Pioneer has launched the SUSANO (SC-LX90), a flagship AV 35.5kg amplifier, designed and built for the Full-HD world.

The SC-LX90 is designed to complement Pioneer’s expanding range of Full-HD Kuro plasma displays and Blu-ray players.

As consumers take their first steps into the world of Full-HD entertainment, courtesy of new video technology (Blu-ray and Full-HD displays), the SC-LX90 provides audio processing and power efficiency that the company says is vital to achieving Full-HD supremacy in the home.

Just as the rise of DVD technology demanded new sophisticated audio technology, Blu-ray demands superior audio processing and power efficiency.

With Blu-ray movies incorporating new audio formats, such as DTS Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD, a new approach to amplification is necessary.

There is a 20-fold increase in the data required to unlock the full potential of Blu-ray discs, according to Pioneer.

Featuring a direct energy HD amplifier, developed with ICEpower, the SC-LX90 achieves more than three times better power efficiency than class A/B amplifiers and has enough power to continuously drive a true multi-channel total power output of 1400W over 10 channels.

As Pioneer’s most powerful amplifier yet, the SC-LX90 has the grunt to handle all the latest lossless audio formats.

With two HDMI outputs, users can connect the SC-LX90 to a plasma and a projector, then switch between displays.

Add to the mix eight analogue AV inputs, five analogue audio inputs, 11 digital audio inputs, three digital audio outputs, five component video inputs, two component video outputs the connection options on SC-LX90 are clearly extensive.

Packed with the QDEO video scaling chip from Marvell and then Wolfson WM8741 DAC, the SC-LX90 also uses three separate chips for DSP processing, each one chosen for the task being performed.

Included is a third-generation SHARC processor for HD audio decoding and advanced sound retriever processing.

The SC-LX90 is also equipped with a Freescale DSP engine for precision distance and front stage surround advanced processing, as well as a secondary third-generation SHARC processor for Advanced MCACC (multi-channel acoustic calibration system) and full band phase control.

Via Ethernet connectivity, the SC-LX90 is Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certified, allowing users to integrate the amplifier into their home network so that they can enjoy simple, direct, easily controlled access to music, video or photo files stores on compatible media.

The SC-LX90 will stream HD video sources such as MPEG4 and WMV from your network to your flat panel display.

Pioneer’s SC-LX90 has been awarded ‘monitor reference’ certification by London’s Air Studios. This comes after engineers from air Studios put the system through rigorous tuning, determined to deliver audio output that is as pure and close to the original as possible.

For Pioneer devices that have embedded Precision Quartz Locking System (PQLS) technology, such as the forthcoming BDP-LX71 Blu-ray player, the SC-LX90 is in time alignment. The PQLS clocks timing from the source perfectly with the DAC on the amplifier.

For other HDMI devices, a sampling rate converter has been used to upscale 44 or 48kHz signals to 192kHz – in this way any small jitter time error will be minimised further.

Thanks to Deep Colour, the SC-LX90 offers ultra-high colour depth of up to 36-bit for a sumptuous viewing experience.

This guarantees smooth colour transitions, the finest colour gradation steps and a dramatically improved contrast ratio – perfect for partnering your Pioneer Blu-ray player and Kuro TV.

To make sure all the speakers in your system are in tune with each other and the room, the SC-LX90 features the Advanced Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration System (MCACC).

Advanced MCACC is an automatic sound field adjustment system that enables you to precision tune the system to your living room, just like a sound professional, but with minimum effort.

A microphone monitors the sound environment and a nine-band equaliser optimally adjusts the sound parameters.

Simply connect a microphone, press a button and the system will automatically analyse the sound characteristics of the room and calibrate accordingly, taking into account parameters such as the number and size of speakers, and their distance from the listening position.