NVA - AP80 Integrated amplifier. Start Price GBP 1,000.00 Current Price GBP 1,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Monday, September 01, 2008 End Time Thursday, September 11, 2008 Location Epping, Essex See more about 'NVA - AP80 Integrated amplifier.' Description NVA AP80 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER NEW PRODUCTION NVA AP80 The AP80 forms the top of the range integrated amplifier. The case includes four power supplies, two driving each channel. AP80 Specifications Inputs Six line level Outputs 4mm speaker sockets.Tape out. Power supply 4 x 160 VA Power Output 80 W Dimensions 430mm x 90mm x 320mm (whd) AP80 Integrated Amplifier No internal phono stage is available for this amplifier. For turntable use you must use an external phono stage like the NVA Phono 1, Phono 2 or equivalent. All 6 inputs are identical and hardwired to the selector switch using silver alloy cable with PTFE cover. The output of the switch is routed to the potentiometer and tape socket again with the silver alloy cable. The potentiometer is a very high quality. The signal is then routed to the amplifier PCB again with silver alloy cable. The pre-amp stage is entirely passive. The input to the power amp stage has minimum capacitive and inductive coupling and has been designed to operate correctly with the variable impedance output of a passive pre-amp stage. A current mirror operates at the pre-driver stage to ensure that the voltage rails track each other correctly. The driver stage has both current and voltage amplification using devices that could be used as output transistors. The output devices are 12 amp darlingtons and there are two per channel. The power supply is based around four 160va transformers, two per channel, one supplying the input, pre driver and driver stage and the other dedicated to the output stage. A four way smoothing stage is incorporated in each supply. There is no protection circuitry or filtering on the output of this amplifier so care must taken in its usage. Do not short circuit the output. Do not use bi or tri wire (unless nva LS! or LS3) or high capacitance or litz type loudspeaker cables as these will damage the amplifier as they create a virtual short circuit at very high frequencies which will create instability in the amplifier. As a rule of thumb avoid cables with a capacitance higher than 200pF per meter. Simple solid core or low capacitance stranded cables are cost effective but high quality silver or silver alloy cables such as NVA LS1 or LS3 are best. Avoid loudspeakers with an average of below 4 ohms load impedance or loudspeakers using high frequency notch filters in their crossovers. This amplifier has minimum capacitors, no inductors, and is a low negative feedback class AB circuit design that is unique. The amplifier has an output of 80W per channel. The case design has been created for sonic reasons and is glued and insulated to stop induced circulating currents and static charge problems associated with normal case designs. Due to the multi power supply nature of the design of this amplifier do not expect it to reach the design sonic performance until used for at least one week from new. It is recommended that the amplifier is left on at all times. Loudspeaker cables can be disconnected but do this at the amplifier end to avoid short circuits. What Hi-Fi -What Hi-Fi ***** rating- Lucid NVA amp a major league player NVA AP80 Amplifier For Excellent full sound with lots of musical detail Against Nothing Verdict A deceptively ordinary-looking amp, the NVA rivals more pricey designs with its superb musicianship This is one excellent amplifier. Solid looking and well-specified - picking it up confirms the weight of multiple power supplies hidden inside its casework - the AP80 majors on drive and clarity. A good way to describe the sound of the 80W per channel NVA is that it has a valve-like lucidity and speed, yet with the battleship-sized weight and control that you get from better transistor designs. It tools along at normal listening levels with infinite ease. With Mighty Sam McLain's I'm Tired of These Blues disc it tosses out the sound of the kick drum, creating a pulse within the room, and excels at sorting instrument separation, giving each both space and definition within a soundstage that conveys the ambiance of a recording situation. Bandwidth is exemplary - the amp providing excellent explosive bass from our Reference disk of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite played by the Minnesota Orchestra. It's dynamically coherent way up into the audio spectrum, with high hats or triangle sounding bright and resonant, and decaying naturally. As for inputs, the AP80 offers five at line level, plus a tape loop. The speaker outputs require four millimeter plugs - there are no binding posts on the back of the amp - and controls are the bare minimum: you get a source select switch and a volume knob. WE ARE SO CONFIDENT IN THE QUALITY OF OUR PRODUCTS AND DESIGNS WE OFFER 14 DAY NO QUIBBLE RETURNS POLICY (less p&p) Available in 120v or 240v please stipulate on purchase - For full information on NVA go to http://www.nene-valley-audio.com/ - NVA's Overall Philosophy Generally, we have never been keen on producing conventional literature, because it's usually just glossy expensive paper full of pretty meaningless specifications which have little bearing on how good the sound of audio equipment is when playing music. If you buy hi-fi equipment on the basis of what a manufacturer says about himself (including us!) you really do deserve what you get. As an alternative, one of our dealers suggested that we try to explain good design and how to recognize it. People probably won't believe this, but really the basics are very straightforward. A famous British amplifier designer is supposed to have said, "Good amplifier design is not the things that you do right, but the things you don't do wrong". I really wish I had said it first, because it's amplifier design in a nutshell. You can come up with all the new circuit configurations under the sun such as feed forward, low feedback, class A to Z, but ignore the common sense ground rules, and you will have a sonic bag-of-nails capable of being blown away by a couple of EL34's in a 1950 Williamson tube circuit. I am afraid 80% of the amplifiers built today fall into this category. The thing that never stops amazing me is that so many audiophiles keep falling for it. There is nothing like a good story to have people hocking the next three years' spare income on the latest all-singing, all-dancing creation. Not only that, a good story sells magazines as well, which just exacerbates the problem. Here are my ground rules: 1. There is only one thing better than the best component money can buy, and that is no component at all. 2. Never use two components when you can do the job with one. 3. Screw up your earth (ground) paths at your peril. 4. Always use the largest transformer (toroid if possible) you can cost in. 5. If your ears and your test equipment tell you two different things, trust your ears. 6. If you have a fault in your source material or elsewhere in the equipment chain, you cannot correct it by creating an inverse fault in the amplifier with tone, balance, and filter controls. Two wrongs do not make a right. After that it is all down to experience, and fine-tuning the design to your own taste. It is easier to get a half-way decent sounding amp using Vacuum State Logic (warm glass bottles) than Solid State Logic (hopefully cool lumps of plastic) because there is less to do wrong (Neanderthal Logic). That is why so many people have jumped on the valve bandwagon. All things being equal, bits of doped silicon encapsulated in metal or plastic (transistors) potentially are capable of doing more things with music, i.e. wider (frequency), larger (amplitude), cleaner (distortion and noise) for less cost. Remember though, the more you try to do, the exponentially easier it is to do it wrong. If you can get most of it right, then think very carefully before you try to get the very last bit, because you may be too clever and ruin everything you've gained thus far. This explanation is all very simplistic of course, and common sense and experience must apply as well. For example, a Class A circuit is a lot simpler that the equivalent Class B or AB. Ergo, applying my logic it should be better. Wrong, unless you spend a fortune on the power supply, which then makes the amplifier grotesquely expensive and heavy. The problems of current demand by the amplifier outweigh the simplicity. If I could buy 1000VA transformers not larger than 4" square, and weighing less than two pounds for £10, and if I could get good and consistent output transistors (i.e. not FETs) that could sink 20 amps, and either, not get hotter than 70 degrees C doing so, or stand 150 degrees C without going into self-destruct mode, I would produce Class A amplifiers. I will not produce them just because they have become some reviewers latest buzz word. Every amplifier has its own sonic character, which is very much down to the musical parameters that are most important to the designer. The process is very much "lose on the swings, gain on the roundabouts". I once knew an amplifier designer, in fact I employed him back in Tresham Audio days to produce a professional FET power amplifier, who saw no necessity for listening to the amplifier at all. It was only after he left, and some ears were applied to the design that it started to sing, not as much as the best hi-fi amplifiers, but it went very loud and was virtually indestructible. My greatest hang-up is information retrieval - musical information, especially dynamic separation. I will always go for information even at the expense of upsetting the "make everything bounce and swing with the tempo" brigade. My other priority, which seems to be out of favour at the moment, is neutrality, or as I prefer to call it, lack of the irritation factor. Richard Dunn, Founder and Owner, NVA - - PLEASE NOTE ALL NVA PRODUCT IS BUILT TO ORDER SO THERE WILL BE A DELIVERY DELAY AS THE PRODUCTION AND TESTING IS SCHEDULED. AVERAGE DELIVERY TIME IS FIVE TO SEVEN DAYS BUT CAN ON OCCASION GO OUT TO TEN TO FOURTEEN DAYS DEPENDING UPON ORDER PRESSURE PRICE LIST STATEMENT ELECTRONICS T.I.S. (The Integrated Statement) Integrated Amplifier - £1600.00 T.C.S. (The Control Statement) Passive Pre-Amplifier - £1100.00 T.S.S (The Second Statement) Stereo Power Amplifier - £2200.00 T.D.S. (The Definitive Statement) Mono Power Amplifier (pair) - £3500.00 T.A.S. (The Analogue Statement) Phono Head Amp MM or MC - £1600.00 T.N.S. (The Numeric Statement) Digital to Analogue Converter - £1100.00   BLACK BOX ELECTRONICS AP10H Headphone Amplifier - £240.00 AP10P Personal Integrated Amplifier - £260.00 AP20 Integrated Amplifier - £350.00 AP30 Integrated Amplifier - £450.00 AP50 Integrated Amplifier - £550.00 AP70 Integrated Amplifier - £700.00 AP80 Integrated Amplifier - £1000.00 P50 Passive Pre Amplifier - £160.00 P50sa Passive Pre Amplifier - £260.00 P90 Passive Pre Amplifier - £240.00 P90sa Passive Pre Amplifier - £540.00 P90 Passive Pre Amplifier plus active phono stage - £350.00 P90sa Passive Pre Amplifier plus active phono stage - £650.00 A30 Stereo Power Amplifier - £300.00 A40 Mono Power Amplifiers (pair) - £400.00 A60 Stereo Power Amplifier - £600.00 A70 Mono Power Amplifier (pair) - £800.00 A80 Mono Power Amplifier (pair) - £1000.00 P.S.U. Power Supply for Phono2 and Dacon - £190.00 Phono1 Head / Phono Amplifier (in built psu) - £220.00 Phono2 Head / Phono Amplifier - £260.00 Phono PCB’s – for fitting to nva products – £100.00   CABLES Sound Cord – per 10cm length pair – terminated - £5.00 (SEE SPECIAL OFFERS) Super Sound Pipe – per 10cm length pair – terminated - £20.00 Sound Pipe – per 10cm length pair – terminated - £10.00 Sound Pipe Digital – per 10cm length - terminated - £5.00 LS1 – per metre length stereo set – terminated - £20.00 LS2 - per metre length stereo set - terminated - £10.00 (SEE SPECIAL OFFERS) LS3 – per metre length stereo set – terminated - £30.00 LS5 - per metre length stereo set - terminated - £50.00 Sound Pipe LS - per metre length stereo set - terminated - £100.00 Bi-Wire – per end (speaker and amp) – terminated - £10.00 We offer a 100% trade in value on our products if you trade up within the nva range of like products within two years of your purchase date (only applicable to direct sales from us or through ebay). After that date we will still trade in your item but on a sliding scale as to age and condition. You must print out and keep your ebay receipt or invoice to verify your purchase date. THIS SERVICE AND OFFER IS QUITE UNIQUE IN THE WORLD OF AUDIO AND HI-FI NVA AND SPEAKER CABLE SAFETY For best sound the amplifier should be left powered up. Electricity consumption is very low. It is for this reason that the power switch is located on the back panel, where it may not be easy to reach. Turn the amplifier off when you do not intend to listen to it for extended periods. NVA amplifiers are unique, and one thing that makes them so is the minimal compensation for the output stage. It is very possible to send this amplifier into oscillation by connecting too large a capacitive load on the output, the usual culprit being unsuitable speaker cable such as Litz or Goertz type constructions. The amplifier normally runs cool, but if it is driven unstable the output transistors will become hot and the sound will distort and the amplifier could fail putting your loudspeaker coils in danger. You can check for this by placing your hand on the amplifier and feeling for hot spots. If you find the amplifier overheating switch off immediately and consider changing your cable. Only NVA LS1, LS2, LS3, LS5 or SPLS is recommended for use with this amplifier, other cables invalidate our guarantee. If you insist on using other cable please ensure it is no more than 200pf per metre and it should not be used in lengths over 10 metres. If you wish to Bi-Wire this can only be done with NVA cable and they can be made that way on order for small added cost. For design performance only NVA Soundpipe Super Soundpipe or Soundcord  Interconnects should be used, but this is for sonic as opposed to safety reasons. Place a Bid!