Hi-Fi Choice SPM1200MkII HFC378 Nov 2013

SPM 1200 mkII
power amplifier £8,200
exotica Chord
intermediate stage of the amplifier,
for a faster overall response; this is
also said to the improve the high
frequency response.
The SPM 1200 MkII gets a lavishly
finished, beautifully styled case,
which looks more like something
you’d see in a science fiction film than
on your hi-fi rack. Just to add to the
thrill, it is lit up like the Pudong side
of Shanghai; gasp in amazement as
green, yellow and blue LEDs scatter a
dramatic light-show inside and
outside the case. Personally I am not a
fan, but at least Chord has tried to do
something different.
A beautiful slice of
high-end amplifier
that does what it
says on the tin
RCA and XLR inputs, plus chunky
speaker terminals complete the rear
picture, plus an (annoyingly)
non-standard IEC mains inlet.
Sound quality
Shine on
It’s big, it’s beautiful and it lights up at night!
David Price is beguiled by Chord’s latest
SPM 1200 MkII solid-state power amplifier
I
n the great power
amplifier firmament, this
has got the lot. The new
Chord SPM 1200 MkII is
physically large. It is beautifully
presented with immaculate
aerospace-grade aluminium surfacing
and has a striking, architectural
quality to its styling. And even if its
striking, colourful interior
downlighting isn’t suited to all tastes,
it is still one heck of a piece of work .
Put it in your listening room, and it
suddenly looks a less shabby place!
More than this though, it has got to
sound the part. And to this end there
is a special sliding bias circuit
designed to reconcile the often
Reprinted from
mutually exclusive quest for high
power and fine sound quality. Inside
are 16 power MOSFETs, which run in
Class A mode up to a point, where
they ‘intelligently’ switch to Class AB.
The result is that at lower volumes
they avoid switching distortion and
the grainy sound that can ensue. At
higher volumes, they move to Class
AB mode where they thump out a
claimed 350W RMS into 8 ohms. As
most music listening is done at
relatively low power output levels –
even when the music sounds quite
‘loud’ an amplifier is rarely putting
out more than 10W – the Chord
works in Class A most of the time. But
for short bursts of transient power,
exotica
Chord SPM 1200 mkII
power amplifier £8,200
DETAILS
PRODUCT
Chord Electronics
SPM 1200 MkII
Origin
UK
Type
Power amplifier
Weight
18kg
Dimensions
(WxHxD)
420 x 140 x 355mm
FEATURES
l Quoted power
output: 2x 350W
RMS
l Aerospace-grade
aluminium
casework
l 2x balanced XLR
outputs; 2x RCA
outputs
l Gold-plated WBT
speaker terminals
DISTRIBUTOR
Chord Electronics
TELEPHONE
01622 721444
WEBSITE
chordelectronics.
co.uk
the bias switches and the amp gets to
do some heavy lifting. It’s clever stuff,
but to be fair it isn’t new; Marantz
was doing something similar with its
‘Quarter A’ amplifiers in the eighties.
The company has obviously paid a
lot of attention to everything that a
high-end ‘super amp’ needs. It has a
beefy power supply, with the supply
rails operating at a giddy ±90V from
a switched mode power supply
(which explains why it is a little
lighter than some rivals). Chord uses
what it calls ‘dynamic coupling’ here;
whatever any transient demand is
presented to the amplifier stages, the
positive and negative rails remain in
perfect equilibrium, with each
compensating for the demands made
on the other. The output signal path is
devoid of sound-degrading fuses or
resistive components employed for
overload sensing. Chord says it uses
“the best high voltage, lateral
structure MOSFETs available”; these
run warm, but not hot, likely due to
the sliding bias design.
This new MkII version gets a range
of tweaks inside, from a new
power-control and sequencing board
to refinements to the filter
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Get set for a light
show like
fireworks night...
components of the subsequent
amplifier stages, to insure greater
high-speed performance while
maintaining overall stability.
Numerous circuit board and earthing
changes have been made to improve
high-current power flow across the
units and help extend the product’s
lifecycle, the company says. There’s
also a reduction of the value of the
emitter balancing resistors in the first
long tail pair in the second
The big Chord doesn’t sound as
showy as it looks – its sonic character
is more subtle than its appearance.
What you get is a well engineered
solid-state power amplifier that has
very few faults and shines through its
overall, across-the-board competence.
It doesn’t have a big, fun character
and nor will it wow you and amaze;
rather, it gets on with the job asked of
it with consummate ease, genuine
ability and no small degree of finesse.
Simple Minds’ Someone, Somewhere,
In Summertime is an unalloyed
pleasure. The SPM 1200 carefully sets
up a large, deep soundstage, inside
which instruments are placed with
meticulous accuracy. Whether it is
the pounding snare drums or those
dreamy, ethereal vocals, everything
is rock-solid and clear as day. Indeed
this amp sounds very transparent,
letting the listener right into the mix,
allowing them to focus on all the
different strands with consummate
ease. Unlike some rival solid-state
designs, the sound is never opaque or
hazy; there’s none of that transistory
grey mist that so often permeates the
middle-distance of the recorded
acoustic. Rather, the Chord opens a
wide window on to the music for you.
However, it does not come over as
bright. There’s no sense of the white
halogen light that the full Class A
Musical Fidelity AMS50 shines on
things, for example. This isn’t to say
that the Chord sounds dark and
velvety like many tube amps either,
it’s just that it strikes a really skilful
balance between the two extremes.
This means you can play a very
forward and bracing track, such as
Period Music by High Llamas, and its
searing steel string guitars won’t take
your head off. To my ears it gets the
balance just right.
Its rendition of Zero 7’s beautiful I
Have Seen is a rare pleasure, showing
the Chord’s refreshing lack of
character. It takes an even-handed
approach – throwing out lots of lovely
delicate, filigree detail. Again, I find
instruments and vocals located with a
vice-like grip, and the bass is allowed
to power along purposefully without
disturbing any other part of the
music. Dynamic peaks are well
signposted and it lets the music
progress in a lively, enjoyable way.
However, what some folk won’t like
about the Chord is precisely this –
music never sounds glorious,
passionate or gushing; it doesn’t tear
out its very heart and soul in trying to
tell you what’s going on. Rather, the
SMP 1200 MkII sits back slightly,
being beautifully detailed, perfectly
poised, refined, subtle and gently
powerful without quite rocking out.
Then again, hi-fi that gives a larger
than life, over-emotive sort of
CONNECTIONS
1
2
6
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5
4
1
Rear panel
heatsink fins
2
Loudspeaker
binding posts
3
Balanced XLR
audio inputs
4
IEC C22 mains
input
5
RCA phono audio
input
6
Remote link socket
3
Reprinted from
SPM 1200 mkII
power amplifier £8,200
exotica Chord
Q&A
John Franks
Chord founder and chief designer
In Sight
1
2
1
Output MOSFET
transistor bank
2
Primary rectifier
3
High current filter
4
High frequency
transformer
5
DP: How does the sliding bias
system work, in simple terms?
JF: Sliding bias turns the power FETs
on more when they are not under
load and so the rails have more
potential voltage. It’s like a checks
and balances system, whereby
allowing the rail voltages to flex (like
bamboo) and become progressively
stiffer (exponentially) as their voltages
decrease under loading, enables the
power devices to put more power
into the load, rather than themselves.
5
Can you explain what’s special
about the output devices?
Our power MOSFETs are very special
dual die parts, made for us by a
respected aerospace company and
carry our name and part number.
They have very soft turn-on/turn-off
characteristics, meaning they like
to work in their transition region,
whereas standard epitaxial power
transistors do not, as they have a hard
snap-on/snap-off character, giving
rise to odd harmonic distortion,
which is unpleasant.
Can you explain how ‘Dynamic
Coupling’ works?
It’s a unique system where the
positive and negative rails are
mutually coupled by a strong
magnetic flux. If a high demand is put
on one rail, the required energy will
actually be drawn equally from both
rails. The rails will, therefore, stay
completely and perfectly balanced at
all times with the mid ground point
and each rail in turn. Simply put, this
system keeps the amplifier in balance
dynamically and the reference point
perfectly clean.
Why have you opted to use a
switched mode power supply?
Our power supply is a self-contained,
self-monitoring module and is
fundamental to our amps’
exceptional performance. A
sophisticated mains input filter
ensures that the power supply is
shielded from disturbed mains input
and is completely untouched by
emissions from the amplifier.
Reprinted from
HOW it
COMPARES
Musical Fidelity’s
AMS50 (£8,900) is an
obvious rival. This is a
massive behemoth of a
thing, making the
Chord look like a minisystem component! It’s
black, has heavy
heatsinking and it
weighs a tonne. It gives
50W in full Class A,
making one of the most
powerful solid-state
amps to run in this
mode – that means a lot
of heat. Your electricity
bill will be shocking.
Sonically, it’s clearer
and more incisive than
the Chord, but the
difference isn’t huge
and the Chord has more
wallop should you need
it. The Musical Fidelity
sounds a little brighter
and more forensic,
whereas the Chord is
smoother with a slightly
richer tonality.
4
presentation is invariably flawed in
other respects; so it’s a case of swings
and roundabouts. The Chord treads a
careful line, thinking discretion to be
the better part of valour.
Bass is always tight and well
defined. It is tuneful too, but not in a
Naim sort of way and so doesn’t
dominate the proceedings. At the
other end of the frequency range, the
treble proves to be very much like the
midband, which is of course to say
glass-clear and wonderfully detailed
and delicate. This gives the music
a lovely spatiality and airy feel.
Everything feels so even and well
integrated and this holds for differing
volume levels, too. There’s no sense
of the big Chord having obvious
strengths and weaknesses, or of
favouring certain aspects of the music
to the exclusion of others.
This is why it is so good both with
complex electronica and also
classical; it’s a dispassionate friend
that won’t overdo any aspect of the
mix, so you can listen right in, way
beyond your room’s rear wall. Cue
up the Linn hi-res recording of the
Allegro to Bach’s 5th Brandenburg
Concerto, and the insight and
evenness of the Chord is a revelation;
it renders the timbre of the
instruments with great skill and
accuracy, giving you an authentic
sense of being in the concert hall.
However, play an old scratchy vinyl
of Nick Lowe’s glorious new-wave
standard So It Goes, and the Chord
won’t quite get you up out of your
sofa and pogo-ing. Suddenly, all that
delicacy, balance, and poise aren’t
quite so useful, and instead what’s
needed is more of headbanger of an
Advanced high
frequency power
controller and
protection circuit
3
amp. Sure, you can enjoy the lovely
textural elements of the recording,
and tap your foot appreciatively,
but there’s a lack of urgency to the
proceedings that some will miss.
This isn’t a criticism as much as an
observation; there’s no universal
panacea in high-end amplifiers, and
you buy to suit your taste!
Conclusion
Here’s a beautiful slice of high-end
amplifier exotica that does what it
says on the tin. It has massive power,
superlative build and a sound that
befits its price. If you ever wanted an
archetypal example of a great-allround solid-state amplifier – one
that makes the best of the breed’s
strengths and deftly side-steps its
weaknesses, this is it. There are a few
other super-amps with just a touch
more attitude and some with more
finesse – but the Chord SPM 1200
MkII offers a brilliantly judged
balance. Just don’t forget to wear
your shades when you switch it on! l
Our verdict
VALUE FOR MONEY
LIKE: Superlative
design and build;
powerful, wellbalanced sound
Build Quality
DISLIKE: The lightshow won’t be to all
tastes; price!
SOUND QUALITY
features
WE SAY: Fabulous
all-round, high-end
solid-stage power amp
OVERALL
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