Pathos Laboratories ClassicRemix NEW

Presented during the last edition of the Munich High-End 2014, the new integrated amplifier of Pathos Acoustics stems from the desire of the company from Vicenza to make a deep renewal of one of the biggest international hits of its history that is the critically acclaimed and award-winning amplifier ClassicOne, which in any case will still remain in its catalog. 

“Beauty is the only thing against which the power of time can not harm. What is beautiful is a joy for all seasons and a possession for all eternity “

Oscar Wilde 
Beauty as a unifying element, the universal language beyond of culture, age, nationality, a noble force able to remove the barriers and put in contact humanity.
Beauty of sound, beauty of craftsmanship, beauty of technology, the beauty of the novelty, beauty of style and design, beauty as an ambassador of a confirmation for those already familiar with the Pathos, or ambassador of the Pathos values for all others that who will find in a new and perfect balance of lines, materials, and technologies, all iconic elements tradition Pathos albeit in a more contemporary formula revisited, in a word: ClassicRemix! 
Gaetano Zanini, CEO 
The Project 
But in the act of thinking about the new ClassicRemix the company becames aware that with the renewal could not miss even a new and more ambitious positioning in the market. In fact, the mission entrusted to the ClassicRemix is to meet the increasingly demanding expectations of the public audiophile and at the same time meet the attention of young people and those who are “just” in love with the Music. 
Pathos is convinced that he achieved this goal through four strategic choices: 
. 1)  by increasing in a surprisingly way the performances and therefore the quality of sound 
reproduction in order to satisfy of the most demanding audiophile expectations; 

. 2)  by equipping the device of a high-performance converter (optional), of a digital architecture ready to receive any future development and a wide range of digital connectors to satisfy the 
most jaded and passionate listeners with digital musical files; 

. 3)  by inserting in the ClassicRemix an amplifier dedicated to high-quality headphones 
considering of the great revival of interest in this mode of listening to the music with a lot of 
fans around the world; 

. 4)  by intensifying the aesthetic well note of Pathos and by developing it wisely in original and distinctive shapes. Always been one of the strengths of the artifacts Pathos, this aesthetic meets the natural appreciation for the beauty of anyone who loves Music. Music and beauty, both of them intended as a universal languages able to open a dialog between the Company and anyone. Strengths in the attention to detail, precision assembly and quality construction typical of the Italian craftsmanship, thanks to the passion, expertise and special skills of women and men working in the Pathos Laboratories of Grumolo delle Abbadesse – Vicenza. 
The technology and design 
The Pathos Laboratories have worked hard to ensure that the new ClassicRemix had all the technology needed to achieve the goal that the company had set for this device, namely: high sonic performance, excellent management of the digital musical files, a high quality listening with headphones. 
Sound performance: to reach this goal, the company has used first of all the twenty years of experience in hybrid amplifications. By starting from this wealth of knowledge and experience, Pathos has subsequently refined every aspect of the circuitry (as clean as possible) and has made a careful selection of components that must meet the requirements of the highest quality and musicality. The result is then a hybrid device, Class A / B, with a fully balanced circuit and capable of providing a power of 70 + 70W (prudential). 
The preamp section has been realized around a pair of valves Electro Harmonix ECC88 – 6922 (double triodes) in a differential configuration that is one tube per channel in order to realize the first signal amplification while maintaining the balanced configuration and in such a way that an unbalanced input signal can be converted into a balanced signal. 
After the valves, the signal is buffered by trackers to operational in order to lower the impedance, this is because the output signal from the valves has a very high impedance due to the choice of the designer to work the triodes in their more linear area. At this stage follows the volume control assigned to a chip PGA2310 Burr Brown, one per channel in keeping with the historic belief of Pathos about the superiority of balanced circuits. 
The final section is also consistent with the research of the highest quality: 4 solid state amplification stages, 2 for channel, bridge configured. This solution, although more expensive it allows to achieve important results: continue with the balanced configuration of the signal, less dispersion of power and therefore a higher energy efficiency, a lower noise and a lower heat production premise for easier placement in room of the amplifier. 
As a further demonstration of the care in design and construction that Pathos wanted to put in this new integrated, deserve special mention the oversized laminated transformer from 240VA developed in partnership with a major supplier and deputy to fuel the final section through stabilization, bridge rectifier and capacitors with filtering of more than 45k-uF, input selectors to switching of mechanical relays watertight specially designed for field audio with internal contact and sealed under vacuum to prevent oxidation and finally the ability to adjust and store the listening volume of each entrance. 
The company is proud of not having left nothing to chance and safe in doing so to satisfy the most demanding audiophiles. 
Management of digital music files: the versatility of the digital world is made possible by a built-in high quality converter (DAC specially designed for ClassicRemix – optional) and a rich set of digital connections.

HiDac is the result of significant know-how accumulated by Pathos in the design and implementation of digital converters for the cd-players Endorphin and Digit, in the Converto project and in previous versions of HiDac created to be included within the amplifiers Logos, Ethos and 
InpolRemix. This latter version of the HiDac designed for the ClassicRemix can be ideally divided into three blocks.
The first block is deputy to the encoding of the signal from the USB type “B” (coming for example from a computer) in I2S digital audio format that is a data PCM stream so as to be received by the converter. 
The second block is used for the encoding of the signal from the SPDIF (optical or RCA) and also this converts in I2S for the same purpose mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
The third block is constituted by the converter Burr Brown PCM 1793 24bit 192kHz, and converts the I2S digital signal format into an analog balanced signal. 
As integration of this conversion board there are numerous digital connections on the rear of the amplifier which put in communication the HiDac with the outside world, in fact there is a SPDIF, a SPDIF Optical (Toslink), a USB Type “B”, and an Ethernet two USB Type “A” (one on front and one on the back). 
Pathos in this regard has made an important choice has created an open architecture that can meet any customer requirement, indeed the ClassicRemix is available without internal converter, or equipped with the current HiDac but at the same time it is ready to receive future technological developments (and new features) of digital boards that will be and on which Pathos Laboratories are already working. For this already now in the machine is a standard equipment a so wide envelope of digital connections and is present a special interior lay-out. 
Listening by headphones: usually an integrated amplifier that offers the possibility of listening with headphones makes use of cost-effective solutions and compromises. It is not the case of ClassicRemix, here the company from the planning stage has set itself the goal to achieve very high listening performance to levels comparable to those of a dedicated amplifier. Hence the choice to realize a real amplifier in the amplifier with dedicated and strong power supply, a fully balanced circuit which exploits the signal coming from the valves preamplifier section of the ClassicRemix which in turn ensures a low noise, a large range dynamic (120db) and cleaning listening. Completing the picture a large bandwidth and a generous output power (greater than 2W of 32 Ohm) that allows easy and happy pairings with most of the high-quality headphones that there are on the market. 
Pathos is sure for even the most demanding lover of listening through headphones he will be positively surprised and did not feel the need for another device. 
Design: The obsessive search for a common thread between industrial design, functionality, aesthetics and beauty is a value that Pathos has in his DNA since birth and the Pathos Twin Towers, his first device, is one example.

But with the project ClassicRemix the company has set a target even more ambitious and challenging, also use the design in addition to the technology to meet the tastes of a diverse audience that ranging from the most classic audiophile to the young lover of Music. 
Aware of this mission Paolo Andriolo designer and founding member of Pathos Acoustics, decided to proceed with in mind the past of the brand and what its future should be, by transiting through the InpolRemix the device with which for the first time were experienced certain aesthetic solutions now partially resumed on the new ClassicRemix although the latter has larger and different proportions. 
Here then is that the designer has created a play of contrasting volumes, alternating full and empty spaces, taut lines and clean as opposed to elements strongly characterized, a sort of mixture of balanced proportions and high-tech materials, the all bounded by the iconic aluminum heat sinks, bearing serially the logo Pathos. Other functional elements like the volume knob and cages to protect the valves are the result of evolution that Pathos wanted to give toward a more contemporary style of some iconic elements typical of the audio world, in any case never sterile forms and self-celebratory but always genuine expression of their function and suitable to fit in a listening room always in a harmonious but distinctive way, because device, space, and listener can find in a more natural and spontaneous way as possible a balance that involving multiple senses, for a fuller and more rewarding experience. But this, according to the factory, it is also a way to bring the great Pathos sound to a increasingly wide audience and so also to those who simply love the Music and the beauty. 
The sound 
While being ClassicRemix a highly innovative project, in terms of pure sound quality, the amplifier perfectly reflects the tradition of the house: not special effects or objectionable colorations to attract hasty listeners, but only great respect for the Music.

This twenty-year design philosophy has guided the development of the device and it did not inhibit to give birth to a very modern machine, ready for all the challenges of the digital age, with important dimensions but compact and with a better sound than the glorious ClassicOne and than competitors. 
Pathos Acoustics is fully satisfied with the result: a complete sound in all parameters, a wide soundstage with width and depth, correct tone, sense of rhythm, energy beyond of all expectations, low frequencies extended and natural but never out of control, detail and airiness that they live together in harmony and never listening fatigue. 
ClassicRemix is a real “musical machine” that invites us to rediscover with renewed pleasure and enthusiasm our collection.