Heed Canopus II

Heed Audio Canopus II Mono Power Amplifier. Do you own a home cinema system which fails to please when you listen to music? Or are you in the process of building up a good but value-for-money, traditional audio system? Perhaps you need a couple of identical power amps in order to bi-amp your speaker system, or even drive it actively? Maybe you need help in setting up a multi-room system? For all these purposes, our Canopus II mono power amp could be the ideal choice.

The vast majority of amplifiers in our digital age - due to typically high input levels - do not have a preamplifier, but instead have only a volume pot followed by the power amplifier. Consequently, sound quality is entirely determined by the actual power stage. However, power amplifiers are very often - especially those normally used in less expensive home cinema components - of inferior quality. This sonic result is less astonishing if one considers that power stages claimed to deliver several-hundred watts of power are fed by one- or two-hundred-VA power supplies. In more demanding applications, such as music reproduction, this low-key approach is pathetically inadequate. However, as home cinema amplifiers and receivers have outputs for outboard power amplification, this problem can be cured by additional power amps, such as the Canopus II.

As a multifunctional component, it can be used in multichannel home cinema set-ups, as well as in true audio applications, with excellent results The Canopus II is a 3-stage, Class-AB mono power amp design, using fully discrete components. Its power supply consists of a 100 VA torodial transformer and two 10,000 µF capacitors, manufactured by BHC to Heed's own specifications, whilst its output stage is built with complementary Darlington, 25 A power transistors. Due to its balanced circuit topology, the Canopus II is barely susceptible to external interference. Its input sensitivity and impedance enable the user to connect the Canopus II directly to a CD-player or one of our phono stages.But have compromises been made for size and price? Absolutely not! The Canopus II is a discrete design in the best audiophile tradition, extensively hand-built with custom-made components inside. This has all been achieved at a price that almost beggars belief, and with an accomplished sound quality that high-end finicks cannot believe. In short, it is almost a unique high-end bargain!