SPEC RPA-W3EX Power Amplifier

Description

SPEC RPA-W3EX Real-Sound Power Amplifier

Improved musicality and a energy in the mid- and low registers

The RPA-W3EX offers a high speed basic platform that delivers well-defined clarity, together with volume and energy in the mid- and low registers, for improved musicality, and controls woofer damping, for a lively, powerful bottom end. This is an amplifier that will let you feel the shocking impact of “the Firebird” or the throbbing bass and pulsing bass drum of a jazz trio.

All-new spruce side panel and rear insulator construction

The side panels have evolved even further, and feature insulators with a hybrid configuration that sandwich maple between spruce board. The weight of the body flows down the lines of front face and the underside, where it is conveyed to the contact surface. It is constructed of spruce, which is also used in the tops of stringed instruments (German Spruce), and has excellent musical properties. Maple possesses just the right amount of rigidity, and is also used on the backs of stringed instruments. The new hybrid panels combine these woods, with 15 mm sides and a 45 mm contact surface, and make effective use of resonance and controlled vibration to achieve a rich reverberation that is very similar to that of a musical instrument. To provide three-point support, the rear insulator features the same hybrid structure as the side panels. The large hybrid block supports the amplifier chassis with perfect vibration characteristics.

High-quality audio grade switching power supply

In any amplifier, the DC power supply circuit has an important effect on sound quality.
Although switching power supplies have excellent energy supply characteristics, to date they have not commonly been used in audio device applications. We have combined “Hibiki-ichi,” a capacitor designed for class-D amplifiers that delivers abundant reverberation, with silicon carbide diodes optimized for high voltage, large current flows, in the development of a high-quality audio grade switching power supply. This power supply provides large amounts of clean current instantaneously at a class-D power stage.

The combination of an audio grade switching power supply and a PWM-type class-D power stage allows energy to be conveyed instantaneously and directly to the speakers from an AC input for quick, powerful playback. Furthermore, the PWM-type class-D power stage absorbs any counter electromotive force generated by the speaker, and is able to both drive and halt the speaker instantaneously.
It is this accurate speaker function that makes it possible to reproduce the “music” of a live performance. We believe that these dynamic characteristics are essential to achieving realistic sound.

Noise countermeasures

The entire surface of the interior of the chassis and aluminum top have been coated with the same EMC coating as is used on the high-end RSA-F33, absorbing internal noise reflections and external noise to offer superbly transparent audio playback.

Explanation for the selector switch

RPA-W3EX Operation Manual