StormAudio ISR Fusion 20 – Immersive Audio Receiver

Description

Overview

The ISR Fusion 20 is a processor and a sixteen-channel power amplifier in one 4RU box, at £19,998.07 inc VAT. It is built on the ISP Elite MkIII platform, so the decoding, the calibration and the setup tools are the flagship’s, and StormAudio adds 16 channels of ICEpower Edge amplification developed in Denmark. For a serious cinema that does not want a rack full of separate amplifiers, this is the shortest route to twenty channels.

Design & build

The Fusion 20 occupies 4RU and measures 49.1 x 44.2 x 17.4cm (depth x width x height) without ears or feet, with removable rack ears adding 4cm across and feet 2cm up. Net weight is 16kg. Sixteen channels leave on five-way binding posts and a further four on balanced XLR for external amplification, so the speaker layout is not capped by the onboard amplifier. A 5-inch colour TFT display sits on the front panel, and the architecture is fixed rather than modular — but the HDMI board can still be replaced as new video standards arrive.

Sound & performance

Twenty channels of decoding and upmixing cover Auro-3D®, Dolby Atmos®, DTS:X Pro, IMAX Enhanced, MPEG-H and Sony 360 Reality Audio, with inputs to 192kHz and post-processing at 48kHz. The amplifier section delivers up to 150W per channel into 8 ohms or 300W into 4 ohms in single-ended mode, and up to three channels can be bridged — two amplifier channels combined to drive one loudspeaker — for 500W into 8 or 4 ohms, useful for the front three or a subwoofer. Continuous power capability is 2000W with peaks to 2500W. Distortion is quoted at less than 0.0015% at 5W single-ended, with signal-to-noise better than 115dB referred to rated power.

Key features

• 20 channels of decoding and upmixing with 16 channels of onboard amplification
• Four balanced XLR outputs on channels 17–20 for external amplification
• All grades of Dirac Live licence included, with Active Room Treatment supporting an unlimited number of speakers
• StormXT channel expansion and Expert Bass Management across up to six bass zones, with unlimited subwoofer channels
• 7 HDMI inputs and 2 outputs, HDMI 2.1a and HDCP 2.3 at 40Gbps, 8K and 4K120, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG and Dolby Vision, ARC and eARC, multi-room matrix
• Roon Ready end point, StormMonitoring, five-year warranty, official URC drivers

Technology

Dirac Live is included in full — Room Correction, Bass Control and Active Room Treatment — with no extra licences to buy. Active Room Treatment (ART) is the clever one: rather than only filtering the signal, it uses the system’s own speakers to cancel the room’s lingering bass decay, so low notes stop smearing into the next scene. StormAudio shipped it first and still describes itself as the only brand including it. Dirac Live runs high-resolution mixed-phase filters and stores ten profiles per theatre or zone; REW measurement files load directly for manual tuning.

Up to four crossover points per channel from 6 to 48dB per octave in Linkwitz-Riley or Butterworth alignments let the Fusion 20 drive multi-way active loudspeakers directly. Configuration runs in a browser through the StormEasy wizard, with the Layout feature reconfiguring speaker use from a preset. Control is by front panel, supplied handset, StormRemote app on iOS and Android, TCP/IP API or four trigger outputs.

Specifications

Twenty channels decoding and upmixing. Outputs: 16 amplified on five-way binding posts, 4 balanced XLR, digital optical Toslink Zone 2 downmix. Amplifier: 150W into 8 ohms or 300W into 4 ohms single-ended; 500W bridged; 2000W continuous, 2500W peak. Inputs: 3 coaxial and 3 optical digital, 1 balanced XLR stereo, 4 RCA stereo. 4RU, 16kg. Full detail in the specification table below.

Who it’s for

A dedicated cinema of up to twenty channels where rack space, heat and cabling all need containing — one box replaces a processor plus two or three multi-channel amplifiers. It suits rooms with efficient, sensibly-sized loudspeakers. If your speakers are large, low-impedance or unusually power-hungry, a separate ISP processor with a PA 16 will serve you better.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

Hidden Home Technology designs, supplies, installs and calibrates StormAudio systems from our base in Bath, Somerset, and demonstrates across the South. Dan Crick has 25 years in the industry, the company has traded since 2004, and we are a CEDIA member (A-356536). A processor of this calibre only performs when the room around it is right, so we treat it as one job — acoustics, speaker layout, amplification, video, control and Dirac Live calibration by our own team. Available through us; arrange a demonstration at our Basingstoke showroom, or read more on our StormAudio brand page.