantage of the HCPS is not so much in the smoother lower impedance power it offers to the GCP 200, but rather in the fact that it is external. We have found over the years that no amount of shielding or clever wiring techniques inside the preamplifier takes the place of physical isolation.

The HCPS comes with an included two meter connecting cable to keep it far away from the preamp and, used together, provide a major step forward in sonic presentation.

Starting at $2795

The GCC series of Control Amplifiers

With the invention and subsequent introduction of the PS Audio Gain Cell™, the idea of a Varibale Gain Power Amplifier, superior to separates, has become a reality. Not only can we eliminate the interconnecting cable, we can also eliminate the addition of volume and balance controls as well!

Imagine a pure dual mono power amplifier with adjustable gain. Then imagine that the gain of the amplifier can be adjusted without the addition of any extra components. In fact, imagine a power amplifier that you can control the gain with either a remote control or a front panel knob and introduce no additional circuitry of any kind.

You are imagining the new GCC series of Control Amplifiers. So revolutionary is this concept that we felt it necessary to eschew the title “integrated” and replace it with “Control Amplifier™”. In point of fact, we are not “integrating” components to form a new product, we are simply controlling what already exists inside of our new GCA amplifier series. So you can see that “Control Amplifier” is much more fitting a title than “integrated”.

We don't 'throw away' the signal to control the volume

How many integrateds or preamps do you know of with no attenuators inside? We'd wager to say 'none' because the GCC Control Amp and our GCP preamp are the only devices in the world that can make that claim.

Now, we don't mean you can't control the volume. Certainly the Control Amp has full control over the volume and balance with either the front panel knob or the remote control. What we mean is that we have eliminated the volume element itself: the potentiometer, the stepped attentuator that normally controls the volume.

The new GCC Control Amplifier has no old fashioned volume element or attenuator inside. That’s right, no pots, no stepped attenuator, no ladder DAC’s, no Burr Brown or Crystal CMOS electronic stepped attenuators, no balance control. None, nada, nothing.

We do not attenuate or 'throw away' volume, we change the amplifier's gain to produce the exact volume you want in your system. It's a very different concept and one important to understand if you are to appreciate the beauty of the Gain Cell.

PS Audio

Multi channel amp

Starting at $4495

“7000 watts?! Is it possible?

Absolutely, there’s simply no words to describe the power of this amp. But fortunately no one using the amp will ever experience its full power because there’s not enough energy in any size AC wall socket to supply it. Can you imagine how loud that would be if you could?”

Head shaking conversations like this have been commonplace around PS during the development of the multi-channel. When we realized we could pack up to 7 independent 1000 watt modules into the new GCMC amplifier, each with their own regulated power supply, it brought grins to the faces of every engineer on the project.

Engineer Jon Magnussen was the first to say “I have to have one.” Jon’s HT system is all Magneplanar and Jon’s system doesn’t need all the power available in the GCMC 500 but the thought of unlimited headroom and dynamics that would never faze this amplifier were too much for him to handle. He had to have it.

Introducing the GCMC multi-channel power amplifier

Not everyone will want or need this brute of a power amplifier, in fact, most will show signs of restraint and add the GCMC 250 in its 3, 4, 5 or 7 channel version to their system, or the GCMC 100 5 channel.

But choices like these are what makes the new GCMC mulit-channel power amplifier so unique and so

desirable for any HT or multi-channel audio system: flexibility. Choose between any of the three GCA power modules to populate your new GCMC amplifier in any combination your system calls for.

You can keep it simple and go with the GCMC 100 which gives you 3, 4, 5 to 7 channels of 100 watts per channel into 8 Ohms and 200 into 4, or the GCMC 250 providing 3 to 7 channels of 250/500 watts each, or perhaps the GCMC 500 with 3 to 7 channels of 500/1000 watts. Just choose your model. All three are packaged in the identical chassis.

Or, you can custom build your new multi-channel in any combination of modules you like. As an example, picture a 5 channel amp with three GCA 500’s for the center, left and right speakers and a pair of GCA 100’s for the rears. All modules have identical matched volumes so adding modules is no longer a chore: you simply match modules to speaker requirements. If, in the future, you change loudspeakers and need more power, your dealer can exchange the modules in a heartbeat.

The Gain Cell™ is the heart of the matter

As in all our new audio products, each channel of the GCMC is driven by the PS Audio Gain Cell™. Gain Cells ensure that each channel sounds identical to every other channel regardless of power output. Gain Cells keep the level of each channel identical to its neighbor and makes sure you have an absolutely seamless multi-channel film or music system.

Gain Cells™ are unique to PS Audio and have revolutionized the way we build audio products.

A Gain Cell is about the most perfect gain block ever invented. Gain Cells are fully balanced analog gain

devices that are direct coupled from input to output in one of the cleanest, purest audio paths ever devised. PS designers can drop a Gain Cell into a PS designed power amplifier, preamplifier, CD player, integrated amplifier or any imaginable audio product and the Gain Cell becomes the heart and soul of that product.

Gain Cells have fully adjustable gain over a 130dB range with close to zero distortion and noise, and are the perfect gain block for any audio product.

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