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Plinius Audio SA-103 power amplifier Page 2

That's the Power of Love
Setup was very straightforward: Lug the beast into place, attach the speaker and interconnect cables, select the mode and input, and switch on the main power toggle on the rear panel. The SA-103 turns on in muted standby mode. You then press the Mute button on the front panel; the SA-103 will now play music, but in class-A/B mode. You can also use Mute to swap out input and speaker cables while the amp is on—a nice tool for reviewers. To switch to class-A, hit the button so labeled. I listened to the SA-103 only in balanced stereo mode.

Plinius intends for…

Plinius Audio SA-103 power amplifier Page 3

The Plinius could also give me hell if I wanted it. My wife loves The Knife, but it has taken me a long time to get into the band's sound. I really like their songs and production, but they consistently use octavizers and pitch shifters on the voice of the already shrill-sounding Karin Dreijer-Andersson, and it gives me the willies—she sounds a bit like the Linda Blair character in The Exorcist and makes Bjîrk sound like Leontyne Price. The Plinius actually helped me better understand and appreciate what The Knife was going for in the chaotic studio treatment they gave the vocals on Deep…

Plinius Audio SA-103 power amplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Solid-state, two-channel power amplifier with an output stage that can be operated in either class-A or class-A/B. Maximum output power (both channels driven, 20Hz–20kHz, at <0.05% THD): 125Wpc into 8 ohms (21dBW), 220Wpc into 4 ohms (20.4dBW); switched to bridged mono mode, 400W into 8 ohms (26dBW), 730W into 4 ohms (25.6dBW). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.2dB, 0dB at 1Hz and –3dB at 70kHz. Distortion: typically <0.05% THD at rated power, 0.1% THD and IM worst case prior to clipping. Current output: 50A short-duration peak per channel.…

Plinius Audio SA-103 power amplifier Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital Sources: Theta Digital Miles (S/PDIF output), Bel Canto CD2 (with VBS1 power supply) CD players; Benchmark DAC1 & DAC1 HDR, Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB, CEntrance DACport D/A converters; Sony Vaio laptop computer.
Power Amplifiers: Pass Labs Aleph 3 & XA30.5, Rogue Audio M180 Integrated Amplifiers: Simaudio Moon i3.3, Pass Labs INT-150.
Loudspeakers: Revel Performa F30.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Kable BiFocal X, Stereovox HDVX coaxial, Wireworld Gold Starlight AES/EBU, Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure (…

Plinius Audio SA-103 power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

To perform the measurements on the Plinius SA-103, I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com). As Erick Lichte listened to the SA-103 only in balanced stereo mode, I didn't test the amplifier in bridged mono mode.

Before doing the testing, I ran the Plinius SA-103 at one-third its rated power for 60 minutes, which thermally is the worst case for an amplifier with a class-A/B output stage. At the end of that period the chassis was only slightly warm, with a…

Audio Note Jinro integrated amplifier

It's asked all the time, wherever audiophiles gather to grumble: "Everybody knows about Ferrari, Rolex, and Leica. But why hasn't anyone heard of . . ."

The last word is up for grabs: Wilson? Levinson? Linn? Maybe. But for me, whenever I'm in pissing-and-moaning mode, the choice is easy: Why hasn't the average consumer heard of the Audio Note Ongaku?

After all, the Ongaku was, for a while, the most expensive amplifier you could buy: £30,000 in 1988, the year of its release. Just as important, the Ongaku was good—in many ways, the best I've ever heard. Other audiofolk appear to…

Audio Note Jinro integrated amplifier Page 2

As with all of the Kondo or Kondo-derived designs I've seen from Audio Note over the years, my review sample of the Jinro was completely handmade, and quite well, at that. The proprietary power-supply choke and drive-stage transformers were obviously labors of love—the sorts of thing one sees less and less these days, in any field of endeavor. Parts are fastened to the chassis rigidly and ruggedly, and while there exist some separate boards for certain parts, they aren't PCBs: Everything in the Jinro is hand-wired, point to point. My only complaint is that I preferred the chassis design of…

Audio Note Jinro integrated amplifier Page 3

To some observers, I suppose one or another of those qualities is attributable to one or another departure from perfectly flat frequency response: a point of view to which anyone is entitled, wrong though it seems to me. That said, it struck me that the Jinro worked with my Audio Note AN-Es to produce the most timbrally realistic performance I've heard from those speakers. The brass instruments in Sir Adrian Boult and the London Symphony Orchestra's great-sounding recording of Vaughan Williams's Job (LP, EMI ASD 2673) sounded just plain right; and in the recording by Nicole Henriot-…

Audio Note Jinro integrated amplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Tubed integrated amplifier. Tube complement: two 5R4WGB, two 211, one ECC82 (or 5814a), one 7044 (or 5687). Inputs: 4 line-level. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Line input sensitivity: 200mV at maximum output. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, –1.0dB. Signal/noise: 75dB at 2mV, broadband. Output power: 18Wpc into 8 ohms at 5% THD (tube-dependent).
Dimensions: 12" (300mm) W by 11" (280mm) H by 26" (660mm) D. Weight: 85 lbs (38.5 kg).
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: JIN-010.
Price: $26,500. Approximate number of dealers: 13.
Manufacturer:…

Audio Note Jinro integrated amplifier Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 Mk.II turntables; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU & 90th Anniversary SPU, Shindo SPU, EMT OFD 25 & TSD 15 cartridges.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player; Wavelength Cosecant, Furutech GT40, Peachtree iDecco (digital input to line output only) USB D/A converters; Stello U2 USB transceiver; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1, Silvercore one-to-ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto & Vosne-Romanee preamplifiers.
Power…