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TP RA3 Rackmount Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 6 2.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 12 4.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 95 33.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 168 59.8%

  • Total voters
    281
Of course, it always depends on the speakers.
Buy the Avantgarde Acoustic Trio and you'll never need more than 5 watts again, and that's already too much. But of course they have active subwoofers.

It would be interesting to hear the RA3 on the Trio's, with the good readings at 5 watts. These speakers are like a giant magnifying glass for any amp.
LA90(D) would be even better of course
 
That's the case, therefore European Union delivery addresses are refused in these few shops which have that amp and corresponding DAC listed. I have not seen a product release lacking any certification by Topping for years.
Well, the Aliexpress store is ok to ship to Belgium, so...
 
Because John, 57W is all it can put out at 8 ohms.

And it can only do 120W@4R for 1 minute? Seriously, just 1 minute? It shut down with reactive testing. What do you have to say about that?

It has a 19" rackmount front panel. The 19" rackmount is a professional product mounting system and has been forever. But it's not professional. Right, OK.
Topping makes well measuring cute amplifiers, hard to imaging who would use this no headroom amp in a high end tri-amplified system.
 
Sorry if this has already been discussed. By what mechanism is the volume control handled in this?
 
It's been mentioned before, try skimming through some pages..search "volume"

It's also seems like they don't want to sell this thing, why only aliexpress?
 
It's also seems like they don't want to sell this thing, why only aliexpress?
Topping wants to differentiate their new "TP" Line of studio products not only in name and design, but seemingly also in where you can buy them.

Instead of HiFiGO, Shenzhenaudio, Audiophonics etc, Topping hopes to sell them on Sweetwater, Thomann, StoreDJ, and I guess relations have not been established yet.

In the meantime, Topping's only personal storefront, their AliExpress store, is the sole place where they're on offer.
 
Topping wants to differentiate their new "TP" Line of studio products not only in name and design, but seemingly also in where you can buy them.

Instead of HiFiGO, Shenzhenaudio, Audiophonics etc, Topping hopes to sell them on Sweetwater, Thomann, StoreDJ, and I guess relations have not been established yet.

In the meantime, Topping's only personal storefront, their AliExpress store, is the sole place where they're on offer.
Well, this is too bad. I have a need for a third amp and have no desire to pay extra to aliexpress when other sources are cheaper and also tend to ship much faster
 
Good, assemble one yourself and mail it to Amir for review.

So tired of keyboard warriors quoting specs from AliExpress that probably wouldn't hold up when run through their paces. Also, not everyone's time is worthless, I'd pay the $100 premium every time over doing what you described above.

Checkout ) already measured

 
I'm looking for a quiet amp to drive horns on my multi-way active speakers. Shouldn't this do the job? The balanced inputs are great, and my other components are rack mounted too. I'm already using balanced inputs for everything I can.

But I've learned that I don't really understand how amplifier specs translate to things like audible noise/ idle hiss...but -120dB noise should help?

My horns have a 107dB sensitivity, so I currently have an L-Pad with a 30ohm resister in series and ~5ohm in parallel. The noise is greatly reduced, but still audible. They are powered by an Emotiva XPA gen 3 amp stereo channel, so 60 watts each. But after the massive pad, they receive something like 3 watts when the amp is maxed out. So a quiet 57 watts without a pad, or with a much smaller pad, seems like the perfect thing.
 
But I've learned that I don't really understand how amplifier specs translate to things like audible noise/ idle hiss...but -120dB noise should help?
If you care about noise, best to look at an Amp's absolute noise level which is typically measured with 20Hz -20kHz BW, in μVrms or μVrms (A-wt).
The RA3 has 16μVrms (A-wt) of noise at the outputs, same as the PA5. That's really low, but not as low as stuff like the LA90(D), Modulus-86, Rekkr or Gjallahorn.
 
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I'm looking for a quiet amp to drive horns on my multi-way active speakers. Shouldn't this do the job? The balanced inputs are great, and my other components are rack mounted too. I'm already using balanced inputs for everything I can.

But I've learned that I don't really understand how amplifier specs translate to things like audible noise/ idle hiss...but -120dB noise should help?

My horns have a 107dB sensitivity, so I currently have an L-Pad with a 30ohm resister in series and ~5ohm in parallel. The noise is greatly reduced, but still audible. They are powered by an Emotiva XPA gen 3 amp stereo channel, so 60 watts each. But after the massive pad, they receive something like 3 watts when the amp is maxed out. So a quiet 57 watts without a pad, or with a much smaller pad, seems like the perfect thing.

Why not the Hypex Ncore NC100HF that is a dedicated tweeter-amplifier....full range frequency module fits well for multi way amps )

 
I'm looking for a quiet amp to drive horns on my multi-way active speakers. Shouldn't this do the job? The balanced inputs are great, and my other components are rack mounted too. I'm already using balanced inputs for everything I can.

But I've learned that I don't really understand how amplifier specs translate to things like audible noise/ idle hiss...but -120dB noise should help?

My horns have a 107dB sensitivity, so I currently have an L-Pad with a 30ohm resister in series and ~5ohm in parallel. The noise is greatly reduced, but still audible. They are powered by an Emotiva XPA gen 3 amp stereo channel, so 60 watts each. But after the massive pad, they receive something like 3 watts when the amp is maxed out. So a quiet 57 watts without a pad, or with a much smaller pad, seems like the perfect thing.
Look for amplifiers that owners of Avantgarde Acoustic Trio loudspeakers use. Some also use high quality headphone amps to drive the trios.
 
Why not the Hypex Ncore NC100HF that is a dedicated tweeter-amplifier....full range frequency module fits well for multi way amps )


Why not? Because, well...

I guess I was busy, and my first look at class D amp kits approx 1 year ago told me it was a rabbit hole I didn't have time or energy to explore!
 
Why not? Because, well...

I guess I was busy, and my first look at class D amp kits approx 1 year ago told me it was a rabbit hole I didn't have time or energy to explore!

Hypex Ncore kits are safe values... you can easily trust the measurements. What's more, they are easy to implement and the PSU is included...
And finally the price remains "democratic" all the same)
 
yeah but they are lot lot lot more than $239... and you still miss out on many basic features
 
I suggest a line of matching rack-mount fans.;)
1692171847981.png

edit:
A couple more hypothetical models
The obvious double-down on the FAN3:
1692172731120.png


And of course the combination subwoofer / mega equipment cooling fan:
1692172778453.png
 
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Their “Pro” amp is lacking speakON output terminals.
 
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