Интегральные усилители — Audia Flight FLS9

The FLS9 belongs to the FLS range of the Italian company Audia Flight and is a two-channel integrated design with a fully balanced circuit. It has a modular layout with two expansion slots, so the basic analogue unit can be ordered with a DAC board, a phono board or both. The base version costs USD 8,999 in the US, and a fully equipped unit with both boards costs USD 12,997.

Key specs that matter

Output is 150 W per channel into 8 ohm, 290 W into 4 ohm and 500 W into 2 ohm. Frequency response extends from 0.3 Hz to 500 kHz at minus 3 dB. THD is below 0.05%, signal to noise ratio is 110 dB and the damping factor into 8 ohm is above 500. Input impedance is 47 kohm. Volume covers minus 90 dB to plus 10 dB in 0.5 dB steps. Five line inputs are split between two XLR and three RCA sockets, alongside one RCA output, one XLR output and an RCA record output. The chassis measures 450 x 150 x 440 mm and weighs 25.5 kg.

Engineering and use context

Audia Flight runs the fully balanced input stage in Class A, and the preamplifier and power sections are separate. A 1000 W shielded toroidal transformer feeds eight low-noise, low-impedance supply circuits filtered by 120,000 uF of capacitance. Twelve selected power transistors make up the output stage, and the circuit boards use an extra thick copper layer. The chassis stands on four composite isolation feet with NBR rubber spheres. Power consumption is 650 W at full rated output into 8 ohm, and below 1 W in standby. The phono board, priced at USD 1,499, provides MM input with 46 dB of gain and MC input with 66 dB. The DAC board, priced at USD 2,499, uses an ESS 9028 Pro converter and plays PCM up to 32 bit and 384 kHz as well as DSD512. Its optical, AES/EBU, S/PDIF and USB inputs are galvanically isolated. The chassis is built from high-grade brushed aluminium in silver or black, with an OLED display on the front and a solid aluminium remote control.

Pairing

The balanced inputs accept sources such as the FLS 20 SACD player from the same series, while the three RCA inputs serve unbalanced components. Adding the phono board lets a turntable fitted with either MM or MC cartridges plug straight in, and the DAC board brings in a computer, streamer or television without a separate converter. A separate power stage or a powered subwoofer can be run from the RCA and XLR outputs, and the record output feeds a recorder.

Alternatives

The Audia Flight FLS 10 is the more powerful integrated model of the FLS series, with a larger transformer, more independent supplies and a taller, heavier chassis.