TP RA3 Rackmount Amplifier Review

[Grooved]

Commercial amplifiers are designed to run 24/7, 365 days a year. They can take any and all abuse without shutting down and generally wouldn't have a pair of banana plugs on the back for speaker connection. It would be barrier style strips, TS or Speakon.

That's why I wrote "looks like" and not "is"
But that said, a small bar where the same and only person is in charge of the music... I don't see a problem to use this one if there is no need to make people dance all over the place.

I imagine it would be more used in HiFi setup for someone having devices in a rack

 

[JohnYang1997]

Thread 'Ask me questions.' https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ask-me-questions.46113/

 

[617]

Yes that is true though I don't give away hypex plate amps

Be a good time to try my passive skills out again. I have a couple sitting here that could use a home but need crossovers like you have suggested. Hopefully I get to that.

This is why I build speakers with cheap capacitors.

 

[617]

This has been discussed at length but harmonic distortion is simply not a good way evaluate audio performance. Your intuition is probably correct about ultrasonic harmonics not being impactful, but the same can also be said for bass harmonics and all other frequencies.

I'd also encourage you to listen to some music, then listen to the same music attenuated by 60db, which is the level where distortion and noise are highest in the power test. Its going to be inaudible or close to. Now imagine the spurious signal being the same as the music but just harmonically shifted.

It's a technical diagnostic. It's not a measure of audio performance.

I have a question that has been bugging me since it entered my thoughts. Why does harmonic distortion matter at 10khz and above? Isn't the second harmonic 20khz? For that matter, it should barely matter above 5khz, right? 2nd harmonic is 10khz and third harmonic is 15khz? Unless I am fundamentally misunderstanding something about harmonic distortion.

 

[restorer-john]

This has been discussed at length but harmonic distortion is simply not a good way evaluate audio performance. Your intuition is probably correct about ultrasonic harmonics not being impactful, but the same can also be said for bass harmonics and all other frequencies.

I'd also encourage you to listen to some music, then listen to the same music attenuated by 60db, which is the level where distortion and noise are highest in the power test. Its going to be inaudible or close to. Now imagine the spurious signal being the same as the music but just harmonically shifted.

It's a technical diagnostic. It's not a measure of audio performance.

The high frequency distortion performance of this reviewed amplifier is poor. No way to sugarcoat or diminish that.

Properly rated, I would estimate (based on Amir's graphs and extrapolating a bit) this amplifier to be 85wpc@4R from 250mW to rated output, with around 0.3% THD from 20-20kHz (45k BW). It's ballooning at 15kHz, with only one or possible two harmonics in the figure. Consider I there's plenty of amplifiers with 20kHz THD 80-90dB down at any power with 10 harmonics considered.

 

[jhaider]

100% true.

It's a 57wpc so-called 'professional' amplifier in a 19" rackmount. Not a very compelling product. Not only that, Amir couldn't even run his power cube reactive testing on it because it shut down prematurely. Hardly instils confidence.

Might be useful for background music in a small coffee shop or maybe some extension speakers out on the back deck for a BBQ, but in 'aint gonna see implementation in much else.

I think people are making too much of the faceplate. It looks like a good device to power very sensitive tweeters (or mids) in a multi-way multi amped system due to the low noise and price.

 

[TonyJZX]

they are releasing the RD3 companion dac with this

am i supposed to believe that this close to sota is supposed to be used in a commerical environment?

what is the point such sonically clean products in a noisy environment?

all they did was package past desktop boards into faux commerical cases

further it comes to mind what people expect for $229? can you really expect load invariance and 2 ohm support? for $229?

are people expecting 80w? 100w? more? they aint miracle workers

 

[GXAlan]

What about avoiding "tough loads" and be happy about an amplifier which protects itself reliably when used not within its specs? I can't see anything wrong in this approach.....

Why not do the PowerGuard approach from McIntosh which is well off patent by now. For McIntosh, when distortion his 0.3%, it will attenuate the input signal. It would be more graceful if a tough load just does some input attenuation.

 

[bequietjk]

uh oh...

 

[amirm]

Not only that, Amir couldn't even run his power cube reactive testing on it because it shut down prematurely.

It does NOT! I already explained and have said it in other reviews. The issue is the testing protocol. The amplifier is doing the right thing going into protection once pushed beyond clipping. The problem is that the automated test script that goes through all the load variations is dumb and keeps going even though the amp shuts down during the first test when it is pushed beyond its operational limit.

 

[amirm]

am i supposed to believe that this close to sota is supposed to be used in a commerical environment?

Once again, NO! They are not selling pro products. It is a pro *looking* amplifier to appeal to some of us who like that form factor better than small desktop boxes which is the current de-facto standard. The much larger box is likely cheaper since it doesn't require CNC machining out of solid aluminum. Topping's goal was to cost reduce so that is where they went.

Now, it is an amplifier so if you want to stick it in a rack and power a couple of bar speakers, more power to you. But no one trying to compete with likes of QSC, Crown, Behringer, etc.

 

[amirm]

all they did was package past desktop boards into faux commerical cases

No, they did more than that. They built the massive power supplies of this class into this box. This is a very nice improvement. UI is wonderful for an amplifier was well. And they did this by charging less money.

 

[laudio]

Product is interesting only because of the form factor (with the wider case and not your typical mini box falling off the shelf). Ditch those rack ears - this is not a pro amp, and not many people are going to have rack at home to mount it if as stated this is for home use.

Some of the better power amps I've run into are older Parasound rack mounts (HCA series) though, and have use them in home setups.

Also ditch the goofy non standard input connectors (seriously RCA should be good enough). Up the power to 100 WPC because TPA chip amps are able to do it and perform decently. Make that $229 and you might have a winner product providing quality amplification in a standard unit form factor with built in AC power supply, no bricks.

 

[JohnBooty]

As for pro budget amps, look for instance at the Crown XLS or XLI series, prices are quite comparable to this TP, with a lot more power, decent performances, by a long time established firm you can find anywhere.
Theren't perfect, but If I needed such an amp (it's not the case) and had to choose between this TP and these Crown, my choice will be quickly done...

My Crown XLS has been in my non-climate controlled garage (freezing winters, hot humid summers) for 4-5 years now. I usually don't even remember to put the dust cover on it. Still truckin'.

If somebody wants to send me one of these amps for similar long term climate testing I'll be happy to throw it onto the garage rack next to the Crown.

Then you can ping me in 2028 once I have gathered sufficient data. But, no sooner.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Product is interesting only because of the form factor (with the wider case and not your typical mini box falling off the shelf). Ditch those rack ears - this is not a pro amp, and not many people are going to have rack at home to mount it if as stated this is for home use.

Some of the better power amps I've run into are older Parasound rack mounts (HCA series) though, and have use them in home setups.

Also ditch the goofy non standard input connectors (seriously RCA should be good enough). Up the power to 100 WPC because TPA chip amps are able to do it and perform decently. Make that $229 and you might have a winner product providing quality amplification in a standard unit form factor with built in AC power supply, no bricks.

Sorry but I think you consider your use cases are universal.

I guess plenty of people like XLR and TRS, especially since Topping, SMSL, Gustrard and all have democratized the thing, plenty of people want to use it in a Lack Ikea table or more seriously will like the "pro aspect" of the thing, and there is also a lot of people considering 50W is not considered as a week amp. For the last point, here on ASR the louder guys are the one they want 1500W per channel, ok, ok, so I am in the little players league with high efficiency speakers listening usually with less than 1W...

 

[TonyJZX]

TIL neutrik xlr trs combo sockets = goofy

 

[Grotti]

TIL neutrik xlr trs combo sockets = goofy

I am perfectly fine with goofy sockets:

 

[Grotti]

Sorry but I think you consider your use cases are universal.

I guess plenty of people like XLR and TRS, especially since Topping, SMSL, Gustrard and all have democratized the thing, plenty of people want to use it in a Lack Ikea table or more seriously will like the "pro aspect" of the thing, and there is also a lot of people considering 50W is not considered as a week amp. For the last point, here on ASR the louder guys are the one they want 1500W per channel, ok, ok, so I am in the little players league with high efficiency speakers listening usually with less than 1W...

This!
My last amp before my Elac amplifier was rated about 60w per channel (class AB). Living in a rental apartment in Western Europe with neighbors all around I was never able to push it to its limits. Let's face it: not all of us are living on a ranch in Texas or Australia with dedicated ball rooms to listen to music...

 

[Fledermaus]

and is there going to be more stuff in this format? like i dunno? a headphone amp? dunno what else people want in 19" format?

A speaker processor, or [2 ch in / 6 ch out] DAC with DSP inside

 

[Jimster480]

Perfect for my bedroom system, don't need 400w there (but I'll appreciate the remote control and the SOTA volume control)
I just need to find a store that sells it

A rackmount amp in a bedroom? A bit wild lol