PLINIUS ODEON MULTICHANNEL POWER AMPLIFIER 'FAST FORWARD NZ' By Wes Phillips.
 First, let's get the obvious out of the way: the ODEON is big - really big. And heavy. I was barely able to wrestle the 54kg behemoth up the stairs to my second-story home theatre. It's even beautiful, in a heavy metal, Harley Davidson sort of way. Its two-piece cast aluminium chassis is a work of metalcrafting art. It has the classic 'art moderne' sensibility of a classic diner or 1930s cinema palace - equal parts industrial streamlining and functional efficiency. Did I mention that it's heavy? That's because of its massive power supply, of course - four huge honking transformers connected in parallel, capable of driving up to six channels delivering 200W each. Actually, that's what my sample had, but that isn't your only option. The ODEON can accommodate your need with everything from two channels to twelve. There are two different amplifier modules available: one is a stereo module delivering two channels of 100W amplification (put six of 'em in an ODEON and you have 12 x 100W); the other module delivers a single channel rated at 200W. The modules are pretty slick. The 200W versions come complete with a set of rugged five-way binding posts and input options with both RCA connectors (single-ended) and XLRs (balanced). The modules are based upon the design pioneered by PLINIUS' righteously rugged and sweet-sounding SA-102 and contain additional power filtration in addition to the basic audio circuitry. In front of the amp modules, however - right behind the ODEON's faceplate, in fact - lie the main circuit boards, which contain the amp's control circuitry and the initial round of power supply filtering. That's right, the AC is filtered, treated, stored, and filtered again, and the amp's power supply is absolutely unflappable, as a result. This is reflected in the amp's ability to control any speaker load - or certainly any I was able to throw at it, including bi-amplifying a pair of Magnepan 3.6/Rs for stereo playback of some of my most challenging reference discs. The Maggies had more guts and slam than I had ever heard from them. Telarc's new SACD of Hovanhess' nature-inspired compositions - Mysterious Mountain; Hymn to Glacier Peak; Mt St Helens; Storm on Mount Wildcat (Telarc SACD 60604) - ought to be a torture test for any component. The music ranges from gorgeously pure invocations of intensely personal moments played by solo instruments or small groups to huge orchestral explosions of sound. Few products could be expected to get it all right. In fact, few do, but the ODEON is one of them. It has a sweet, distinctly un-hi-fi personality and the quiet moments on the disc were rendered with aching purity and quiet authority. When the orchestra ratcheted up the intensity, the ODEON showed what it was really made of. Without apparent effort (the great ones never let you see the sweat), it simply delivered the goods, from thunderous and tightly controlled bass to the sheer unlimited assault of 110 players going full-throttle. Surprisingly, the most impressive part of all this wasn't the ODEON's control of the heavy stuff - heck, I'd bullied the beast up my stairs to 30' above sea level, I reckoned it ought to sound big'n'brawny. What knocked my socks off was how the ODEON never sounded like a big amplifier. Sure, I couldn't make it whimper with stupid-loud speaker levels or complex reactive loads, but its most impressive feat was that it never sounded as big as it was. Whether playing solo acoustic guitar, such as Kaki King's Everybody Loves You (Velour VEL-0302 CD), or solo cello, like Nathaniel Rosen's recording of the Bach Suites for Solo Cello (John Marks Records 6/7), the ODEON never sounded big or awkward; it was quick, delicate, and sweet. Sweet as in coloured? No, sweet as in lovely. The ODEON is one bad boy that has a remarkably gentle personality. Except when it needs to get ugly. Then, it's glorious. Of course, as much as I enjoyed the ODEON as the aerobic heart of a demanding stereo system, you expect a multichannel amplifier to be used in a multichannel music and home theatre setup. I retained the Maggie 3.6es (but no longer passively bi-amped them) and added a centre channel, two surrounds and a rear channel - and went to the movies. Escape is what I want from a home theatre system, but all too frequently reality intrudes. The centre channel will crap out during explosions - or I'll notice the surrounds labouring to match the output of the main loudspeakers. That was never the case with the ODEON. In fact, I never would have even noticed I had it in my system, except that I never had to be remotely aware that it was. That seeming paradox is the highest praise I can offer - I continually forgot about the gear that brought me my home theatre experience, focusing only on the experience itself. Once again, I don't mean only that the ODEON delivered all the whizz-bang action of Die Another Day and XXX. It did, of course. But it also disappeared in the quiet dialogue and long silences of Far From Heaven and The Hours (yes, I'm on a Julianne Moore kick). This is something big 'uns don't always do - and the ODEON does it superbly. Sadly for those of us living only a few steps ahead of the bill collectors, the PLINIUS ODEON multichannel amplifier doesn't come cheap. It couldn't, really - its mass, its immense power filtration capabilities, its modular flexibility and its meticulous construction put it far out of "budget-priced" territory. On the other hand, given its build quality, it sure isn't extravagantly priced either. An ODEON loaded with five 200 watt modules is only a tad more expensive than five Musical Fidelity M250s (see review in » FFWD issue #3), which don't quite match its apparently effortless power - or delicate purity, for that matter. There may be finer powerful multichannel amplifiers in existence, but if there are, I have yet to run across them. Factor in the convenience and flexibility inherent in the ODEON's modular design and, I suspect, it will prove deucedly hard to top. VERDICT |
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PLINIUS ODEON Specifications
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