Audiophile (Germany)

lute knowledge as with Hegel or just end
up in absolute chaos. Well, let’s see ...
The morning after: The crackpot idea
has been buried, instead my head is spin-
ning. Hegel, the philosopher, is hard to
understand. Since my relationship with a
girl who studied social education over
ten years ago I hadn’t been in touch with
such a strong stuff. Prudently I renounced
a visit to the Hegel house in Stuttgart.
But then I finally got the eagerly antici-
pated input from the Scandinavians. I was
amazed to learn why Hegel is named
Hegel and how the company which is
inseparably linked to live music came into
being. The story is so fancy and exciting
that I need to tell it to you in detail on
page 75. Only that much: Hegel was a
band and the proto amplifier a stage amp.
Now I was no longer surprised at my
sonic impression. But more on this la-
ter.
At the Hegel company value is placed
on the statement that they don’t simply
offer pre and power amplifiers in line with
some popular recipe. Rather do the Nor-
wegians follow a markedly autonomous
concept. In the case of the P30 preamp
the individual approach lies in the divisi-
on of the circuit into two entirely separate
blocks: The first preamp block contains
a digitally controlled volume control with
a subsequent voltage gain. The second
unit takes care of the current gain which,
due to its low-impedance RCA and XLR
outputs, enables the P30 to easily handle
long cables.
The physical volume control merely
routes the requested level to a network
of gigahertz-fast MOS transistors which
send the signal through a network of
resistors to produce the desired attenu-
ation.
All in all, on its way through the P30
the music signal hence passes only two
transistors and between one and three
resistors. For the first time the ”Sound
Engine“ technology, which we know from
the power amps, is used as an alternati-
ve to negative feedback in the output
stage of a preamp. Like all Hegel preamps
the P30 uses separate power supplies
behind the common transformer for the
left and right channels to keep crosstalk
as low as possible.
For a high dynamic range the Norwe-
gians used balanced designs for all circuits
between input and output. With the sup-
plied RC2 remote control the user cannot
only adjust the volume level, but also
switch between inputs. The P30 offers
both RCA and XLR connections. Inside a
sophisticated power supply with a toro-
idal mains transformer and a lush armada
of electrolytic caps is clustered next to
I
t was one of those weekends that are
just right for work: The weather was
so lousy that you never got the feeling
to miss something. So I’d rather be going
for this picture-perfect combi. But soon
a first obstacle appeared: What if abso-
lutely no associations with the product
and its maker would come up? All the
while I had to think solely of the philo-
sopher Hegel.
And since googling for Hegel also re-
vealed me more interesting facts about
the man than the brand, a kinky but in-
deed interesting approach came to my
mind: How would Georg Wilhelm Fried-
rich Hegel have probably analysed his
audiophile namesakes which, apart from
the sheer size of the power amplifier,
present themselves as rather inconspicu-
ous? But I don’t have a clue if this route
to a scientific attitude will lead to abso-
By: Stefan Schickedanz
No exception to the Hegel rule: The
H4ASE stereo power amp follows
the no-frills design philosophy of the
manufacturer from Norway.
Norwegian pattern: Hegel implanted
the filter caps of the power supply
right above the transistors.
Hegel founder Bent Holter:
”In view of the financial crisis of 2008 I felt the
time had come for Hegel to stand up and conquer
the world.“
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70
Amplifiers Pre & Power Amp