Electrocompaniet AW 180 User Manual
AW 180
Monaural class A Power Amplifier
Owner's Manual
EN
ENGLISH
ENG
Welcome to the world of Electrocompaniet!
We thank you for choosing an Electrocompaniet high-end product.
At Electrocompaniet we are relentlessly focused on developing
audio equipment that is capable of bringing the fabulous experience of the concert hall into the very heart of your home.
Our aim when developing and testing new products is to ensure
that the wonderful richness of tone and every nuance of feeling
and emotion of a piece of music is delivered to you just as the artist
intended.
We continually strive to give you the very best musical listening
experience available whatever your preferred musical genre.
Sincerely yours
Mikal Dreggevik
CEO
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ENG
The design features of Ampliwire 180 Mono
After the Electrocompaniet 25 watt amplifier had established a new standard for
transistor amplifiers, research was undertaken to find ways to make the amplifier
even better, and to extend its highly musical sound quality to more powerful amplifier
designs. The engineers at Electrocompaniet were not satisfied by only reducing the
commonly recognized types of distortion to low levels. They recognized that distortion appears in many forms, and that distortion was still audible in listening tests even
when conventional categories of distortion were at astonishingly low levels.
Traditionally, designers increased feedback to make a larger portion of the output
signal control the amplifiers response. Our listening tests showed us that simply
applying more feedback was not the answer. In fact, as one kind of distortion went
down, other parameters would be adversely affected, leading to an overall degradation of sound quality. We knew that the other conventional design approach of
eliminating feedback completely was not the answer either, because this would
cause high distortion levels, and as a result would produce a “woolly” sound.
The answer to the dilemma was found in a novel approach to feedback theory.
We developed a feedback concept that allowed local feedback to be applied around
individual stages of the amplifier circuit. This approach allowed us to avoid the sonic
disadvantages of overall feedback from output to input. The concept was further
developed to reduce phase and interphase distortion between stages of the amplifier
as well. We were able to concentrate the loop feedback on the stages of the amplifier
where it resulted in audible improvement.
Stability margins were also expanded because feedback no longer affected the
frequency response. The use of this concept of individual gain blocks - complex in
design but simple in function allowed us to reduce distortion to minute values in all the
products.
The amplifier is divided into two separate sections or gain blocks. The input block is a
transconductance amplifier without overall feedback. This avoids large output current
being fed back to the input, and mixed with the minute input signal. The output block
is a transresistance amplifier with parallel feedback. This is done to prevent higher
frequencies than the feedback loop can handle, from entering the loop. An approach
like this will prevent Transient Inter modulation Distortion (TIM) and Slewing Induced
Distortion (SID), eliminating the need for an extremely wide bandwidth.
All stages work in Class A with an efficiency of less than 0,1%.
The power supply of the AW180 consists of one 650 VA toroidal transformer.
Furthermore, the power supply consists of a 60.000 micro farad reservoir divided into
six 10.000 micro farad capacitors in parallel with 4,7 and 0,1 micro farad
polycarbonate and polypropylene capacitors.
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ENG
Unpacking the amplifier:
Immediately upon receipt of the amplifier, inspect the carton for possible damage
during shipment. If the carton is visibly damaged, a claim must be filed with the carrier
as soon as possible.
Unpack the unit carefully, and please do remember to save all packaging materials for
future shipment. The carton and packaging have been designed to offer the safest
possible protection when transporting your amplifier.
The content of the carton is as follows:
•
2 pcs. Electrocompaniet Ampliwire AW 180 Mono
•
2 pcs. AC power cord
•
1 pc. Owner's Manual
•
1 pc. Spare fuse, 10.0 AT slow-blow 5x20mm (120V AC)
6.3 AT slow-blow 5x20mm (220V AC)
The actual spare fuse is located inside the AC 3 pin receptacle.
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