There's Nothing Else Like It
Quiescent's extraordinary combination of electronic and structural design, materials, electronic noise reduction and acoustic noise reduction puts it in a league of one.
About The T100MPA
The T100MPA monoblock significantly extends the musical capabilities of its stereo brother. For the mono design, Quiescent takes the same power supply and just one channel of amplification and installs it into the same casework (but this time with only one side fitted with their bespoke heatsink). This allows them to take advantage of some serious benefits.
First, the power supply is only feeding one channel, thus at a stroke improving supply headroom. And the whole amplifier is now truly a monoblock, so eliminating all crosstalk. But it's the greater scope for increasing the application of anti-RFI and anti vibration techniques that is the real significance. For example, they have doubled the grounding matrix for vibration and EMI/RFI absorption on the mains transformer secondary centre tap – a significant key point for noise reduction according to Quiescent. There are also increased levels of absorption around other critical areas such as the sensitive analogue input stages.
The result of this work is significant. The same fundamental character of the elegant and simple input and output stages are still there (as per the T100SPA), but the insight into recordings takes a big step up. There's more transparency and more textural detail, more precise imaging and more soundstage width and depth. But it's the propulsive qualities and changes in scale that really stand out – we have no doubt as to the effectiveness of all that mechanical and electrical noise reduction – the results are a joy.
Tech Insight
With these amplifiers, it's the small details that count too. Quiescent have gone to the level of decoupling the input and output connectors from the main chassis. Their logic is, after all the effort they go to internally to decouple the analogue input and output circuits from the chassis, preventing mechanical feedback loops and so-on, why would they simply screw connectors directly into the chassis? So inputs and outputs are mounted on separate decoupled sub-panels to provide the necessary decoupling.
And for the really hawk-eyed – noice too the toggle switches on one panel (one of them is to defeat the power-on LED), and the presence of a signal ground as well, to enable the addition of a Quiescent Peak Grounding Module. It's clear that every opportunity is taken for as much noise reduction as possible.
Specifications
Audio Outputs
Minimum load impedance, 2Ω.
Power output (rms), 130W per channel into 8Ω, 200W per channel into 4Ω.
Gain, 26.5dB.
Frequency Response, -3dB at 0.5Hz to 600KHz.
Slew Rate, 91V/us.
THD @24W output into 8Ω load, (1KHz sinusoidal signal), 0.03%.
S/N ratio, 120dB.
Terminals, WBT nextgen™ Ag Silver conductor binding posts.
Audio Inputs
Imput impedance, 10KΩ.
Sensitivity, 1.6V.
Sockets, 1 x WBT nextgen™ Ag Silver conductor phono and 1 x silver conductor XLR (switchable).
Grounding
Chassis, M5 Binding post on rear panel.
Signal, RCA socket on rear panel.
Casework
Finish, bead blasted natural or black anodised high grade aluminium with high-impedance non-metallic top.
Cooling, passive custom-built heatsinks.
Dimensions (HxWxD), 140 x 440 x 400mm.
Weight, 31Kg.
Power Input, 230V, 50Hz.
Matching & Setup
The same matching fundamentals apply to the T100MPA as they do for the stereo version. These amplifiers are fairly load tolerant and will quite happily drive 4 Ohm speakers with medium/slightly low efficiency (say down to around 86dB). They will go down to 2 Ohms but we wouldn't really feel speakers with 2 Ohms across the board would be a good match.
The real matching discussion though is around quality of the speakers and other components in the system. From our portfolio the Alta Audio Speakers are a very interesting match, as too are the Ideon digital components. Both of these other brands aim for the same performance capabilities of great realism, plus brilliantly controlled bass timing and dynamics.
Setup is not complex but these amps benefit from all the usual high-end architecture considerations such as proper supports, cabling and so-on. And as monoblocks they can be fed by long Quiescent interconnects with the amplifiers positioned on dedicated stands near your speakers – a particularly useful and cost effective strategy that maintains good vibration and RFI control for systems deployed in large rooms.