Steinway & Sons A2

Description

Overview

The Steinway & Sons A2 is the four-channel version of Steinway Lyngdorf’s fully digital power amplifier, rated at 4 × 400 W into 4 ohms. The manufacturer describes the A1 and A2 as the foundation of every stereo and surround system it builds, and that is the honest position: whichever loudspeakers you choose from the range, this is what drives them. The A2 exists because several models need four channels of amplification rather than two. The Model B, for instance, is quad-amplified by a single A2.

Design & build

Finished in matte black, the A2 measures 8.7 by 45.0 by 34.6 cm freestanding, or 8.2 by 48.3 by 34.6 cm with rack ears fitted, and weighs 9.5 kg. Allow roughly 39.6 cm of depth once cables and connectors are accounted for. Four Neutrik speakON outputs handle the loudspeaker connections. A Digital Link output alongside the input allows amplifiers to be daisy-chained, which keeps the cabling sane in a rack running a high channel count.

Sound & performance

What separates this from a conventional power amplifier is that there is no analogue stage waiting at the front of it. Signal processing is handled entirely in the digital domain, so the music is not converted, buffered and reconverted on its way through the system. The processor sends digital audio down the Digital Link, the A2 amplifies it, and the conversion to something a driver can move happens at the very end of the chain. Fewer conversions means fewer opportunities for the signal to be degraded, which is the whole argument for the fully digital approach Steinway Lyngdorf has taken since the beginning.

Key features

• Four channels of amplification, 4 × 400 W into 4 ohms.
• Fully digital signal path with no analogue conversion ahead of the output stage.
• One Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link input and one Digital Link output for daisy-chaining further amplifiers.
• Four Neutrik speakON loudspeaker outputs.
• RS232 control on an RJ12 connector.
• Rack mounting or freestanding placement, in matte black.
• Quad-amplifies a Model B on its own, or drives two loudspeakers that each need two channels.

Technology

The A2 connects to its processor over the Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link, a proprietary interconnect based on CAT 5e cable. It is worth being precise about what that is and is not. The cable type is borrowed from structured wiring because it is cheap, thin and easy to pull through a building, but the Digital Link is not an Ethernet network and it is not an analogue interconnect. It carries audio between Steinway Lyngdorf components and nothing else. From the amplifier onward, the connection to the loudspeaker is a conventional speaker cable terminated in Neutrik speakON.

Specifications

• Channels: 4
• Power: 4 × 400 W into 4 ohms
• Signal path: fully digital; input via Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link (CAT 5e based)
• Other: 4 × speakON outputs; Digital Link loop output; RS232 via RJ12; 8.7 × 45.0 × 34.6 cm freestanding, 8.2 × 48.3 × 34.6 cm rack mounted; 9.5 kg; matte black

Who it’s for

Choose the A2 when the channel count says so. A Model B needs all four of its channels; a pair of Model A or Model D loudspeakers needs two channels each, so one A2 covers a stereo pair. In a cinema the amplifier count is simply arithmetic once the speaker layout is fixed, and it is a calculation worth doing on paper before anything is ordered. Note too that a Steinway Lyngdorf loudspeaker will not work with a third-party amplifier, and an A2 will not work without a Steinway Lyngdorf processor in front of it. The three parts are designed as one system.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

Getting the amplifier count right is exactly the sort of thing that goes wrong when a system is bought piecemeal. We do the arithmetic first. Hidden Home Technology is a Bath-based CEDIA member, and we design, supply, install and calibrate complete Steinway Lyngdorf systems rather than selling components in isolation. Come and hear one, and we will draw up the rack, the channel count and the cable schedule for your own room.