Steinway & Sons A1

Description

Overview

The Steinway & Sons A1 is the two-channel member of Steinway Lyngdorf’s fully digital amplifier pair, rated at 2 × 400 W into 4 ohms. Its larger sibling, the A2, offers four channels in the same idiom. The manufacturer calls the A1 and A2 the foundation of every stereo and surround system in the range, which is not marketing language so much as a description of how the system is built: the loudspeakers have no passive alternative, so one of these two amplifiers is always in the chain.

Design & build

The A1 is a slim unit in matte black, 4.9 by 45.0 by 34.6 cm freestanding or 4.4 by 48.3 by 34.6 cm once rack ears are fitted, and it weighs 6.6 kg. Allow around 39.6 cm of depth with cables and connectors in place. Two Neutrik speakON outputs take the loudspeaker connections. There is a Digital Link output as well as an input, so amplifiers can be daisy-chained through a rack rather than each needing its own run back to the processor.

Sound & performance

The A1 is a true digital amplifier, meaning signal processing is handled entirely in the digital domain with no sound-deteriorating analogue conversions along the way. Audio arrives from the processor as data over the Digital Link and is amplified without being converted to analogue and back first. Because the digital crossover work has already been done upstream in the processor, the amplifier receives exactly the band each driver needs. There is 400 W a channel on tap, which is generous headroom for loudspeakers that are already efficient, and headroom is what keeps a system composed at volume.

Key features

• Two channels of amplification, 2 × 400 W into 4 ohms.
• Fully digital signal path with no analogue conversion before the output stage.
• One Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link input plus a Digital Link output for daisy-chaining.
• Two Neutrik speakON loudspeaker outputs.
• RS232 control on an RJ12 connector.
• Rack mounting or freestanding placement, in matte black.
• Specified as the amplification for the Model D and Model A among other loudspeakers in the range.

Technology

Connection to the processor is by the Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link, the brand’s own interconnect, which is based on CAT 5e cable. That choice makes installation simple, since the cable is thin, inexpensive and easy to route, but the Digital Link is neither an Ethernet network nor an analogue interconnect. It is a dedicated point-to-point audio link between Steinway Lyngdorf components. Downstream of the amplifier, the loudspeaker is wired conventionally and terminated in Neutrik speakON.

Specifications

• Channels: 2
• Power: 2 × 400 W into 4 ohms
• Signal path: fully digital; input via Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link (CAT 5e based)
• Other: speakON outputs; Digital Link loop output; RS232 via RJ12; 4.9 × 45.0 × 34.6 cm freestanding, 4.4 × 48.3 × 34.6 cm rack mounted; 6.6 kg; matte black

Who it’s for

The A1 makes sense wherever the channel arithmetic comes out in twos: a single loudspeaker that needs two amplification channels, or a pair of speakers that need one each. In a larger cinema you will usually mix A1 and A2 units to reach the total the layout demands. What you cannot do is substitute another brand of amplifier, or run an A1 without a Steinway Lyngdorf processor ahead of it. Processor, amplifier and loudspeaker are designed as one chain, and the crossovers live in the electronics rather than inside the speaker.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

Amplifier channels are the part of a Steinway Lyngdorf specification most often miscounted, and it is not a mistake you want to discover at commissioning. We work it out at design stage. Hidden Home Technology designs, installs and calibrates these systems from our base in Bath, and we are a CEDIA member. Ask us for a demonstration and we will put together the full picture, from processor to speaker terminals, for your room.