Design Features:
Components Key Features Hum & Noise
Mogami Wire UL listed Hum Reduced to SACD Level
Massive Heat Sinks Drives all speakers superbly Double Insulated Ground
Specially Selected Parts SLC Oversized transformer
Precision Resistors Undiminished Bass Custom shields
Cardas Speaker Connectors Faithful Reproduction of Bass Volume Controls
Heavy Duty Power Cord Four regulated power supplies Power Supply Ripple
Every Component Listened To Soft Start Common Mode Filter
32 Storage Capacitors 12 VDC Remote Turn-On PC Board Layout

 


SLC-A300 Home Theater Stereo Amplifier

Great sound comes from paying attention to every detail.

Hearing is believing:  Play your favorite CD and hear details that have been hidden for years.

 

  • Cardas Speaker Connectors use oxygen free copper and provide a short signal path. 
  • Mogami wire is used to connect PC board to the Cardas speaker connectors. The fine stranded, oxygen free copper provides a near invisible connection without color or signal loss.
  • Custom shields designed to keep power supply noise out of key parts of the audio circuits.
  • 32 storage capacitors where most designs just use 2 or 4.  We kept adding capacitors as long as we could hear the sound improve.
  • Large external  heat sinks and many internal heatsinks eliminate the need for a noisy fan and prolong the life of the components.

                  
  • Power supply ripple is so low that you’ll think the amplifier is off when the source is muted.
  • Specially engineered common mode filter blocks noise from coming in through the power line.
  • Double insulated ground:  Extra clearances and premium parts are used so a third wire ground is not needed.  This eliminates the possibility of ground loops, making the background quieter and preventing hum.
  • Four regulated power supplies for voltage gain circuits keep the sound stage from moving around.
  • Oversized transformer to reduce power supply fluctuations when playing loud.  Extra shielding provided to reduce hum.

            
  • Faithful reproduction of loud bass notes requires high current.  The SLC-A300 has a large enough power supply so the bass is never compromised.  (Warning:  Cone speakers lose their flexibility with age.  The powerful bass may tear older speaker cones.)
  • All audio resistors are precision 1%.  This lowers noise, increases reliability, and eliminates any significant difference between amplifiers.
  • Heavy duty 14 gauge power cord:  A large power cord is necessary to achieve the maximum possible performance at the highest playing levels.
  • Specially selected transistors and capacitors in key parts of the audio path to provide the most transparent sound.
  • Every component has been listened to.  Any manufacturer's component that degraded sound or added hum was rejected.

            
  • Volume controls placed to rear of unit with long brass shafts to turn them.  This keeps the noise from the power supply away from the critical audio sections.
  • Hum reduced to the high definition audio level of SACD.  Signal to noise ratio is typically over 120 dB below peak output.  This is over 100 times quieter than the noise floor of a regular CD.
  • Undiminished bass from directly coupling the amp output to the speaker without capacitors.  DC protection relays protect the speakers in case anything should ever happen to the amp.
  • PC board layout optimized to reduce hum and noise.  Special care was taken in running power and ground traces.
  • Soft Start:  Low inrush circuit limits start-up current.  This prevents circuit breakers form tripping on start-up.

            
  • 12 VDC Remote Turn-On from preamp or surround sound processor.
  • UL listed for UL6500 audio/video apparatus - US and international (C/N 46CT).  The unit has gone through the UL testing process and all critical components meet the required safety standards.  Each unit is tested at 1500 volts AC for one minute.
  • Drives all speakers superbly including exotic speakers with difficult crossovers, such as ribbon and electrostats.  Frequency response flat to ten times above and below the limit of human hearing.

    Patented SLC Signal Loss Compensator (SLC)

    The heart of all the Signal Loss Compensator products is the patented analog image enhancement.   SLC provides:
    • Acoustic Restoration: smooths out digital grit. Digital to Analog converters send out a voltage that is read from a CD or DVD at 44,100 or 48,000 voltage samples each second. The SLC “smooths across” these discontinuities and gives the impression of having a higher sampling rate.  In surround sound it brings out details that are lost because of the compression in 5.1 formats.
    • Enhanced imaging: left and right enhanced outputs combine to form a solid phantom center channel that is wide and deep.
    • Dynamic detailing: increases the perceptual dynamic range, at any output level.

      In video images, the apparent sharpness of a picture can be increased by employing a technique called edge enhancement. The impression to the human eye is that the focus has been sharpened and more detail is visible. In an analogous way, by adding a tiny emphasis to certain details in the waveform, the impression to the human ear is that the details of the sound stage are more clearly perceived.