PAAA31

AA31

Parasound

Upgrade your surround sound speaker system with raw power, exceptional sound clarity, and tonal balance with the Parasound Halo A31 3-Channel Power Amplifier. The A31 is a straightforward power amplifier providing three discrete channels capable of outputting 250W at 8 ohms, all channels driven, while running cool and quiet.Connect to your surround sound preamp via three balanced XLR inputs or three unbalanced RCA inputs. Three gold-plated binding post pair outputs are available to connect to your speakers. This amp uses circuitry designed by legendary audio engineer John Curl, with his famous JFET input stage and complementary MOSFET driver stage that he originally pioneered with The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound. It features high-bias Class A/AB operation with carefully selected components wired as directly and discretely as possible. The result is pure power and clean sound for audiophile quality performance. For your convenience, rack mount adapter brackets are supplied.Circuit Designed by John Curl Parasound design consultant John Curl has been a legend among audiophiles and electronic engineers for decades. He pioneered measurements to correlate musical accuracy with the materials used in parts, worked with world-class touring companies, has designed highly coveted audio classics, including the original Mark Levinson JC-2, Denneson JC-80, Vendetta Phono Preamplifier, and CTC Blowtorch preamplifiers; master recorders for Wilson Audio and Mobile Fidelity; and the mixing consoles used in live concerts by The Grateful Dead and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.Carefully Selected Components Every part within the A31 is carefully chosen for its accuracy and reliability. Metal film resistors with 1% tolerance are selected for their precision and because their values don t drift as they heat up during operation. Polypropylene and mica capacitors are used extensively for their superior linearity and low dielectric absorption. Semiconductors are selected for superior performance in their specific roles in the circuit. Gold has the best conductivity of any metal, so high-quality gold-plated input connectors and speaker terminals are used. The double-sided circuit boards are FR4 glass epoxy for long-term durability. The chassis is made of heavy gauge steel to safely house the internal circuitry. This attention to detail when selecting parts makes the difference between a very good amplifier and an outstanding amplifier.Audio Circuit Path Topology Parasound s circuit topology is a hybrid of carefully chosen discrete transistors that result in superior performance at each stage. Parasound use JFETs (Junction Field Effect Transistors) for the input stage, MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistors) for the driver stage, and bipolar transistors for the output stage. Discrete transistors are more sonically accurate than integrated circuits commonly used by other brands.Class A-A/B Operation Pure Class A operation provides the purest sound. However, an amplifier operating entirely in Class A operation would be enormous, highly inefficient, and generate too much heat. Class A/B combines some of the advantages of Class A with the efficiency of Class B operation. It is a compromise that reduces the heat generated in pure Class A operation and the odd-order harmonic distortion created in Class B. In Class A/B, the driver and output stages are always partially turned on, which provides a nominal amount of pure Class A operation. At higher power levels, when the musical waveform swings from positive to negative and vice versa, each bank of transistors is allowed to rest momentarily. This resting, or quiescent time, makes it possible to deliver high amounts of power without overheating. It also makes it possible to use passive cooling and avoid fans, whose noise can be heard over the music. The A31 input and driver stages employ pure Class A while its output stage operates with higher pure Class A power than many amplifiers selling fo