7
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
II. Material Quality
The amplifier’s chassis is made from machined aluminum. All exterior metal parts are
anodized or powder coated for durability.
Printed circuit boards are fiberglass epoxy with gold plating over a tin/nickel barrier. The gold
layer will not corrode, while the barrier layer prevents the gold from migrating to the lower
copper layer.
All resistors are precision metal film; 1% tolerance for 1/4-watt and 5% tolerance for 1-watt.
Capacitors have been eliminated wherever possible. No electrolytic capacitors are used
except in the power supply, where several high-capacitance electrolytics provide outstanding
filtering of the supply output.
All semiconductor devices are of very high grade. Voltage gain is accomplished with an
extremely high-quality, matched dual FET, chosen for it’s exceptionally low noise
characteristics.
All audio input and output connector contacts are gold-plated, and XLR receptacles are
manufactured by Neutrik of Switzerland. Wire is used as little as possible in the signal path -
only to connect the RCA jacks and speaker terminals to the circuit board - and what is used is
141-strand silver-plated copper with silicone insulation.