CL2500 MCA

About the CL2500 MCA

The California Audio Labs CL-2500 MCA is a 5-channel amplifier known for its high power output and advanced power supply design. It features three 1500 watt zero voltage switching (ZVS) resonant phase shift switching power supplies delivering a total of 4500 watts continuous power. Each amplifier channel uses 20 matched power transistors in the output stage, totaling 100 matched output transistors. The amplifier is passively cooled but runs very hot with an idle power draw of nearly 500 watts. It was sold between 1999 and 2001 and is now discontinued with no available parts, schematics, or service manuals. The unit is designed for 8 ohm speaker loads and is known to have thermal limitations when driven at high power into lower impedances. It includes an RS232 control port for remote operation. Users have reported issues such as unstable rail voltage and loud motorboating noise under fault conditions, and the amplifier is protected by internal fuses to prevent damage from prolonged high power output.