Home Theater Direct MA-1235 Amplifier

This is an awesome product.

I did not expect all the features it has.

Most useful is an auto-on feature, that can be triggered whenever a signal comes over an input, or can be triggered though a dedicated trigger jack.

There is an output trigger jack, as well, so when the unit comes on it can send a signal to another unit to simultaneously come on.

All switches are on the back, with the connectors. They are small, discreet, and are slide switches (not pushbuttons), which are less likely to fail.

The only button on the front is the power button, and it is additionally influenced by a switch on the back: On/off/auto-on. When the button on the front of the case is on, but the switch says "auto-on" the unit will not come on until an input line signal is detected.

The front of the case is simple. There is a subtle power indicator light, and lights for the six Zones. That's it. It is very clean looking.

This unit has 12 channels (i.e. one per speaker). The channels are paired into six Zones (i.e. 6 pairs of speakers).

Each channel can be used independently or as part of a Zone. Thus you can pipe true surround sound output or paired-speaker outputs, or a combination.

There are two stereo inputs (A and B, each with a left and right channel), with RCA plug connectors.

Each of the 12 channels can be set to either Input A or Input B. Each channel can also be set to play the right channel of the input, the left channel, or a mix of the left and right channels (mono).

Each of the 12 channels also has an independent input jack. When used, the A and B input switch and the L/R/mono switches are ignored.

Using these independent input jacks, surround sound configurations are easy. Since each channel has an independent volume control, you can balance the surround sound volumes by speaker (to compensate for less-than-ideal speaker placement).

For example, a 5.1 surround sound output could be split into 5 cables. Each cable is connected to one of 5 channels, each connected to a ceiling speaker (and one subwoofer) in the living room's entertainment center.

Each channel can obviously be used as one of a pair (in 6 Zones). Each channel can also be bridged to a neighboring channel, to increase the power output of that bridged channel to 100 W (over 8 ohms). Obviously, you have one less channel to use when you bridge it.

If you use 5.1 surround sound on 5 channels, that leaves 7 channels. 6 of those remaining channels could be used in 3 Zones (for example: patio, garage, bedroom), each with a pair of channels/speakers. Each Zone can be switched to either Input A or Input B, with one channel set to L and one channel set to R for each Zone, or even used as mono L+R.

As it happens, I initially patched an Airport Express to Input A and played iTunes over the Airport Express into the amp over all three Zones. This worked great, and I used iTunes or Winamp (with Remote Speaker plugin) for Internet Radio throughout the house.

Currently I have a computer with a 5.1 sound card with inputs going to channels 1 to 5, as well as a 7.1 sound card with inputs going to channels 6 to 12.

I use the computer to independently control the channels and pair them as I choose, on the fly. But this is an advanced setup and not something most home users will likely set up.

The MA-1235 case is clean, simple, stylish, sturdy. Ventilation is on all sides, but the metal slits are not so big that debris will easily fall into the case. It does not put out a lot of heat, but like all electronics, should have some ventilation.

Bare wire, banana plug (single or paired) (and RCA) connections are accommodated for each channel (all gold-plated).

Shipping is prompt, well-packaged.

This is a company run by audio enthusiasts. The sound is superb -- far better than the system I replaced it with. I have no line noise. (It is rated as 0.04% distortion with 8 ohm speakers and 0.06% distortion with 4 ohm speakers, and 0.09% distortion if two channels are bridged.)

It is 35 watts/channel over 8 ohms, 50 watts per channel over 4 ohms, and a maximum of 100 watts/channel if 2 x 8 ohm channels are bridged.

I highly recommend this amp and am planning to purchase one for my business, as well.