Griffin is debuting their new Twenty audio amplifier at CES this week. What makes the Twenty amplifier unique is that it allows you to use any pair of speakers you might already have and allow you to play AirPlay-enabled audio sources with ease. How does it do this? The Twenty allows you to connect to it directly an Apple Airport Express which will then be able to capture and AirPlay signals to it from iTunes or any iOS device.
Because it uses an Airport Express, Mac users and iOS users will never need to configure it as it will automatically work with these devices. Price has not yet been announced but you can read the full press release below.
Press Release
Las Vegas, NV – January 9, 2012 – Griffin Technology, one of the world’s foremost creators of innovations for everyday life, will debut Twenty at CES – an audio amplifier that uses an Airport Express to capture the AirPlay stream, decode it, then send the lossless, amplified sound through speakers.
“The Griffin Twenty is the easiest, best-sounding solution for consumers who have speakers that are not AirPlay-enabled but still want to stream high-fidelity audio wirelessly,†said Mark Rowan, President of Griffin Technology. “Not only can users stream from their iTunes library, they can easily connect with any AirPlay-enabled iOS device.â€
Twenty boasts a zero-configuration audio set-up that streams Apple Lossless sound from iTunes or any other AirPlay-enabled app (Pandora, Spotify, last.fm, etc.) to the user’s speakers via a low-profile digital amplifier. Twenty comes equipped with a power connection and mount for Airport Express. It features a 2.1 channel sound system with 20 watts output per channel and also supports a powered subwoofer with an automatic active crossover at 80 Hz.
To learn more visit www.griffintechnology.com/
Amplifier:
•   Class D Stereo Amplifier - TI PurePath™
•   Input: S/PDIF optical, TOSLINK connector (included)
•   Outputs: Spring-loaded right & left channel connectors; RCA subwoofer connector
•   Sensitivity: 0.34 dBFS for 20 watts (Volume control set to max.)
Speaker Output:
•   Power: 20 watts per channel into 8 ohms @0.08% THD, both channels driven
•   Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20kHz, +0, -0.34 dB
•   Signal-to-Noise ratio: 95 dB
•   Crosstalk: -71 dB
Subwoofer Output:
•   Left + Right sub-bass audio
•   Autoswitching when powered subwoofer is detected
•   Power: Line-level output (2V rms at 0 dBFS input)
•   High-Pass Filter: 80 Hz 2nd order Linkwitz-Riley applied to L+R channels
•   Low-Pass Filter: 80 Hz 2nd order Linkwitz-Riley applied to subwoofer output
AC Power:
•   100 – 240 VAC @ 50/60 Hz supplies both amp and power connection for Airport Express.
