Plinius SA-103 manual

[...]

2 CONG RATULATIO NS on your de cision 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 rat ion of your amplifier, and to provide inf or mation abo ut its desi gn and t he vari ety o f w ays it ma y be us ed. We have desi gned and manuf act ured t his ampl if ier to[...]

3 DESI GN PHILOSOPH Y Fro m a dist ance yo u can see th at the design of the Plin ius pr oducts is mo re than an appli ed styl ing exercise to t he front panel. We have star ted from th e ground up to produce a casing for our electronics that is un rival l ed in it s physic al st ren gth and vi sual si mplic it y. Wher ever po ssible w e have r edu[...]

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

5 P RECAUT IONS Please t ake spec ial not e of the f ollowing pr ecautions bef ore oper ating yo ur new ampl ifier: • The P linius SA-103 P ower Ampli fier ca n be op erated in mon o mode d elive ring up to 460 wat ts into 8 ohms . Thi s amp lifier is als o cap able of a very large pe ak curren t de livery . • The P linius SA-103 P ower Am plif[...]

6 A MPLIF IER F EAT URES – F RO NT P ANEL F RON T P AN EL L AYOUT S HOWING M UTE A ND B IAS S WI TCHES MUT E S WIT CH It is not rec omm end ed p ractice to inte rfe re wi th the i np ut ca bles while the a mplifi er is switc hed on and conn ected to the loud spe ake rs, so a M ute bu tton i s fi tte d to in terru pt the inp ut s ign al. Th is all[...]

7 CLA SS A: This po sition provides Class A bias to the out put stage therefor e ensuring the optimum pe rformanc e of th e am pli fier d uring a ll li steni ng ev en ts . Cla ss A a mplif iers 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 two pr e[...]

8 Z258 RCA STE REO RCA BRIDG ED MONO X LR BALANCED MONO X LR ST EREO 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 rminals for connecting the input signals from your preamplifier, and out put to t he loudspeakers, an d mains supply. A reaso nable under standing [...]

9 AMPLIFIER CONFIGURA TION SELECTOR REFER T O OWNERS M A NUAL FO R USAGE INSTRUCTIONS 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 + RIG H T+ OU TPU TS ONL Y IN PUT TE RM INAL S Inpu t 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 d [...]

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 outp ut cha nnels from a stere o signal co nnec ted t o bo th left and ri ght input RCA in puts. RCA BRI DGED MO NO: This optio n configures your amplifier to drive one lo udspeake r f rom o ne unbal anced sign al f ed to the R IGHT RC[...]

11 O UTP UT TER MIN ALS - B RIDGE D/ MON O In br idged/mono mo des, the lo udspeakers u til ise only t he posi ti ve (+) o ut puts o f yo ur Plin ius SA- 103. I n this configuratio n power output t o the loudspeakers is dramaticall y increased (around four times as much), and is commonly used in conjunction with ano t her amplifier for amplificatio[...]

12 I NSTALLAT ION AND O PERATIO N PL ACEMEN T AN D V ENT ILAT ION Your Plinius SA-103 is designed to opera te at a modera tely high t emperat u re, even more so when u sed in Class A . The i deal locat i on i s on a rigid st and or floor mounted away f rom direct co ntact wit h any temper atur e sensitive mat erials or deep pile c arpets. The flow [...]

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

14 RCA ST EREO Conn ect you r p ream plifie r or i nput s ign al to the tw o RC A inp uts a t the top o f the amp lifie r ba ck p ane l. Make sure yo u connect the r ed coded cabl e to the red RIGHT R CA i nput and the blac k (or whit e) cable to the bl ack L EFT RCA input. A lso make sure t he RCA co nnecto rs are a snug fit and are in serted all [...]

15 XLR BALANCED MONO As with RCA Bridg ed Mono, this option configu res your amplifier to drive one louds peaker, but from one balanc ed lin e input con nected t o the RIGHT XLR In put. In bal anced mon o 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 louds[...]

16 P HAS ING ( OR PO LAR I TY) It is important to achieve go od ster e o imaging in your li stening room. By observing the wi ri ng 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 of bass, ch eck th at t he loudspeaker wir ing has been connec ted c orrectl y[...]

1 7 SA -103 F EAT URES ERR OR DETECTION The Plinius SA-103 Po wer Amplifier has in-buil t error detection. This will function unde r the following conditions: • When t he amplifier is overdr iven/cli pped • If any int ernal f use is damage d Should eithe r of th ese cir cums tance s ari se th e am plifie r will d iscon nec t both c hann els a n[...]

18 LED BRI GHT NESS CO NT ROL 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 t he b rightness. The LED brightness control is a small multi turn poten tiom ete r an d is located on the fron t of t he m ain circui t board w[...]

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 shou ld not b e used to operat e any other t ype of appl iance or equipment. Choice o f loudsp eak ers is one of pers ona l ta ste, providi ng the ch osen loud spe ake rs are s uitab le for us e with your amplifier . Be[...]

20 W HY C LASS A I S B ETTER Class A has al ways been regar ded as the perfect operating mode f or audio ampl ifi ers. Man y leading amplif ier designer s and manuf act urers world w ide recognise t hat a well designed Cl ass A circ uit has inh erently lower d isto rti on than any other de sig n. Clas s A c ircuit topo logy is one in wh ich the tot[...]

21 S PEC IFICATIO NS 125-W ATTS RMS PER CH ANNEL INTO 8 OHMS. BOTH CHANNELS DRIVEN FROM 20Hz TO 20kHz.  B RIDGED /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 ypicall y <0.0 5% TH D at r ate d pow er. 0 .1[...]

22 I NDEX ACS (Ampli fier C onfig urat ion Sel ector) ........................................................................................ P age 9 Bal anced Sign al ................................................................................................................ ........ Page 10 Bi as Class A .....................................[...]

23 C ONTA CT D ETAI LS All operational , tech nical and descript ive mat erial publ ished here is subjec t t o change at any ti me wit hout notice. For further product informat ion or queries, please co ntact us at the address below. PL INIUS pr oduc ts ar e design ed and manuf act ure d by: Plinius Audio Lt d. P.O . Box 1836 Pa lm erst o n No rt h[...]