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Our regard for Simaudio’s Listening Feedback Room Moon 330A Amplifier talent for making power amplifiers hardly needs explaining, and it goes back many years. Indeed, our three reference systems are filled with them: a Moon W-8 in the Omega system, a W-5LE in the Alpha system, and, in the Kappa (home theatre) system, a W-3 and a W-4070SE. What we have long admired is the company’s knack for making a large amplifier that, at low volume, sounds like a small one. Simaudio makes large amps, but it hasn’t made many monster amps, if you understand the distinction. But the amplifiers we’ve just mentioned are breathtakingly expensive (in the case of the W-8), or had sharply rising costs before they were discontinued. There are a number of reasons for this. Simaudio cites the cost of aluminum, though we suspect skilled labor is probably a much bigger factor (Simaudio’s factory is in Canada, not China). The price-to-performance ratio of the Moon amps remains high, but the fact is that not everyone is going to go for a $12,000 amp no matter how sweet it sounds. And that is the 330A’s reason for being. It is considerably lower in price than any recent Moon power amp, and the design goal was to keep compromises to a minimum. The 330A is compact, much more so than the giant amps already mentioned, but its price tag is compact too, at 42 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> $3250. It is dense, however, heavier than you might expect. It is moreover closely related to all the amplifiers already mentioned except the W-8, using the Renaissance circuit that company founder Victor Sima developed for his original Celeste amps, and which his successors continued to refine for years. It is fully complementary, which means that, by its very nature, it amplifies the positive and negative part of the wave separately. If you want to run one in balanced or bridged mode, no extra circuitry is needed, because it can operate that way naturally. A lot of the amplifier’s weight comes from its toroidal power transformer, which — as you can see from the picture on the next page — also claims a good bit of the innards. The eight output transistors are of Simaudio’s own design, and are closely matched, as they must be to get the sort of low-level resolution that has become a Moon trademark. The case is flanked by two large heat sinks. Seeing that heat rises, the fins would seem to be the wrong way around (vertical fins are more efficient), but the 330A barely got warm even when we pushed it…and we certainly pushed it! Having examined the way the 330A is built, we think much of the heat dissipation is done through the slots in the top, however, and we would hesitate to stack anything on top. The connectors are of good quality, and include XLR jacks for balanced operation. There are two “trigger” jacks to allow a preamplifier or a surround sound processor to turn multiple amplifiers on sequentially — especially useful in home cinema systems. There is also an RS-232 connector. That’s pretty much a dead standard in the computer world, but it is still used in some multi-room systems, including (of course) Simaudio’s own. Simaudio’s best-known amplifiers have come with their own built-in spikes (actually tiny cones). They could, of course, scratch furniture surfaces, but spikes are an effective means of controlling vibration. No spikes here. We thought at first glance that Simaudio had bought the amplifier’s feet from the same evil foot factory which seems to supply them for audio manufacturers on four continents. Not so. They’re metal, not plastic. They’e still flat, though, and if you want cones under your amp, you’ll have to add them. The machining and the fit and finish is up to Simaudio’s usual standard, which is to say first class. The jacks and the binding posts are of good quality, and there are of course XLR connectors for balanced connection. There’s an RS-232 serial plug, hardly ever found on computers anymore, but still common in multi-room systems. There are also “trigger” jacks, to allow a preamplifier or preamp/processor to turn on multiple amps in sequence, to avoid blowing a breaker. The 330A has its own breaker, though you won’t see it, because it is self-resetting once a problem has been resolved. It senses overheating and also direct current in the output, but there is no current limiting. That’s a good thing, because in the past we’ve heard current-limiting circuits that had highly audible effects, and we don’t mean that in a good way. The 330A would have had little real difficulty in driving the Reference 3a Suprema speakers in our Omega system, because it has, by most standards, plenty of power, and the speakers are efficient, but it would be a tough assignment nonetheless, and the result might not be
significant. Besides, we were reluctant to put it up against our Moon W-8. We listened, instead, in the Alpha room, with Living Voice OBX-R speakers…and our glorious W-5LE (before you ask, we will be selling the W-5 the same year the Hades Demons join the NHL). We put together a little stack of recordings, all but two of them SACDs, and played them from our Linn Unidisk 1.1 player. As usual we listened to the whole series with our reference amplifier, and then substituted the 330A for our own W-5LE, and listened again. We don’t go back and forth, because we think that’s the way to get confused and reach conclusions we wouldn’t reach otherwise. The two amplifiers appear to have about the same gain, as we would expect, since they come from the same company and have similar circuit configurations. However we don’t do gain matching, because we’ve discovered in the past that it’s pretty much useless. We have actually heard (necessarily subjective) volume differences just from changing interconnects. Those differences can’t be measured, and are qualitative, not quantitative. We set volume by concensus just the way you probably would at home, according to what seems right. As you’ll see, we weren’t about to go easy on this amplifier. We began with an organ recording, the famous Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (from Organ Treasures, Opus 3 CD22031). Would it sound different with the smaller amplifier? Well of course it would, but how different? To read the rest of this article, you can order either the print issue or Maggie’s electronic version. We continue with what looks like Latin, but it isn’t. Of course the paid version is uninterrupted! For a subscription to the print issue, go to: www.uhfmag.com/subscription.html But you can also subscribe to Maggie’s electronic version: www.uhfmag.com/maggie.html. B u t you can also subscribe to Maggie’s electronic version: www.uhfmag. com/maggie.html. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse Summing it up… Brand/model: Simaudio Moon 330A Price: C$3250 Size (WDH): 43 x 33 x 9.5 cm Rated power: 125 watts/channel Inputs: coaxial, XLR Most liked: Excellent build quality, very good control and detail Least liked: Less headroom than you might expect if all you had seen was the spec sheet Verdict: A classic design that hasn’t gotten old eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in heniscidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 43 Listening Feedback Room
Page 1 and 2: No. 91 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69 ANALOG
Page 3 and 4: Issue No. 91 Cover story: It’s sm
Page 5 and 6: DOG-EARED MAGAZINES ARE WRONG! And
Page 7 and 8: I was quite impressed with Paul Ber
Page 9 and 10: the original models — true? I can
Page 11 and 12: An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustr
Page 13 and 14: Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugu
Page 15 and 16: nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum
Page 17 and 18: TAVES did, however, run into a prob
Page 19 and 20: utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl
Page 21 and 22: seemed as if the music was elevated
Page 23 and 24: singers use that. And it’s the fi
Page 25 and 26: Music and memory Is there such a th
Page 27 and 28: velendre er ing euis nonulla faccum
Page 29 and 30: sion. The dead time could be used t
Page 31 and 32: The people at Reference Recordings
Page 33 and 34: The Firebird ballet sounded disturb
Page 35 and 36: weight.” But the piano nonetheles
Page 37 and 38: Get UHF from Maggie on your desktop
Page 39 and 40: conullaor si bla consecte et exerit
Page 41: THE ACOUSTIC COLLECTION: This is th
Page 45 and 46: Products of special value, at The A
Page 47 and 48: speakers like those is not what the
Page 49 and 50: to the Red Book CD standard. The na
Page 51 and 52: Music was evident. “I picked up t
Page 53 and 54: INTERCONNECTS ATLAS NAVIGATOR Oxyge
Page 55 and 56: UHF14 POWER BAR Most power bars kno
Page 57 and 58: ed pepper to its music. Felix Hell
Page 59 and 60: We Get Requests (CD) An amazing 196
Page 61 and 62: There is lots of nostalgia in pop m
Page 63 and 64: them what should have been a rendez
Page 65 and 66: accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolor
Page 67 and 68: sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidun
Page 69 and 70: lum alismolore ming esent vullamc o
Page 71 and 72: their church services. For them, an
Page 73 and 74: How to Sing the Blues Most Blues be
Page 75 and 76: unconvincing in the second. And —
Page 77 and 78: “Blu-ray Essentials” label, wit
Page 79 and 80: Apple to the rescue? With the TV bu
Page 81 and 82: Blockbuster Canada, which is of cou
Page 83 and 84: Why do UHF readers start reading th

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