Solid-State Stereo Amplifier with Sonic Excellence

The Veros PWR+ Little Brother

LKV’s Chief Designer Bill Hutchins decided to see how much of the excellence of his acclaimed Veros PWR+ (a Stereophile Class A recommended power amp) he could design into a “little brother” amp available to audiophiles at a significantly lower price. The answer turns out to be a great deal. As Bill says, “I managed to incorporate into the PWR-3 a scaled down version of the voltage gain circuitry used in its big brother, along with the Purifi Class D modules also used in the big guy. Thus, you are getting the sonic essence of the PWR+ in a smaller package at about a third of the price.” The PWR-3 is available for purchase from LKV for $3350 with a 30-day full refund guarantee.

Sonic Excellence

The goal for design of the PWR-3 was to capture as much as possible of the sonic excellence of the acclaimed LKV Veros PWR+ in an amplifier that can sell for a much lower price. The excellent sound of the PWR+ derives from the way it solves a problem that has bedeviled audio designers for decades: the loss of strength and effectiveness of negative feedback in the upper octaves of the audio spectrum. This loss degrades high frequency sounds, giving the music a slightly “hard” or “sterile” quality.

Until very recently, there was only one solution to this problem: avoid using negative feedback altogether. But, doing so negates important benefits that negative feedback provides for the output stages of power amplifiers:  impedance reduction and low frequency distortion control.

Very recently, engineer Bruno Putzeys, created a second solution by devising a feedback loop that maintains high, very effective levels of negative feedback up to the top of the audio spectrum.  Gone is the sterility of high frequency sound.

Both of these solutions are used in LKV’s acclaimed LKV Veros PWR+ amplifier and now in its “little brother,” the PWR-3.

For the voltage-gain circuitry, the PWR-3 uses a Class A, zero-feedback circuit designed by LKV’s Chief Designer Bill Hutchins. This circuit delivers life-like sound due to careful design and component matching, including 40 hand-matched, discrete jfets. For the high current output stage, Bill selected the Purifi 1et400A module, which implements Putzey’s breakthrough. These comprise the essential elements that create the sound of the LKV Veros PWR+.

In designing the “little brother” to a much lower price point, Bill found many ways to reduce cost, but kept these two essential elements and thereby preserved the sound character of the LKV Veros PWR+ at a dramatically lower price.

Try it in your system and we think you will agree.  But, if you don’t, return it within 30 days for a full refund of the purchase price.  You pay only the shipping.