Edmund (Ed) Manfred Meitner’s name and reputation have long been synonymous with pioneering achievements in the fields of digital audio, especially DSD. In 1971, after designing the first fully automated studio console, Ed identified what he calls “the jitter problem.” He worked with Sony and Philips to help create and refine SACD and subsequently designed the first complete six-channel DSD playback system for home use.
In 1998, while developing the eight-channel A/D and D/A DSD converters still used to create most SACDs, Ed founded EMM Labs1 and became head of design, with the goal of bringing DSD to the consumer realm. Far more recently, he designed the EMM Labs DS-EQ1 and Meitner DS-EQ2 optical equalizers, which are sanctioned by DS Audio for use with their optical cartridges.
Less widely discussed are Ed’s amplifier circuit designs, which are the heart of the EMM Labs MTRX and MTRS amplifiers he designed collaboratively with Mariusz Pawlicki, EMM manager of R&D, and the late Zenon “Zanny” Muzyka. Mariusz helped develop the operating scheme for the amplifiers, the “smarts” in the amplifiers’ monitoring and protection schemes, and their new “hybrid” power supplies. (More on this below.) He is also actively involved in quality control (QC) and measures every amplifier that leaves EMM Labs. Zanny, who passed before completion of EMM’s latest amplifier designs, contributed to their industrial design and power supply.
EMM Labs’ history producing amplifiers dates back to 2012, when it released the original 1500W class-AB MTRX mono amplifier ($130,000/pair). The company has since released various upgrades, including those to the driver/input stage. In 2015, EMM released the 1000W MTRX2. Most recently, in November 2023, EMM announced its successor, the 1000W MTRX2 V2 monoblock ($115,000/pair), as well as the MTRS ($65,000), the company’s first-ever stereo, class-AB power amplifier and the subject of this review.
The new MTRS
The brochure for EMM’s first stereo amplifier states that the MTRS, with its 400Wpc peak power into 4 ohms, “is able to drive the most severe loads with no overall feedback, using Ed’s completely redesigned high current Meitner Power Driver. The MTRS can handle any speaker load with ease, delivering high power, low distortion, and wide bandwidth.”2 The MTRS also incorporates a new, proprietary power system, fully discrete circuits, fully balanced audio paths throughout, custom ceramic PCB boards, and real-time protection to avoid speaker and amplifier damage.
Save for specifications, the website provides very little additional information—so, shortly before deadline, in an attempt to glean more information, I participated in a Zoom conversation with Ed, Mariusz, EMM COO Amadeus (Deus) Meitner (who is also Ed’s son), and Director of Sales and Marketing Shahin Al Rashid. Because Ed was recovering from surgery, the conversation was brief. Additional details arrived by email from Deus and Mariusz.
“Everyone else on the design team came up with the idea of the MTRS, because I never in my wildest dreams imagined making a stereo amp,” Ed said as he
