Encel Brains Stereo Amplifier
Without a conductor, an orchestra is a room of unguided elements, struggling to find cohesion with one another. All of them individually brilliant, but without a guide to give them direction, to make the collective into one breathtaking whole. A good quality turntable and speakers both have the capacity to render music with majesty and emotion, though without an amplifier to process the turntable's signal and provide the speakers with an electrical current infused with all that information, they both lie dormant.
An amplifier is the processing centre and the drive behind a great hi-fi system. It takes an input signal, imparts just the right amount of clean power, then pushes it out to the speakers, causing their drivers to vibrate and fill your room with wonderful music. If a turntable or CD player's signal were played directly through your speakers you'd barely hear a thing. A quality amplifier significantly boosts the precious information from these source components without degrading or distorting it. In essence, an amplifier is the Brains that brings everything to life and paints all the rich, vivid detail.
The Flexible Core of Any System: Brains is an integrated amplifier equipped with an impressive range of inputs, the perfect focal point around which to build your sound system. You could be diving into vinyl for the first time, streaming music from your phone, digging out your old CD collection, or hooking up your TV for stirring cinematic sound. It has all those bases covered, and is housed in a beautifully minimalist chassis that slides comfortably into any room's unique aesthetic. You can also enjoy some one-on-one time with your music with the headphone output, excellent for late night listening.
Part of the Family: Brains is made from durable materials, chosen for their sturdy, robust qualities. With so many modern audio products designed to be upgraded or replaced within a few years, its beautiful, timeless looks and longevity are a breath of fresh air. Every aspect of the componentry is repairable, meaning it'll continue bringing joyful sound into your life for as long as it's loved, a wonderful family heirloom to deliver music for generations ahead.
Total Control of Your Sound: Simple bass and treble controls allow you to shape your sound as you like, enriching music, films and games with low-end thunder or adding a touch of extra sparkle and clarity. Tone controls give the benefit of allowing you to adapt your sound to your specific listening conditions. Smaller speakers in a large room? Give the bass dial a generous spin. Music sounding a little flat in a smaller carpeted space? Get that treble singing. Brains hands you full control of your sound.
Input selection and volume can be adjusted from afar with the remote control, which is bundled free of charge at launch.
Designed in Melbourne to Last a Lifetime: Brains boasts a high-current, low-noise transformer, engineered to eliminate unwanted physical vibrations and electrical interference. Think of it as the bridge between the power from the wall socket and the delicate internal circuitry of an amplifier. It's absolutely essential that this circuitry is fed with clean power, free of electronic noise, and that's precisely what the transformer does. Under the hood you'll also find Class A/B amplification. Bluetooth speakers and wireless headphones use what's called Class D amplification. It's more efficient, and certainly fits into smaller spaces, but the organic, faithful, vividly rendered sound of Class A/B can't be imitated or replaced. The resulting sound that's created by these elements is nothing short of breathtaking.
The main chassis is custom-engineered from steel with special tooling for the solid aluminium front panel, and finished with a fine sand-blast to accentuate its elegant lines. Volume is controlled entirely in the analogue domain, eliminating the introduction of digital artefacts.
Brains is available in black or white finishes with inverted shading for the control dials and input selectors. Design work was undertaken in Melbourne, with dozens of iterations experimented with and refined before arriving at the finished product. Every aspect of the engineering and hardware have been chosen with beautiful, natural sound at front of mind. Encel has been bringing wonderful sound to Australian living rooms for over 60 years, and here that legacy continues boldly.
About Encel
Encel is a Melbourne based brand that has been represented in the Australian market since 1958 when the founder Alex Encel first introduced the concept of the hi-fi stereo system to the Australian market. The prototype product that Encel produced was a sound system - built to impress his opera singer girlfriend. What came next shocked the young uni student, when interest in his hobby turned economically profitable. People heard the system & liked it, so naturally, he made more. Today, the Encel company is run by Alex's son, Sam Encel. As an ode to the legacy of his father before him, Sam is leading the company into the next wave of hi-fi products. With that same desire to innovate, & passion for great sounding music, the Encel brand now takes on new & exciting frontiers with an acute focus on value, sustainability and a healthy dose of Encel whimsy.
Our Take On The Encel Brains Stereo Amplifier
Unassuming, yet offering a lot for the money. You get a moving magnet phono stage so you can plug in your turntable, three line level inputs for everything else and you also get coaxial & optical digital inputs which means you can plug your TV in, which is nice. Bluetooth lets your stream stuff and you can listen via headphones if that's your thing. Bass & treble controls are nice to have and although the colour scheme may be a little polarising you can't accuse this capable little amp of being boring now can you. Check it out, it may very well be just your cup of chai.
Main Features & Specifications
- Design: Stereo Integrated Amplifier & DAC
- Class A/B amplification
- 40 Watts per Channel into 8 Ohms
- Moving Magnet Phono Preamplifier
- 3 x Analogue Line Level Inputs
- aptX Bluetooth Receiver
- Coaxial & Optical Inputs
- DAC: Texas Instruments PCM5102 – 32bit/384kHz
- Remote Control included at launch
- Signal Sense for Coaxial & Optical Inputs
- 12V Trigger Out
- Bass, Treble & Balance Controls
- 3.5mm Headphone Output
- Available Finishes: Black or White
- Dimensions (WxHxD): 430 x 70 x 350mm
- Weight: 5.9kg
- Manufacturer's Warranty: 3 Years
Note: Specifications Subject To Change Without Notice. E&OE.