Primare A30.2 with SDA

On3s&Z3r0s

Does anyone have any experience with the Primare A30.2 amp with any of the SDA speakers. It's a dual mono amp, so it would require running an AI-1 with the speakers. I read a review saying it's not good with difficult loads, but I have some 2B's, which from the other equipment I've used with them do not seem to be that difficult a load, but I'm not sure if the AI-1 (once I build one) will change that.

Any input (including whether the amp is decent or not in general) would be appreciated. Thanks!

FTGV

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience with the Primare A30.2 amp with any of the SDA speakers. It's a dual mono amp, so it would require running an AI-1 with the speakers.

Looks like a nice amplifier .While it is a dual mono design according to the schematic it does not use a bridged/balanced output stage thus both negative speaker terminals are tied to ground.Therefore it is common ground so could be used with SDA's without the aid of an A1.To verify that it is indeed common ground you could check the resistance between the negative speaker terminals with a multi meter.If the resistance reading between them is zero or a few tens of ohms you can safely strap them together.

On3s&Z3r0s

Hmmm... the review I read said this: "A final warning: as both the A30.1 and A30.2 are fully balanced amplifiers, their return or ‘black’ terminals should never be grounded. Dealers should take particular care if either amp is routed through a speaker selection switchbox, for example."

That scared me about doing anything with the negative terminals. But, I was planning on building an AI-1 anyway on the strength of the glowing praise the project has received. It seems like some think it's a pretty decent amp, comparable to a parasound maybe? But it also seems like the line of amps never really took off, so not sure what that tells you either.

zingo

That is a very specific warning by the manufacturer, so I would just go with the AI-1 to be safe. Plus, it looks like a fun project and as you stated, usually gives great results anyway. Primare makes great equipment, so enjoy and your SDAs are not a difficult load for that amp.

FTGV

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

Hmmm... the review I read said this: "A final warning: as both the A30.1 and A30.2 are fully balanced amplifiers, their return or ‘black’ terminals should never be grounded. Dealers should take particular care if either amp is routed through a speaker selection switchbox, for example."

.

Interesting since the schematic clealy indicates the negative speaker terminals connected to ground.However the service manual indicates that there is optional jumpers internally that allow it to be configured as a balanced mono amplifier.( commonly refered to as bridging).Configured in bridged mode it cannot operate the SDA's without the A1.So your best bet is to be absolutely certain before trying to strap the negative speaker outputs.Maybe contact Primares US distributor for clarification.

btw.Do you have a link to the review you mentioned?

On3s&Z3r0s

This is the one that contained the warning. It's fairly old (from 2002) and Primare was apparently still tweaking the designs, at least of the A30.1, so I guess maybe the design could have changed.

www.normanaudio.com/reviews/165742A30.2.pdf

Thanks for looking at the schematic. I'm not super confident in my abilities to read those yet. And I also don't own the amp yet either, just considering a local puchase. I'll try to see if I can get a ser no from the seller and maybe contact the manufacturer. Thanks!