An entirely new floating and balanced power amp that, by using power transistors with the same polarity that are not complementary, achieves complete symmetry of pullable operation at the output stage and permits full balanced transmission (amplification) from the input jack to just before the speaker jack ó a capability that has long been the dream of audiophiles.
The A-S2000 achieves fully balanced signal transmission from input to output (balanced design refers to the use of two signal conductors that have equal impedances to ground). Balanced transmission is capable of canceling noise produced internally and externally, and so is considered to be an ideal amplification method, eliminating the sound quality degradation caused by noise.
The floating balanced power amp configuration is completely different from the pure complementary circuit design that has been the mainstream of Hi-Fi amps for nearly 40 years. It adopts an output element having identical polarity on the plus and minus sides of the output stage, with both sides having their own power supply and feedback, thereby achieving total symmetry of pullable operation at the output stage. The power supply unit has four floating elements (no restrictive grounding connections), two for each channel, so plus and minus are completely symmetrical.
To achieve fully balanced transmission, all audio circuits except for the phono equalizer are balanced. The line amp also uses a balanced configuration for its volume and tone circuits, achieving fully balanced transmission from the XLR balanced input jack to just before the speaker jack. Additionally, the output from the unbalanced RCA input and phono equalizer undergoes balance conversion internally.
To ensure ideal fully balanced operation, the volume and tone control systems must be extremely precise. Conventional analogue volume systems suffer from gang error, and cannot achieve sufficient accuracy, even when using high precision parts. Therefore, for the A-S2000 we developed a unique method: canceling out slight precision differences by the parallel operation of three high sound quality digital volume ICs for each channel and operating the system with an analogue encoder. When using the bass and treble tone controls, each of the three volume elements is applied in succession, and during tone default, three equivalent volume elements for each channel are used for volume adjustment. This ensures the best sound quality during both tone control and default operation.
The A-S2000 has four large capacity power supplies for the power amp that are completely isolated from ground. Shunt type local regulators that prevent degradation of sound quality by amperage fluctuation ensure a clean and stable power supply for the preamp.
The A-S2000 has a completely symmetrical construction intended to achieve the ultimate in integrated amp left-right separation, equal to that of separate amps. A central reinforcing bar ensures that the chassis is rigid and stable.
The extra-heavy feet provide a choice of two bases. You can leave the round, flat neodymium magnets in place or remove them to rest the amplifier on four single points. The feet are also height adjustable. They ensure stability on any surface, with superior vibration damping.
The fully discrete, high performance headphone amp is compatible with low impedance drive. Its pure and powerful sound quality is best appreciated with high quality headphones.
An extremely low-noise phono amp plus a dedicated MC head amp ensure excellent musical clarity and imaging with both MC and MM phono cartridges.
The AS-2000 comes with a five year warranty.