Source: Press Release, Last Accessed: 2016/02/17

Audio Analogue’s very first product, 20 years ago, was the original Puccini integrated amplifier which rapidly developed a reputation as one of the finest sounding and superb value amps on the market. To celebrate this anniversary, the company have created the Puccini Anniversary, a genuine zero feedback design developed by the specialist AirTech R&D department within the Audio Analogue family. According to the press release, the brief was to create the best Puccini ever – a product that would achieve another landmark turning point in Audio Analogue’s history and pave the way to future products: new, no-compromise designs that would marry analogue musicality with advanced technologies, while remaining true to Audio Analogue’s commitment to providing excellent value for money.
The advantages and disadvantages of feedback-based designs were contemplated in some detail. The elimination of global feedback to obtain optimum performance is not an easy thing to achieve, the company says, so certain technical aspects of the Puccini Anniversary are unique to its design to deliver optimum performance within its zero feedback topology. The Puccini Anniversary is a fully dual-mono design. The oversized 700VA transformer, together with three pairs of power transistors for each channel, enables it to effortlessly deliver 80W into 8 ohms, rising to 300W into 2 ohms, thus allowing the amp to drive even the most difficult of loads.
As a result of many hours of listening sessions during the product’s development, AirTech’s founder, Claudio Bertini, fine-tuned the Puccini Anniversary to realize the full potential of the design. Bertini selected solid 7N OCC copper wiring along with gold-plated pure copper binding posts. He minimized switching and contact noise by using relay-controlled inputs with gold- plated pure copper RCA sockets soldered directly onto the input circuit board. Separate boards are used for each stage of the amplifier with double-thickness gold-plated pure copper racks for optimal current flow.
The Puccini Anniversary’s chassis is robust and solid, of practical dimensions and beautifully finished with a thick (14mm) brushed aluminum front panel. The elegantly minimalist design is further complemented by a single, recessed central control knob that serves a variety of functions: it has a push function for power and input selection, and also activates an encoder that communicates with four digital, high-precision potentiometers (two per channel) for the volume. A choice of four volume curves are selectable according to the speaker sensitivity. To finish the elegant aesthetics, white dimmable LEDs were chosen for the indications, while a full remote control completes the package.
Audio Analogue’s Puccini Anniversary amplifier is available now, in black or silver finish.

For more information: http://www.audioanalogue.com/

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