Our Kratos mono block amplifier differs in many respects compared to normal transistor power amps. When looking to available hybrid designs were tubes will drive the power output stage, soundwise Kratos will have lots of similarities. Like them Kratos has an airy and spacious sound but with the control and grip of a transistor amplifier. A disadvantage of these hybrids however is the problem of aging of the triodes. To avoid this problem for our Kratos a front end has been made with high voltage fet transistors. As a result, the measurable properties are completely identical compared to triodes, but having the advantages that no aging occurs. A similarity is the high operating voltage to get these circuits working. The result is a high degree of linearity. From this point on, the circuit drives a class A/B mosfet output stage. Only a small amount of feedback is needed to get the correct gain, but at the same time it also improves the damping factor. While a dedicated circuit for the high voltage is made, the output stage is powered from a heavy 400 Watts power supply.
In addition to manual control of the amplifier, it can also be controled via a remote cable to our Morpheus dac. Another switchable option is the so-called "music sense" that checks the input for the presence of music and turns the power amplifier on. After half an hour of no information, this circuit will put the amplifier back into standby mode.
Protections are of course part of this design such as overcurrent, offset and overheating and are monitored in real time. All relevant information can be seen via a display on the front.
Top side of Kratos, Power section with 400 Watts power supply
