Monolith 7x200 Multi-Channel Home Theater Power Amplifier Preview

Looking for a massive Class AB amplifier to boost your home audio system? Check out the new Monolith 7x200 Multi-Channel Home Theater Power Amplifier from Monoprice. Monoprice you say? Yes, that's no typo. In the last couple of years, Monoprice has made strides to expand their palette of affordable, no nonsense AV cables and accessories as evident by the launching of their high value speaker line and now this new juggernaut amplifier.

The Monolith is a massive Class AB amplifier with dual torodial power supplies and tips the scale at 92lbs! With five pair of output devices per channel PLUS one pair of drivers and rated at a full 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 300 watts per channel into 4 ohms, this amplifier should fit the needs of the most demanding home theater systems. It has all the right DNA for the making of a great high power linear amplifier. Giving your AV system a serious shot of adrenaline has never been cheaper. Read on to find out why. 

Design

Many high end, audiophile grade amplifiers still utilize a Class AB topologies like the Monolith because they are reliable, predictable to design and combine the best virtues of Class A (linearity), but with higher efficiency.

The Monolith also boasts a true 200-watt/ch power rating. Unlike most budget amplifiers or flagship AV receivers, the Monolith's 200 watts per channel rating is measured with all seven channels driven across the full power bandwidth of 20Hz to 20kHz into 8-ohm loads. Additionally, Monoprice says that there is no current limiting or protection circuitry in the amplifier circuit path to degrade audio quality. Even if the speakers' impedance drops to a low level, the Monolith is designed so that the current is never limited. Monoprice also claims that their Monolith has more than 120dB (full power rating 1 watt should be > 96dB) signal to noise ratio which should really help convey all the subtle innuendos of your favorite songs and movies.

Inside the Monolith each amplifier channel has its own set of transformer windings, and also its own storage capacitor. Essentially, each channel has its own power supply – meaning if one channel gets maxed out, the other channels are not affected.

The Monolith also comes with optically coupled circuits which are designed to detect electrical shorts from either the speakers, speaker wire, or electrical outlet. If triggered, the circuit will disengage the output, protecting the amplifier. It will then sample the affected circuit every 10 seconds and will restore output when it is safe to do so. Unlike other designs where there is a fuse or relay in series with the output, which can raise the damping factor or modify the sound depending on the impedance variations in the loudspeaker, their protection circuitry monitors the signal actively, but does so optically from outside the circuit path. This ensures no performance degradation regardless of the loudspeaker load.

Oversized heat sinks, instead of fans, are used to cool the amplifier and keep it as silent as possible. We also really liked the powder coated finish designed to resist scratches and prevent corrosion.

Looking at the back of the unit you can see the gold plated RCA jacks that are mounted directly on the chassis, not on a separate internal circuit board. This allows for a firmer connection that shouldn’t loosen over time or break. The only omission is balanced inputs which is too bad but perhaps Monoprice will offer a balanced version in the near future for upscale installs that demand nothing less than fully differential circuit paths throughout the entire audio chain.

The Monolith is engineered with a soft start circuit (to reduce inrush current caused by the large filter banks) that gradually powers up the unit, preventing the dreaded speaker thump, while also easing the load on household circuitry. Once fully powered, the circuit is removed from the signal chain to ensure sonic clarity.

Conclusion

The Monolith comes with a 3 year replacement warranty and a 30-day money back guarantee as well as free technical support. Overall, from a design standpoint, if this amplifier performs as well in person as it does on paper it will be a must have for your multichannel home theater system. Given the components and build quality of this amp, we have little reason to doubt the specs. It's important to keep in mind if this amplifier was branded by a specialty audio company, you would likely see a retail price of 2-3X what Monoprice is offering it for.

Audioholics will be doing a full review on the Monolith with bench tests in the near future so we will report back then.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.