Over 20 years of experience designing cutting edge, high performance audio equipment has gone into our Audia Flight Three S Integrated Amplifier . The result is, even by our high standards, an incredible multi-faceted component! Using the experience with our Classic and Strumento Series, every detail, however minute, has been carefully thought through for the discriminating audio enthusiast and music lover. And, yet, the Flight Three S offers an exceptionally good value and, like all Audia Flight products , it is made entirely in Italy. Starting with its elegant Italian exterior, the Flight Three S has solidly built casework with a thick aluminum (10mm) front panel, positive-action metal pushbutton selectors, and a nicely-weighted pleasing to the touch aluminum volume knob, all expertly crafted and finely finished. In your hand you’ll also find a compact, ergonomic remote control hewn from solid aluminum. A large, blue OLED display will keep your eyes informed about the input choice (each input can be named as you choose) and other feature selections as you engage them. Inside the Flight Three S ’s sophisticated electronic interior are a series of critical features that make this integrated amplifier perform well above other integrated amplifiers within its category. An high performance ALPS Blue potentiometer provides an accurate volume control at all settings. Eight power supplies are in charge of all amplification stages up to the driver transistor stage, with 13.200uF total capacitance available for the stabilized power supplies until the driver transistor section. Four high-current power supplies (72.000µF) are then dedicated solely to the output driver stages. If that’s not enough, all inputs feature sealed relays in an inert atmosphere and gold terminations! And, as following our philosophy for best sonic performance, the logic control section features its own toroidal transformer and is connect to the analog section via photo-couplers only. Driving your speakers are two 100 Watt amplifiers with a large 576VA toroidal audio transformer. In short the Flight Three S is a dual mono design, with Audia Flight ’s current feedback circuitry design, a sophisticated preamp section, and deep, well-controlled bass that brings your loudspeakers and your music alive with a powerful, stunning sonic picture. Interfacing with your Flight Three S is also a pleasure, with input selection, volume control, and mute control (with a memory of the previous level) via front panel or remote control . The user can choose from four unbalanced analog inputs (one optionally phono), one balanced analog input, and even from an optional USB digital input. The optional USB 24bit 192KHz DAC board with its high grade, discreet circuitry achieves a remarkable musical experience from your digital files, while the optional pure analog MM/MC phono board (via analog Input 1) will bring your turntable, phono cartridges, and vinyl collection to vibrant life. Not surprisingly, then, the Flight Three S also has many standard features. A discreet, high-performance headphone amplifier designed to properly drive your headphones of choice. A bypass (or “direct”) feature, selectable by remote control, allows the user to turn the Flight Three S into a power amplifier through any assigned analog input: you may then include the amplifier in a multi-channel system (such as a home theater) as the power amplifier for the main speakers, while still using the same speakers for reference quality two channel listening with stereo sources connected to the Flight Three S . Finally, rounding out this well thought out, highly flexible design out is a remote trigger input, Monitor input, Record output, a nd an unbalanced Preamplifier output (with the ability to turn off the Flight Three S ’s internal amplifiers should you wish). Overall the Flight Three S Integrated Amplifier is a pleasure to behold, to use, and to listen to with many sources and nearly any loudspeaker. OPTIONAL BOARDS (can be retrofitted): phono MC/MM (replaces analog Input 1); USB 24bit 192KHz DAC (becomes Input 6) Specifications Inputs: 4 unbalanced inputs 1 balanced input 1 monitor input 1 analog input can be assigned to bypass the preamp (as “direct”) 1 optional USB digital input Outputs: 1 unbalanced preamp output 1 unbalanced record output 1 output for headphones Notes: The USB input has been insulated by an ADuM (from Analog Devices) to prevent any noise from the computer. When the USB is used together with a player application such as FooBar or WinAmp, the user can transfer stream music files to internal converter at 192kHz/24bits maximum frequency/resolution while avoiding undesired PC or MAC audio mixer data processing during the data transfer from hard disk to interface.
