This is a review and detailed measurements of BasX A-100 Class AB amplifier. It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me for testing. The A-100 costs US $229 from the company direct.
I must stay, this is one gorgeous looking and nicely feeling amplifier:
This is a deep cabinet ending in the terminals in the back:
As you see it has trigger capability. Not a fan of the figure 8 AC mains cable as I have very few of them. Best to not lose it.
There is a fan on top but I did not hear it come on. The unit does get quite warm though so allow ample cooling/space above it.
Emotiva BasX A-100 Measurements
Another member had contacted me asking me if I could test if the unit was distorted while cold. I had stopped testing for this since the warm up effect has been so minimal. Not so here:
You see what I am seeing? 12 dB improvement in distortion after 5 minutes??? I am assuming bias is not optimal while cold but why? Temperature compensation is quite cheap and has been part of design of amplifiers forever.
Anyway, here is our usual dashboard:
Not happy about the channel gain difference. As it is, performance is a bit below average:
I like to see a dynamic range at 5 watt approaching 96 dB and we are fair bit short of that:
Frequency response is flat enough:
Crosstalk is pretty good for a budget amp:
Here is the multitone:
Power versus distortion+noise is good:
If we allow 1% THD, we get the power spec from the company:
Distortion characteristic has a simple relationship with frequency and that is it:
Conclusion
I really like the packaging and price of this amplifier. While overall performance is good, having to wait 6 minutes before it stabilizes is just not acceptable. I would be tempted to buy this and mod it to make it temperature stable.
As is, I can't recommend the Emotiva BasX A-100 amplifier.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I must stay, this is one gorgeous looking and nicely feeling amplifier:
This is a deep cabinet ending in the terminals in the back:
As you see it has trigger capability. Not a fan of the figure 8 AC mains cable as I have very few of them. Best to not lose it.
There is a fan on top but I did not hear it come on. The unit does get quite warm though so allow ample cooling/space above it.
Emotiva BasX A-100 Measurements
Another member had contacted me asking me if I could test if the unit was distorted while cold. I had stopped testing for this since the warm up effect has been so minimal. Not so here:
You see what I am seeing? 12 dB improvement in distortion after 5 minutes??? I am assuming bias is not optimal while cold but why? Temperature compensation is quite cheap and has been part of design of amplifiers forever.
Anyway, here is our usual dashboard:
Not happy about the channel gain difference. As it is, performance is a bit below average:
I like to see a dynamic range at 5 watt approaching 96 dB and we are fair bit short of that:
Frequency response is flat enough:
Crosstalk is pretty good for a budget amp:
Here is the multitone:
Power versus distortion+noise is good:
If we allow 1% THD, we get the power spec from the company:
Distortion characteristic has a simple relationship with frequency and that is it:
Conclusion
I really like the packaging and price of this amplifier. While overall performance is good, having to wait 6 minutes before it stabilizes is just not acceptable. I would be tempted to buy this and mod it to make it temperature stable.
As is, I can't recommend the Emotiva BasX A-100 amplifier.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/