Perhaps it is the speed - where notes just appear when they are supposed to appear- rise and fall naturally and exactly as they should in response to the music - and then die away, without inappropriate lingering. Listening to most, if not all other amplifiers, the listener may feel that the notes are being dragged through molasses. Or perhaps the listener feels that they ordered each note from a restaurant across town, the restaurant was late with the delivery, had burnt the note in the bargain, and the note, unfinished, had a lingering smell the next morning.

Perhaps it is the smoothness of the notes rendered by the amplifiers. They are grown organically, as opposed to carved out of stone in some kind of misbegotten caricature  of the note right out of Dante's Inferno - as so many solid-state amplifiers have done in the past.

Perhaps it is the dynamic capability - the ability to render the inner dynamics which produces notes that sound so entertaining, so real, just like when they were made by the musicians themselves - that the listener is emotionally moved, and often completely overwhelmed by their favorite music.

Or perhaps it is the ability to sound like the finest tubed amplifiers - speed, smoothness, inner detail but without the 2nd harmonic distortion, the heat (the Edge amplifiers run cool), the maintenance and placement issues and all the issues associated with most tubed designs at the extremes of the frequency spectrum.

What we have here is the realization of the promise of solid-state amplifiers; conceived in the 1960s, and after 40 long years of suffering, we finally have a maintenance free, family friendly, general purpose amplifier that surpasses all but perhaps the most ingenious, special-purpose tubed-amplifier designs.

Solid-state amplification can finally sound as good or better than the technology it is (supposed to have) replaced!

All we know is that these amplifiers just simply have the ability to present seamless, top to bottom, inside out, delicious music without doing anything seriously wrong - unlike every other solid-state amplifier in existence.

The "NL" series of amplifiers utilize EDGE proprietary Laser Optical Bias Circuitry.  This new circuit incorporates a 630 nm wavelength laser in each channel operating directly on the silicon substrate of the bias transistors.   The laser bias circuit in turn is part of a servo feedback network.  As the signal rises, the output of the laser increases, and as the signal decreases the laser output falls.  This keeps the bias at the optimum operating point allowing a 10 fold increase in gain.

The additional gain is achieved while  maintaining signal integrity (linearity) - at light speed - a first for solid state amplification.

The "NL" series also features oversize binding posts and up to 16* low leakage snap lock 10,000 µF caps per channel.  Also the new low leakage / low field medical grade transformers are housed in magnetic stainless steel enclosures for non induction and low noise performance.  Chassis construction on these amplifiers is 1/2" thick 6061 aluminum, held together with marine grade stainless steel machine screws.  Heat sinks machined from solid 6061 bar stock keep transistors cool without fans.  The output stages utilize up to 32* N channel bipolar transistors for extremely low output impedance. 

Tom Maker standing behind
his Edge NL Reference and alongside Steven Norber's (also of Edge) custom speaker.