Plinius Audio SA-103 manual

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2 CONG RATULATIO NS on your d ecision to become the pr oud owner of this Plinius SA- 103 Po wer Am plifier. This manual has been prepared to hel p you und er stand the ope r ation of your amplifier, and to provide inf or mation abo ut its desi gn and t he var iety o f w ays it ma y be u sed. We have desi gned and manuf act ured t his ampl if ier to[...]

3 DESI GN PHILOS OPHY Fro m a dist ance yo u can see th at the design of t he Pliniu s pro ducts is mor e than an appl ied st yli ng exercise to the front panel. We have star ted from t he ground up to produce a casing for our electronics that is un rival l ed in it s physic al st ren gth an d visual si mplic it y. Wher ever po ssible w e have r ed[...]

4 C ONTENTS Int rod uct ion .................................................................................................................. .................. Page 3 Prec aut ion s ................................................................................................................... .................. Page 5 Ampl if ier Feat ures - [...]

5 P RECAUT IONS Please t ake spec ial not e of th e foll owing precaut io ns before o perat ing your new amplif ier: • The P linius SA-103 P ower Ampli fier ca n be operate d in mon o mode delive ring u p to 460 wat ts into 8 ohms . Thi s amp lifier i s als o cap able of a very larg e pe ak curren t de live ry. • The P linius SA-103 P ower Am p[...]

6 A MPLIF IER F EAT URES – F RONT P ANE L F RON T P AN EL L AYOUT S HOWING M UTE A ND B IAS S WI TCHES MUT E S WI TCH It is not rec omm end ed p ractic e to inte rfe re wi th the i np ut ca bles while the a mplif ier is switc hed on and conn ected to the loud spe ake rs, so a M ute bu tton i s fitte d to in terr upt the inp ut s ign al. Th is all[...]

7 CLA SS A: Th is positi on provides Class A bias to th e o utput stage ther efore ensur ing the optimum pe rformanc e of th e am pli fier d uring all li steni ng ev en ts . Cla ss A a mpli fiers ru n hot ter th an Cla ss AB amplifiers, hence our specially designed and distinctive heat sinks. Operating the amplifier in Class A necessi tat es t wo p[...]

8 Z258 RCA STE REO RCA BRIDG ED MONO X LR BALANCED MONO X L R S T ER EO PUSH PUSH C A UTIO N RISK OF ELEC TRIC SHO CK DO NO T OPEN A MPLIF IER F EATU RES – R EAR P ANEL This panel incorporates all the te rminal s for connecting the input signa l s from you r preamplifier, and out put to t he loudspeaker s, and m ains suppl y. A reaso nable under [...]

9 AMPLIFIER CONFIGURA TION SELECTOR REFER T O OWNERS M A NUAL F OR USAGE INSTR U CTIONS RC A ST ER EO RCA BRI DGED MONO XLR BALANCED MONO XL R S TER EO A LL MONO /BRI DGE OPTIONS USE RI GHT INPU T A ND LEF T + RI GH T+ OU TPU TS ONL Y IN PUT TE RM IN ALS Inp ut te rmina ls fo r your Pli nius SA-10 3 Pow er A mplifi e r are eas ily a cces sib le an [...]

10 The ACS s witch opt ions a re: RCA S TEREO : Thi s opti on provi des a stereo outp ut via b oth lef t and right ou tput cha nnels from a stere o signal co nnec ted t o bo th left and r ight input RCA in put s. RCA BRI DGED MO NO: This optio n configures your amplifier to drive one l oudspeak er from o ne unbal anced sign al f ed to th e RI GHT R[...]

11 O UTP UT TER MIN ALS - B RIDGE D/ MON O In br idged/ mono modes, t he l oudspeaker s ut ili se onl y th e posit ive (+) ou tput s of you r Pl inius SA -103 . In this conf igu rat ion power output to the loudspeakers is dramaticall y increased (around four times as much), and is commonly used in conjunction with ano t her amplifier for amplificat[...]

12 I NSTALLAT ION AND O PERATIO N PL AC EMENT AN D V ENT ILAT ION Your Pl in ius SA-103 is designed to operate at a moder a tely high temper ature, even more so when used in Class A . The i deal locat i on i s on a rigid st and or flo o r mo unted away fr om di r ect co ntact wit h any temper atur e sensitive mat erials or deep pil e carpets. The f[...]

13 RCA S TER EO RCA BRIDGED MONO XLR BALANCED MONO XLR ST EREO PUSH PUSH I NP UT /O UTP UT C ONNECTION R EAR P AN EL S HO WING L OC ATION O F I NPUT /O UTP UT T ERMINAL S It is important that you connect your loudspeakers (outputs) and preamplif ier (inputs) to the Plinius SA- 103 Po wer Ampli fie r correc tly to e nsure th e amp lifie r i s not d [...]

14 RCA ST EREO Conn ect yo ur p ream plifi er or i npu t sig nal to the tw o RC A inp uts a t the top of the amp lifie r ba ck p ane l. Make sure yo u co nnect the r ed coded cabl e to the re d R IGHT RC A input an d the black (or w hite) cabl e to the bl ack L EFT RCA input. A lso make sure t he RCA co nnecto rs are a snug fit and are i nserted al[...]

15 XLR BALA NCED MONO As with RCA Bridg ed Mono, this option configu res your amplifier to drive one loud speaker, but from one balanc ed lin e input co nnected t o the RIGHT XLR In put. In bal anced mo no mo de the onl y input made to your preamplif ier is to the RIGHT channel XLR input. The LEFT channel XLR input is not co nnected. Next your loud[...]

16 P HAS ING ( OR PO LAR I TY) It is important to achieve go od ster e o imaging in your l istening room. By observing the wi r ing instructions above, each Power Amplifier/loudspeaker comb inatio n should be in phase. If you experience poor ste r eo image and/o r a lack o f bass, check th at t he l o udspeaker wi ring has been c onnect ed corr ect[...]

1 7 SA -103 F EAT URES ERR O R DETECT IO N The Plinius SA-103 Po wer Ampl if ier has in-built error detect ion. This will func t ion unde r the fo llowing conditions: • When t he amplifier is overdr iven/cli pped • If any int ernal f use is damage d Should eith er of th ese cir cums tance s ari se th e am plifi er will d iscon nec t both c hann[...]

18 LED BRI GHT NESS C O NT RO L Your P linius SA-103 h as a n intern al LED brig htnes s cont rol tha t will a djus t all thre e fron t pane l LED’ s. A small fl at bladed screwdriver can be used to adjust the brightness. The LED brightness control is a small multi turn poten tio mete r an d is located on the fron t of t he main circui t board wi[...]

19 L OUDSPEAKER S ELECT ION Your P linius SA-103 P ower Amp lifi er is d esi gned for use with h igh fi delity louds pea kers . It sh ould not b e used to operat e any ot her t ype of appliance o r equipment . Choice of loudsp eak ers is one of pers on al ta ste, provid ing the ch ose n loud spe ake rs are s uitab le for us e with your amplifier . [...]

20 W HY C LASS A I S B ETTER Class A has al ways been re garded as th e per fec t o perating mo de fo r audio amplif iers. Man y leading amplif ier designer s and manuf act urers worl d wide recognise t hat a well designed Cl ass A c ircuit has inh erently lowe r disto rti on tha n any other d esig n. Clas s A c ircuit topo logy is one in wh ich th[...]

21 S PEC IFICATIO NS 125-W ATTS RMS PER CH ANNEL INTO 8 OHMS. BOTH CHANNELS DRIVEN FROM 20Hz TO 20kHz.  B RIDGE D /B ALANCED M ONO O UTP UT : 460 Watts RMS 2 0Hz to 20kH z int o 8 ohms .  F REQUE NCY R ESPONSE : 20Hz to 20kH z ± 0 .2dB . -3 dB at 5Hz and - 3dB at 7 0kHz .  D ISTO RT ION : T ypic all y <0.0 5% THD at r at ed pow er. 0 .[...]

22 I NDEX ACS (Ampli fier C onfi gurat ion Sel ecto r) ........................................................................................ P age 9 Bal anced Sign al ................................................................................................................ ........ Page 10 Bi as Cl ass A ...................................[...]

23 C ONTA CT D ET AIL S Al l o peration al, tech nical and descr ipt ive mat erial publ ished h ere i s subject to change at any t ime wit hout notice. For further product information or queries, please co ntact us at the address below. PL INIUS pr oduc ts ar e design ed and manuf act ur ed by: Plinius Audio Lt d. P.O . Box 1836 Pa l mers t o n No [...]