ADA Adds BD Decoding, Receivers

By TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 1/8/2009

By Joseph Palenchar

— Two new home-theater preamp/processors, two new eight-zone stereo receivers and an iPod-docking two-channel tube preamplifier are on tap from Audio Design Associates (ADA).

The home-theater preamps, the Suite 7.1 HD and Cinema Rhapsody Mach IV, are the company's first products to incorporate decoders for all Blu-ray surround formats. They feature eight HDMI inputs and dualing outputs to simultaneously connect both a projector and a flat-panel display. Pricing and additional details were unavailable.

For multiroom audio, two new eight-zone receivers will complement the current $4,999-suggested Suite 8200. Unlike the current model, the new $5,999 Suite 8400 and $6,999 Suite 8500 will embed ADA's Control Suite multiroom-audio technology, which was available as a $2,000 outboard add-on for the 8200. The Suite 8500 adds front-panel touchscreen.

Embedded Control Suite technology enables the use of ADA keypads in a multiroom system based on the ADA receivers, although the receivers could otherwise be integrated with other-brand touchpanels from companies such as Crestron. The Control Suite technology includes source IR learner/controller, keypad wiring harness for up to eight keypads), ADA bus jacks for up to four additional ADA components, and more. Like the current receiver, the new receivers also feature two slots to include a choice of analog AM/FM modules, HD Radio modules, or Sirius or XM modules.

The iPod-docking tube preamp, the $2,849 TPA-1, uses the company's thermionic vacuum-tube technology developed for a $100,000 home theater preamp. It is available without the dock for $2,649.