Panther stereo success

Press, 14 June 1978, Page 10

Panther stereo success

Panther Electronics. Ltd, Is a Christchurch company dedicated to the design and small-scale production of professional standard audio equipment.

The company's reputation has been built on the success of its Roberts STA-36 series of stereo integrated amplifiers, which have been in production for three years.

These amplifiers were, in their power range, superior in their specification and performance to most imported models. Recent design efforts have been directed towards the

high-performance stereo amplifiers *" the STA-bO and STA-120. 30 and 60 watt per channel respec-

Also in production are the SS-80s — a monitor quality four-wav speaker system, the BA-1 car stereo booster amplifier (20 watt/channel into 4 ohms) and the A-21 moving coil pre-amplifier — and ultra-low noise and distortion pre-amplifier for Moving coil cartridges such as the Ortofon C--20.

Ail electronic construction is performed by Pan-

ther’s staff at the Christchurch factory. Woodwork and metalwork components are made locally also.

Components are selected for performance and reliability which, together with a comprehensive testing procedure, allow a 12month guarantee to be offered on all electronic components. The Roberts STA-60 professional stereo integrated amplifier is a high quality “state-of-the-art” instrument. It is designed to meet one objective — the amplification of signals from the programme source with the least possible distortion and colouration. Its specifications place it among the handful of true high quality amplifiers available. regardless of price. The power amplifiers of the STA-60 have a newly developed drive circuit coupled to an extremely linear output stage to ensure a wide power bandwidth and low distortion.

Large output capacitors maintain full output to low frequencies (20 Hz), and the twin independent power supplies allow each

channel to perform a maximum efficiency and remain unaffected by the power demands; of the other channel.

The amplifier delivers 30 watts (continuous) per channel into Bohms, one or two channels driven. There is less than 0.03 per cent distortion over the 30Hz to 20 kHz range. The total dynamic power is 45 watts per channel into 8 ohms. Total harmonic distortion at 1 watt is less than 0.01 per cent, primarily because of the very low crossover distortion — less than 0.002 per cent at full power.

The harmonic distortion (2nd and 3rd) is about 0.004 per cent at full power (1 kHz). At lower volume levels, lower crossover products are barely detectable, being better than 80 dB below the fundamental.

High frequency compensation and control of stage band width eliminate "Transient Intermodulation Distortion” (TID) completely. To those for whom technical specifications are a confusion of words and figures, the implications of

the figures quoted are that the STA series of amplifiers is an almost perfect link in the chain from the studio microphone to the home speakers. All amplifiers are guaranteed to meet the specified performance level. Individual data is supplied with each amplifier. Important design features of the STA-60 include:

The complete elimination of transient intermodulation distortion.

Excellent high frequency overload margin in the phone equaliser. Professional type calibrated tone controls with adjustable turnovers. Variable gain to perfectly match most magnetic cartridges. Extremely accurate (plus or minus 0.25 dB) R.I.A.A. equalisation. Sharp cut-off low-filter to protect underdamped vented speakers.