Denon POA-A1HDCI - Manual (Page 3)

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Though I didn’t make use of the 10th
channel for Zone 2 mono, I did get a chance
to really punish this amp by bridging it for my
reference speakers which dip dangerously
low into the 2-ohm region while at the
same time had it powering the rest of my
surround speakers for a full 7.1, or in my
case 7.4, spectacle. Unless otherwise noted,
all of my listening tests were conducted via
this loading scheme on the amplifier.
All of the connections I made between
the POA-A1HDCI and the AVP-A1HDCI
were via balanced cables furnished by Blue
Jeans Cable. My reference gear consisted of
all RBH Signature Special Edition speakers,
two Velodyne DD-15 subwoofers, a Denon
DVD-5910CI Universal DVD player and
Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player and an
XBOX 360.
If there was an award to be given for the
most complex amplifier back panel, Denon
would surely win it with the POA-A1HDCI.
At first glance, it appeared to have as many
connections as a flagship A/V receiver and
was initially about as intimidating, but it’s
important to break it down into sections
and realize that it’s mostly just one amp
module repeated 9 extra times. The POA-
A1HDCI accommodates both balanced and
unbalanced input connections. Each channel
may be configured as “normal”, “bi-amp” or
bridged as well be completely defeated. Each
channel is labeled for a particular speaker
but the channel assignment is ultimately
dictated by the AVP-A1HDCI processor. The
amp can be configured via switches for each
channel on the back panel, or if you have the
matching AVP-A1HDCI processor via the
Link control which bypasses all back panel
switches once you make the link connection
and flip the control switch to AVP. It took
me a few minutes to understand how to
properly bridge two-channels.
L1 & L2 > L1 (hot)
L3 & L4 > L3 (hot)
R1 & R2 > R2 (hot)
R3 & R4 > R4 (hot)
Where for example L1 is the hot for
the L1/L2 bridged amps and the Red (+)
A speaker terminal for L1 is positive while
the Red (+) A speaker terminal for L2 is
negative. You cannot use speaker terminals
B for bridging. Speaker polarity for bridged
mode was poorly documented in the
manual and is shown via a crude black and
white connection diagram of a speaker
being connected to the amp. In my opinion,
they should have circled the + side for the
bridged channels on the back panel for
greater clarity but if you remember that
“hot” implies amplifier input connection
and + speaker polarity, you will get the
connections right. Also note that the switch
to select “normal, bi-amp, bridged” always
points to “bridged” on the “hot” amp of
the pair grouping. Once you have a channel
pair configured into “bridged” mode, you
can confirm it by selecting the amp pair on
the front power meter which will illuminate
the two associated amplifiers. Bi-amp
connections and channel grouping work
similarly to bridging except you connect
the high portion of one speaker to the
+/- terminals of one amp while connecting
the low portion of the speaker to the +/-
terminals of the adjacent grouped amplifier.
The Link control connects directly to the
AVP-A1HDCI and can also be connected
in series with another POA-A1HDCI for
a 20 channel application. Not even I could
ever envision this, but I am sure someone
with a deep enough wallet and passion for
the hobby could make it a reality. This is
accomplished via the mode switch which
has three settings “option” for future use,
“1” and “2” for master and slave operation,
respectively. It’s pretty neat to have the
ability to fully configure the amplifier from
Screenshots from the AVP-A1HDCI
Power Amp Configuration Screen
POA-A1HDCI back panel view