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  Stereo Products > GCP-200 Preamplifier GCP-200 More Info Starting at just $2,195.00!  PS Audio manufactured its first preamplifier 30 years ago. Simple in features yet robust in performance, the PS preamp was considered to be among the very best in the world at the time. We continue that tradition with a revolutionary new preamplifier, the GCP 200. Preamps are about control. Control over what the system is playing, control over the volume, the balance, input and sonics. Preamps are critical links in the audio chain as they bridge the connection between source and power: lose any of the dynamics or imaging information in the preamp and it’s gone forever. The new Gain Cell™ IS the preamp If you have a chance to read about any of our new power amplifiers, integrateds or multi-channel amplifiers, you’ll know that the Gain Cell™ is the heart of these products. The Gain Cell is the front end analog stage that feeds the SDAT™ power amplifier and is largely responsible for how the amplifier performs and sounds.  The GCP 200 preamplifier is even simpler: inside there are two Gain Cells and not a whole lot more. Sure there are input connectors, input switching, power supply, front panel controls, the remote etc. but all the control, all the amplification, the volume and balance elements are all located in the Gain Cell. The GCP 200 is the cleanest shortest most pure path of any preamplifier we, or anyone else, has ever built. We don't 'throw away' the signal to control the volume How many preamps do you know of with no attenuators inside? We'd wager to say 'none' because the GCP 200 is the only preamplifier in the world that can make that claim. Now, we don't mean you can't control the volume. Certainly the GCP preamp has full control over the volume and balance with either the front panel knob or the remote control. What we mean is that we have eliminated the volume element itself: the potentiometer, the stepped attentuator that normally controls the volume. The new GCP 200 preamplifier has no old fashioned volume element or attenuator inside. That’s right, no pots, no stepped attenuator, no ladder DAC’s, no Burr Brown or Crystal CMOS electronic stepped attenuators, no balance control. None, nada, nothing. The GCP preamplifier is a pair of Gain Cells and a front panel control (or remote) to adjust the Cell’s gain. It’s that simple. We do not attenuate or 'throw away' volume, we change the preamp's gain to produce the exact volume you want in your system. It's a very different concept and one important to understand if you are to appreciate the beauty of the Gain Cell.  Why do we say 'throwing away volume'? In a typical preamplifier, once the input has been selected, the preamp’s internal gain stage amplifies the signal at a constant level. You then need to add a volume control or attenuator, either before or after this stage to “throw away” whatever signal you don’t want. All volume controls, regardless of their design, attenuate or lower the signal level by redirecting the audio to ground. When they do this they add a sonic signature that is undesirable. Even the finest volume controls add distortion and sonic grunge to the signal because they introduce another element in the signal path. The GCP series, using our Gain Cell, is the world’s first and only preamplifier with no attenuation of the signal. Instead, the GCP changes gain: more or less amplification as a means of controlling volume. The difference in sound between this revolutionary new approach and any other preamp is huge. Traditional volume and balance controls do nothing but degrade the audio signal. Without this degradation the amount and quality of musical information is staggering. You have no idea what you were missing until you hear it reproduced by the GCP 200. The key is the Gain Cell The Gain Cell™ is the single most revolutionary advancement in analog audio design since PS A  udio was founded in 1973. Not just a gain stage, the Gain Cell represents an entirely new way of thinking about audio amplification. Gain Cells are not based on the traditional gain block that uses varying amounts of feedback to control the gain, as is typical in solid state and tube designs. In fact, the Gain Cells are entirely different in their concept and operation and perform mostly in the current mode rather than the voltage mode.The PS Audio Gain Cell is a single block of analog gain in a potted module. You can place any size signal into the Gain Cell’s input, from any source (balanced or not), and the Gain Cell will handle that input with near perfection. In fact, you can place up to 10 volts rms into the Gain Cell with no problem whatsoever. For reference, a typical CD or DVD player outputs perhaps 2 volts rms, some Audiophile DAC’s can produce a whopping 5 volts rms, but the Gain Cell won’t care. Once the Gain Cell has received the input, you can adjust the gain of the Cell anywhere from -100dB (essentially no gain) to +30dB instantly; and because the Gain Cell is 100% analog there are no steps in the gain. This means that you can adjust the gain in increments smaller than a thousandth of a dB if you wanted to (a gain step this small is undetectable by the human ear). Further, the performance of the Gain Cell does not vary with gain. Wherever the Gain Cell is set it will perform identically, so from the loudest to the softest gain, the Gain Cell will sound identical. Inputs and outputs There are 6 inputs and three outputs per channel on the GCP 200 preamplifier. Each channel has one balanced XLR input and 5 RCA style inputs.  The GCP 200 has four outputs that consist of a pair of balanced XLR, an RCA single ended and an auxilliary output for driving a second power amplifier or subwoofer. The auxilliary output is unique to the GCP 200 and the GCC Control Amplifier series because it solves an age old problem of degrading the preamp’s sonics when you run a cable that is too long. In fact, any cable over two meters is a candidate to degrade the performance of a preamplifier as it will “bog down” the performance of the preamplifier or integrated. PS Engineering devised a clever solution to this problem with the introduction of the separate buffered output jacks found on the back of both the GCC Control Amplifier and the GCP 200 preamplifier. You can run interconnect cables as long as you wish to feed your subwoofer or second amplifier for bi-amping and suffer no degradation whatsoever.  This special output has the full frequency range of the GCP preamplifier and, used to drive a long length of audio interconnect, it will not degrade the performance of the GCP 200 preamplifier’s main signal. HT Bypass feature You can assign any input as a Home Theater Bypass so you can plug the left and right front speaker feeds from your surround processor into the PCP-200 preamplifier. Using your remote control, simply press 'HT bypass' and the preamp goes into its fixed amplifier mode enabling your surround processor to control the volume. High Current Power Supply The GCPS High Current Power Supply is like adding a turbocharger to your preamp. A separate large transformer, 80,000 mFd’s of capacitance, a separate 20 amp bridge rectifier, input pre-cleaning of the AC, all go into making the optional GCPS High Current Power Supply, a must-have component for GCP-200 owners. The advantages of running with a separate external power supply are many: reduced noise, isolation of the  rectifier switching currents, a magnitude more capacitive DC smoothing power reserves and the lack of any kind of magnetic field within the preamplifier itself.These improvements can really only be achieved by replacing the preamp’s internal power supply with an external supply, like the GCPS. They must be physically separated to achieve the best results and the GCPS does exactly that. Here’s how it works: normally we would plug the GCP-200 preamplifier into the wall socket, Power Plant or UPC-200 AC power source directly with a power cable. Internally, the GCP-200’s transformer magnetically couples the outside world AC to the preamp’s internal power supply, where the voltage is converted from AC to DC, then filtered, then regulated and finally fed to the preamp circuitry. With an external power supply, everything is handled in the external box, removing the GCP-200 from the AC power source, thus reducing the magnetic radiated flux fields and diode switching noises that must occur in any power supply. We then take the clean DC out of the external power supply, and via the included connecting cables, feed the clean DC into the preamplifier. This eliminates any AC problems and pre-regulates the voltage going into the preamplifier. The sonic results are easy to appreciate: lower noise floor, better bass, better imaging and soundstage.  These benefits would be the same with any preamplifier connected to an external power supply like the GCPS.PS Audio pioneered the idea of external High Current Power Supplies. In the early 1970’s we produced the world’s first external HC power supply, called the HCPS. The HCPS was used to improve the sound of the PS IVH preamplifier and was an immediate success. Over the years, many companies have taken our idea and implemented their own versions of this technology, including the use of battery power. Battery power is really not a lot different than the GCPS external power supply; at least in functionality and performance benefits. Older HCPS power supplies used by our preamplifiers are not compatible with the newer GCP-200 preamplifier. We recommend using the power cord formerly powering the GCP-200 to be used on the GCPS as the GCPS comes with its own interconnecting cables. The complete GCPS optional High Current Power Supply and all associated cables, is available now for just $995.  Front panel controls and remoteThe front panel of the GCP 200 is deceptively simple. Three selection buttons, an LCD display and a volume knob are all there is to be seen. But the GCP 200 is anything but simple in its power. Through the LCD display and menu items, you can name any of the 6 inputs anything you want so it’s easy to identify what source you are playing at the time. One of the coolest features of the GCP 200 is found on only a handful of expensive preamps. It is the ability to individually adjust each input's gain. This is a great feature that can easily be adjusted via the remote control and front panel. Let's say that on Input 1 you have a CD player and on Input 2 you have a tuner. Input 1 outputs a relatively loud signal when compared to the tuner (for instance). When you switch from Input 1 to Input 2, the volume is dramatically different that you are forced to adjust the volume control every time you change inputs. Not so with the GCP 200. With the GCP 200's individual channel adjust feature, you can preset the level of each channel individually so you have a smooth and well balanced experience whenever you go from one source to the next.  Phono stage There are no built in options on the GCP 200 preamplifier. For those of you vinyl lovers, we will introduce an entirely new phono stage, built with Gain Cells at the same time we release the GCP 200. The outboard phono stage will be state of the art, have adjustable levels for all cartridges in addition to full cartridge loading options and will plug into any of the 6 inputs on the GCP 200, including the balanced XLR inputs if you so choose. Pure Power™ Pure Resolution™ The GCP preamplifier is the finest sounding most reliable preamplifier we have ever built. We spared no expense, housed it in a beautiful sculpted chassis and believe that owners of the GCP 200 will be stunned at its performance and proud of their ownership. |
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