WHY'S IT HERE?
Since TAG McLaren launched the AV32R processor last year, its F3 range has been crying out for a suitable five-channel power amplifier to complete the AV offering. Enter the 100X5R.
This mean-looking beast is a completely modular 100Watts per channel power amplifier than can be purchased with two, three, four or five channels factory-installed. The basic package is a stereo unit comprising the chassis, microprocessor, power distribution and two channels of amplification. In a home entertainment system there seems little chance of it being specified in anything less than fully loaded trim but the option is there and the extra channels can be retro-fitted at any time.
The main benefit of this modular approach is to keep each section completely independent. Everything from individual power supply transformers upward is included for each amplifier unit. This minimises crosstalk between channels. In effect, the 100X5R as tested here is actually five mono-blocs within the convenience of a single case.
ANY UNIQUE FEATURES?
Power amplifiers are traditionally the most stoic of AV components, transforming a line level analogue input to a speaker-voltage analogue output with the minimum of digital trickery or indeed upgradability. Not so, the 100X5R. Like the AV32R, a TAGtronic communication bus allows for future expansion or upgrade of the firmware stored in the amp's re-programmable Flash memory.
These upgrades will be available from the TAG McLaren website for direct download to PC or from authorised retailers. With the approach of multi-channel wide frequency band formats such as DVD-Audio and SACD, this could prove invaluable for future proofing.
Build quality lives up to the brand name admirably - the amplifier weighs in at nearly 30kg despite having a lightweight, aluminium chassis to minimise the magnetic coupling between amplifier modules. The speaker output terminals are about as chunky as you can get outside industrial high-voltage applications and are machined from oxygen-free copper. They are also gold-plated direct and so don't have a potentially sound degrading nickel-bonding layer. To make the most of these terminals, matching spade connectors manufactured in the same way are available as an optional extra.
HOW DOES IT PERFORM?
Turning the 100X5R on you are greeted with five sets of relays clattering solidly into place. Being such a chunky design internally and externally, it takes a while to fully warm up and until it does, the sound is hard and unfriendly. If it is left powered up all of the time, it reaches a fairly high ambient temperature - enough to warm the listening room - but the sonic advantages are great.
Despite looks that would scare small children, the 100X5R is an incredibly civilised performer capable of extracting subtle information like precious few others. It crafts a very real soundstage, blissfully free of electronic malaise and unhindered by any particular sonic character. The centre channel benefits the most from this clarity and, partnered with equally revealing speakers, becomes completely transparent.
The 100Watts per channel rating doesn't look much on paper but it is a genuine figure and the mono-bloc construction means that all of its half-kilowatt can realistically be used. The multiple power supplies allow spectacular dynamic swells across all channels. Dialogue sounds like real dialogue, cars sound like real cars and gunshots sound like real gunshots. With the volume up high through the bullet-flying heist scene in Heat, we had to make a conscious effort not to dive for cover behind the sofa.
If the 100X5R has a fault, it lies within its own clarity. It is ruthlessly revealing of source equipment and speakers, and for less critical listening - like day-to-day TV programming, for example - its neutrality can seem a little cold and heartless. However, in the right system with the right material it can take 'suspension of belief' to an all-new level.
OUR VERDICT
The 100X5R is a very serious and very capable power amplifier. Its modular approach is realistically of more benefit to the sound quality than its ability to be specified with less than five channels, but it is certainly an approach that works in terms of sheer clarity and dynamics. Its clinically precise and slightly sterile sound may not suit everyone's taste but for an unveiled presentation with a very real soundstage at any volume, there is little to touch it.