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Pioneer shows its new SC-LX90 Flagship Amplifier (22/11/2007)

Pioneer confirms the introduction of their newest, most powerful and advanced amplifier yet - the SC-LX90 - within the coming 6 months. The product was sneak previewed at the IFA fair in Berlin and at the London Sound and Vision Show.

The product incorporates a new, unique Direct Energy HD Amplifier, developed together with ICEpower, delivering a solid drive capability that can realise true multi-channel continuous power output at e.g. 200W x 7 simultaneously.

"Four years have passed since the introduction of our last widely acclaimed reference A/V amplifier, the VSA-AX10Ai. At that time, it was our masterpiece, and ahead of the game in terms of delivering high quality audio output." says Jim Catcheside Product Manager at Pioneer GB.

"The core research goal for a new flagship amplifier was clear: select and develop an amplification platform that can take sound to a new level. And that's how we arrived at ICEpower."

The materialisation of the "Direct Energy HD Amplifier" at the heart of the SC-LX90 took years of intense collaboration between Pioneer's amplifier design specialists and the ICEpower team. The result is a sound characterised by quick response, matching the highly advanced registration capabilities of modern music studio environments, and thereby respecting what artists & studio engineers intend to express.

ÒWe are very satisfied with our collaboration with Pioneer and have enjoyed developing a dedicated, customised multi-channel audio power conversion solution for them. The multi-channel module is the very latest of ICEpower's developments - it is quite revolutionary in its technology." said Peter Sommer, President and CEO of Bang & Olufsen ICEpower. "We have worked hard to deliver excellent audio performance, power density and efficiency in this solution, and hope that the Pioneer customers will be able to enjoy a new level of sound quality with the new home theatre system."

The uniqueness of the SC-LX90 is also evident in its construction which supports an ideal separation of the pre-block and actual amplification block in one body. This "Separated Power Block Design" realises the perfect unification of an optimally designed pre-amplifier and power amplifier.

The SC-LX90 supports today's most advanced A/V source formats such as Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio.

Moreover the SC-LX90 is designed to DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) guidelines and complies with the Microsoft PlaysForSure Requirements Specification for Network Devices. When integrated into a home A/V network it features access via a graphical user interface not only to music files, but likewise to digital still photos and even HD digital videos. Other media file access methods such as USB and iPod digital audio playback are also available.

With a plethora of audio and video connectivity and control options, the amplifier will be promoted with Pioneer's "HD digital film direct - 24 frames per second" compliancy logo guaranteeing to the consumer its capability to be part of a chain that faithfully reproduces the sound and images of films exactly as they appear in the cinema, true to the intentions of the director.

The SC-LX90 will bare the THX Ultra2 Plus certification mark, and - last but not least - will be tuned in collaboration with AIR STUDIOS in London.

www.pioneer.co.uk