Предусилители — Audia Flight STRUMENTO n° 1 Signature

The STRUMENTO n° 1 Signature is a line-level control amplifier for two channels from Audia Flight, a maker founded in 1996 that hand builds its products in Civitavecchia, Italy, presented as an advance over the STRUMENTO n° 1 evo it succeeds within the Strumento series. It is a Class A, dual mono design with a modular layout, and a golden plaque on the front panel identifies the Signature edition. Audia Flight states it is intended to drive any power amplifier.

Key specs that matter

Output sockets consist of a pair on XLR plus one on RCA. Input boards come either as a pair with both socket types or as a trio that is XLR only. The attenuator covers -90 dB to +10 dB with 0.5 dB resolution, a total range of 127 dB. Frequency response is 1 Hz to 1 MHz at -3 dB, slew rate at 8 ohm is above 200 V/µS, THD is under 0.05 percent, while residual noise is 105 dB below signal. Input impedance is 15 kOhm with 10 pF, balanced or unbalanced, and output impedance is 5 ohm. The unit measures 450 x 120 x 450 mm and weighs 22.5 kg, while the shipping carton is 580 x 300 x 580 mm at 38.5 kg.

Engineering and use context

Amplification is by an exclusive Audia Flight current feedback circuit running fully in Class A, with four stabilised independent supply stages per channel, two serving the input and two the output. Volume is handled by a custom constant impedance attenuator made of discrete metallic film resistors and relays. Power comes from four toroidal transformers of 75, 75, 25 and 15 VA inside ferromagnetic shields, with filtering by 20 Mundorf capacitors of 1500 µF at 100 V, and internal parts are gold plated. The chassis is cast from ultra high grade aluminium, CNC machined, hand polished to a mirror finish, shot peened and anodised. Extra cards can add MM and MC phono inputs, further balanced or unbalanced analogue inputs, and SPDIF and USB digital inputs working at up to 192 kHz and 32 bit. Nominal consumption is 90 W and standby draw is under 0.5 W, with mains versions for 100, 110-115, 220-230 and 240 V at 50-60 Hz.

Pairing

The pair of balanced outputs can drive two mono power amplifiers directly, for example two STRUMENTO n° 8 Signature units from the same series.

Alternatives

The Audia Flight FLS1 is the preamplifier of the more compact FLS range, with a built-in 12 W headphone amplifier, slots for phono and DAC cards and a 0.3 Hz to 500 kHz response.