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3e Audio A5 Stereo Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
+1
I think I am right (?) also that the current capability of this A5 might be greater that other models - I don't think we have like for like tests graphs vs the Toppings, but 200 + watts into 2 ohms... I'm finding it hard to imagine many speakers demanding more than even the A5.
Yes, I know to whom you've been replying and now came to appreciate that you intended to be helpful to the OP.
Since the 208 are really 4 ohm speakers Amir's 4 ohm measurement should be consulted (265 W).
Assuming that is the frequency response is the 2.83V response for sensitivity, you can see that there are only a few places where it hits 90 dB. I would eyeball the average sensitivity to be about 87.5 dB.
Between 100 hz and 9 khz, the black line is well below 90 dB the whole way.
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Hey,
I’m mainly interested in this amp because of its great performance, reasonable price and auto on/off functionality. With volume bypass this amp has a gain of 17 dB. In my situation, as I’m likely to sit within a meter of my speakers when at my desk, a 4 mVrms input, on a 17 dB gain coupled to 6 Ohm and 87.7 dB (1 W/ 1m) pair of speakers gives me 55.6 dB SPL for the auto on/off cutoff (two speakers against the wall). This is fairly quiet, but as others have experienced, I could see situations where volume on my DAC is set low enough that the amp will shut off even though I wouldn’t want it to. I should be able to mitigate this by just not using volume bypass and setting a lower volume on the 3e Audio A5(se), right? In this case I compensate for the lower effective gain of the amp by a higher output on the DAC and thus ensuring I can avoid unwanted auto standby, right?
This option would be less ideal, as the volume potentiometer isn’t perfect, but to be honest, unless the potentiometer is complete garbage, I don’t think would hear the difference in sound quality.
Also, I’m more interested in the A5se. The difference in price is better spend on improving the acoustics of my room and speaker setup. Also, the numbers used are more for illustrative purposes, I couldn’t actually find independent measurement data for the speakers I’m interested in.
I’m mainly interested in this amp because of its great performance, reasonable price and auto on/off functionality. With volume bypass this amp has a gain of 17 dB. In my situation, as I’m likely to sit within a meter of my speakers when at my desk, a 4 mVrms input, on a 17 dB gain coupled to 6 Ohm and 87.7 dB (1 W/ 1m) pair of speakers gives me 55.6 dB SPL for the auto on/off cutoff (two speakers against the wall). This is fairly quiet, but as others have experienced, I could see situations where volume on my DAC is set low enough that the amp will shut off even though I wouldn’t want it to. I should be able to mitigate this by just not using volume bypass and setting a lower volume on the 3e Audio A5(se), right? In this case I compensate for the lower effective gain of the amp by a higher output on the DAC and thus ensuring I can avoid unwanted auto standby, right?
This option would be less ideal, as the volume potentiometer isn’t perfect, but to be honest, unless the potentiometer is complete garbage, I don’t think would hear the difference in sound quality.
Also, I’m more interested in the A5se. The difference in price is better spend on improving the acoustics of my room and speaker setup. Also, the numbers used are more for illustrative purposes, I couldn’t actually find independent measurement data for the speakers I’m interested in.
Your math is way off. The 17 dB gain is added. If you feed a 4V source into a 17 dB gain amp with mid-to-high 80s sensitive speakers you will get just over 100 dB as max volume.
I wasn’t talking about 4 Vrms, but 4 milli Vrms here. I was wondering at what SPL threshold the amp would turn off when using the balanced input, that’s where the 4 mVrms came from.
Absolutely correct. You're unlikely to recognise the difference.
Archimago had published a worst case comparison (high gain RCA and volume pot set to -3 dB instead of XLR and bypass) and while there was a slight deterioration, the results were still impressive (and fully noise dominated at low levels).
Part II: 3e Audio - A5 Stereo and A7 Mono Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3251/3255 Amplifiers - power, distortion, and the subjective. (And a few photos for Swifties.)
A blog for audiophiles about more objective topics. Measurements of audio gear. Reasonable, realistic, no snakeoil assessment of sound, and equipment.
archimago.blogspot.com
If the impedance of your 6 ohm really doesn't drip noticeably below 4 ohm this should be no problem.
What are your speakers? Maybe other members know about other sources or have performed measurements themselves?
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Ah, got it, yeah, it would be great if the auto-on trigger was around 0.5 mV (18 dB lower). Always tough to set these as there are other situations where the auto-off never happens.
I’m looking into getting the Kanto Yu 5.25” Passives. I’m pretty limited in the space available for the speakers, so these seem like the best compromise for their price. I can’t find much data on them outside of the limited specs from the manufacturer. I don’t think this is the right thread to discuss my speaker choices though.Absolutely correct. You're unlikely to recognise the difference.
Ärchimago had published a worst case comparison (high gain RCA and volume pot set to -3 dB instead of XLR and bypass) and while there was a slight deterioration, the results were still impressive (and fully noise dominated at low levels).
Part II: 3e Audio - A5 Stereo and A7 Mono Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3251/3255 Amplifiers - power, distortion, and the subjective. (And a few photos for Swifties.)
A blog for audiophiles about more objective topics. Measurements of audio gear. Reasonable, realistic, no snakeoil assessment of sound, and equipment.
If the impedance of your 6 ohm really doesn't drip noticeably below 4 ohm this should be no problem.
What are your speakers? Maybe other members know about other sources or have performed measurements themselves?
Anyway, it’s good to know that the 3e Audio A5se is still a good option for me then. Anyone know what the power consumption figures are between say, 2 x 5 W output to the speakers, no sound but still in auto-on and once it has switched off automatically? (On standby would probably be more accurate, I think.) In the end, these are all just details and affect the ease of use more than actual performance. I have little issue with having to switch my speakers/amp on manually, just more convenient otherwise.
@TurtlePaul Wouldn’t a higher auto-on trigger compared to the auto-off trigger also be better? Say, it powers on at 1 mVrms and powers off after 5 minutes of < 0.5 mVrms.
You're welcome to come listen.
This is a very clever goo XD I checked it again and it is indeed there, I have no idea how I didn't notice it while taking photos. Maybe because I was guided by the photo from Audiophonics, in which the goo clearly covers the empty opamp socket. If I opened the case there would be no doubts...
I'll be checking it out XDThat sure looks like goo...
VientoB
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I've always considered red to mean right but here the RCA inputs are marked the other way:
That was a misprint o the pre-production samples. Red is actually right.
Roland68
Major Contributor
No, they are newer developments specifically for these amplifiers.
The boards are definitely different. Even the amp configuration is. AFAIR, the 260-2-29A uses a single TPA3255, whereas the A5 uses dual 3251
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