Power amplifier Corvette 200UM-088S and preamplifier Corvette UP-078S

Preamplifier Corvette UP-078S

Appearance.
This preamplifier Corvette UP-078S is made of metal, namely the body. Excellent appearance . The controls are located behind the “window” very conveniently. After one adjustment, you don’t have to resort to them at all, close the “window”, and then use the software controls in the computer. The rear panel is equipped with standard RCA connectors. Separate output to the “power”

There is a fuse, which is important at our network level. The preliminary amplifier "Corvette UP-078S" has 2 phonos for an electric player with a magnetic and electrodynamic needle

The Corvette preamplifier, like the 200UM-088S power amplifier, has low noise, distortion, and excellent ease of use.

Sound quality

The most interesting thing is the sound quality of this device. According to the passport, this amplifier should provide excellent sound quality. But is it really so? Let's start with the fact that the sound of this device is slightly worse than that of the same "Brig". Although the scheme used is almost the same. It's all about improvements and upgrades to an already good scheme. What problems does the Corvette 100U-068S amplifier have? The electrical circuit is clumsily soldered. Hence the main problem. A simple wire winding is also used, which also degrades the sound. The power transformer is not made well enough, which leads to background noise. That is why this amplifier sounds noticeably worse than the Brig. But after appropriate modifications, it should sound as expected. But not everyone has the experience to carry out such manipulations. And what kind of Hi-End device is this, which after purchase you need to tinker with a soldering iron in your hands? But even without modification, the sound is very high quality (if you don’t compare it with the Brig). Therefore, you shouldn’t focus too much on this point.

Main technical characteristics of the amplifier

“Amplifier Corvette 100U-068S”, the characteristics of which we will now analyze, belongs to devices of a high degree of complexity. This means that its characteristics are advanced. And indeed it is. The range of reproduced frequencies starts at 10 hertz and ends at 70,000. This is the first sign of a Hi-End device. Now about the power. The nominal continuous power of the device with a speaker impedance of 6 ohms is 125 watts. That's a lot. Enough for a small concert hall. The rated short-term (peak) power with the same resistance is 150 Watts. Excellent results. Especially when you consider that these are “honest Watts” and not modern Chinese ones. Power consumption is 275 W. And this is at maximum amplifier load. In idle mode, it consumes only 30 watts. This miracle weighs almost 10 kilograms. Its dimensions are also not modest. But this is normal for devices that provide high-quality sound. Now let’s look at other features of the Corvette 100U-068S amplifier.

“Corvette 200 UM-088S” versus “Forum 180-U-001S”

Amplifiers Corvette and Forum. Two comrades served

We will not be original if we mention the huge lag of domestic audio equipment from the requirements of the time. Perhaps the only advantage of our equipment is its relatively low price, which makes it the most popular among ordinary consumers.

Let us turn to amplification technology - the only area where there are certain achievements. For many years, the best and only noteworthy domestic amplifier remained the Brig, created back in the mid-70s. Only at the end of the 80s did “Corvette” and “Forum” come to replace it, which today, according to many experts, retain their leading position. This review is devoted to a comparison of the Forum U-001 amplifiers and the two-unit Corvette UP-078S/UM-088S amplifiers.

Functionality

Both amplifiers have almost the same functionality: connecting a large number of sources, adjusting bass and treble tones in different ranges, turning off the tone block, loudness, using stereo and mono modes. The advantage of the Corvette is the presence of an MC input for the pickup head, which is not available in the Forum. The two-block design of the Corvette allows you to purchase only one of the amplifiers (pre-amplifier or final amplifier) ​​if you already have another (for example, you can feed a signal to the power amplifier from a tape recorder or CD player with adjustable output). “Forum” is provided with an output signal level indicator. Both amplifiers are designed to connect two pairs of speaker systems, or use bi-wire mode.

Technical specifications

Technical data is taken from amplifier data sheets and summarized in a table. For ease of comparison, the characteristics of the preliminary and final amplifiers are indicated separately, although the Forum is an integrated amplifier, and the Corvette is a two-block amplifier. In some respects, the Corvette's superiority over the Forum is noticeable.

However, the true superiority of one device over another can only be judged after listening.

Sound quality

Since our experts repeatedly listened to both amplifiers in a wide variety of conditions (on different music programs, in different paths and in different rooms), we consider it legitimate to give generalized impressions about the sound quality of the devices.

The sound of the Forum amplifier is distinguished by its scale, scope, spatiality and at the same time naturalness. Its undoubted advantages include the ability to clearly and concisely draw sounds, accurately build a stereo image, correctly and “visually” placing signal sources in the sound field. The amplifier has good speed capabilities, providing active attack and bright dynamic contrast.

The Corvette also possesses many of the noted qualities, such as scale and dynamism, although to a lesser extent than the Forum. The sound of the Corvette is less collected, the separation of details of the sound picture is somewhat worse, and the depth of the stage is less. The importunity of his “voice” leaves an unpleasant impression. The low register, which may seduce some lovers of thick bass, is incomplete: the bass is quite deep and massive, but does not have internal structure and is somewhat smoothed out.

The noted features provide not very significant, but clear advantages of “Forum” in terms of liveliness and intonation expressiveness. The superiority of Forum becomes even more obvious if you compare the prices of the devices.

Technical characteristics of the preamplifier for linear input:

Power amplifier specifications:

Unfortunately, the sound of both amplifiers is not particularly beautiful, which mostly applies to the upper part of the frequency range and is manifested in its harshness and “metallic” coloring.

Serial production of Forum amplifiers has not been established: only individual batches are produced periodically as components become available. As far as we know, the total number of amplifiers did not exceed 1000. Corvette amplifiers - preliminary and final - are mass-produced in large quantities.

Author: D. Jordan

From the magazine “Audiomagazin” No. 1, 1994.

Corvette 200 UM-088S

Manufacturer: Vodtranspribor plant, since 1990.

Specifications:

Description:

The power amplifier is designed to amplify the electrical power of low-frequency pre-amplifier signals in high-quality audio reproduction systems. It is recommended to use the acoustic systems “75 AS-001 Corvette” and the pre-amplifier “Corvette UP-078S” with the amplifier.

Studies of the processes of operation of an amplifier on a real speaker have revealed that with musical signals, output current pulses arise that significantly exceed the nominal level. Designed taking into account this effect, the amplifier provides a current value of up to 50 A in pulse mode, which guarantees high technical parameters of the amplifier while reducing the load to 1 ohm.

1. concentric input jacks, eliminating the interconnection of stereo channels;
2. output terminals for simultaneous connection of two sets of speakers;
3. light indicators for power on, output overload;
4. short circuit protection;
5. AC protection from direct voltage (current);
6. protection of output transistors from overheating.

: Corvette 200 UM-088S

There has never been such a Ladoga plant in Kirov.

That's right, thanks! Russia, Leningrad region, Kirovsk.

Clarification! Manufacturer: Vodtranspribor plant.

If you have any more questions, please ask.

There is more or less information on the amplifier. If you have some points that are not shown in the article, we can add them. The history of creation is also interesting, if there is such information)

I have the export version 200um. There was a lot of advice, or rather all devices except ghosts of course)) and I can say that the first place in power is occupied by Odyssey 021, but I have its penultimate release and it has been slightly modified. “0” is set at the output within no more than +/-10 mV thanks to the modification : a circuit for stabilizing the diff cascade power supply and selecting its (diff cascade) transistors has been introduced. Now zero is set regardless of the power supply or heating. But in factory copies, 50-300 mV is almost normal, which is bad for high-quality listening to music. Odysseus balanced. And the second place is taken by the corvette 200um-088 in the virgin version, not even the second place, I would say the first along with the Odyssey, they are worth each other, these are those devices that surprise and amaze every time you periodically change them, I have two devices and I know what I’m saying)) the hundredth rack um+up completely sucks, sheer disappointment and for the 200um I hooked up all the models of our up and there are very few worthy ones, only two of them are amphiton003 and radio engineering 001, I put up001 in first place. That’s all I have... regards Evgeniy.

The channel protection of the Corvette 200 UM-088S amplifier is triggered, which capacitors should I change?

The first material that came across, on the topic “we didn’t come up with anything of our own”: https://habr.com/ru/company/pult/blog/408383/

These NCs were developed at Nii Popova and KB Orbita in 1973, using Matsushita dynamics as a model. Shiriki are clones of Altec Lansing and Electrovoice from the 50s(!).

Did you take it as a sample and make your own speaker? What's wrong with that? Was the speaker good? It worked, especially if you pack it into a case of a suitable volume. I would also like to see some information about this.

“Knowledgeable” people are those ragamuffins who rummage through radio junkyards in search of cheap speakers?

You are wrong. Audio morons are those who pay three or even ten times the price of this very speaker for a correct, audiophile and warmed-up speaker, which is sometimes worse in terms of characteristics than the one they got at such a breakdown, or for nothing. Your dissatisfaction with these very “penny” speakers is obvious, for the simple reason that if more people with golden ears realize how much and what they can actually buy, this could hit the sales of your speakers. But it’s unlikely that it will reach them; those who need it have either already reached it, or it’s all useless.

I can also offer you to improve your Amphitons, inexpensively.

What exactly is there to improve? The middle? Everything else works more than well. I have no desire to mess with them in any way; the factory version is more than satisfactory to me. And if you really want it, I’ll buy vintage Japanese acoustics, a little larger in size and at the same price as several pairs of such amphitons, or I’ll build my own, based on the 4 GD 35, I got it for nothing, without any jambs, there’s no good in it to waste)

In this you are not just mistaken, but simply unfounded. And you will not find evidence for your assertions. Maybe you mean, of course, “basement” China, so common here at the end of the millennium? Well, I’ll tell you that it’s 2019 and a lot has changed in China.

It has changed just enough that it would seem that the same goods that are produced by them are made extremely poorly... I don’t mean the roads they have there, which by and large don’t bother me much, but the electronics that they produce. This very basement China has not gone away, it is just spreading through the Internet, there is such a website - Ali Express. There may be something there, more or less successful, but there is much more junk there. Initially, you seemed to indicate that we are talking about the audio industry, and not about some kind of roads. If our leadership had given us a normal technical task, rather than saving as much as possible on it, only to redo it again in a couple of years, and as a result, providing ourselves with some bonus, we would have normal roads and everything else.

How are quality standards? In China, we make good roads, but like all kinds of nonsense from electronics, it’s really bad, LCR testers with crooked bodies (it’s true, I don’t believe that in such a technologically advanced country as you say, it’s impossible to force workers to do their job properly. Okay, the cases are crooked, so are the products themselves... If you need some kind of module for a phone, you won’t be able to find an original one, even taking into account the fact that the phone is exclusively Chinese, they are all not original, they are just of varying degrees of lousiness, depending on the price. Well, yes, and Now they have a lot of defects, in almost any spare parts, which I heard about from people involved in repairs. Delivery times are periodically delayed, and in reality you can wait for a package for 2.5 months or more, which significantly exceeds the agreed period. As for the quality of the products - I think there is no need to comment on Chinese capacitors and transistors, just yesterday, a fellow radio amateur for some nonsense bought on Ali an amount of these transistors for about 500 rubles, really a lot, so they died on him consistently every half hour)) And this He’s not a handyman, the quality of the product is really like that, a normal, non-Chinese transistor in that circuit worked quite normally, and didn’t die every half hour. In my opinion, it was placed in some kind of power stabilizer, moreover, the Chinese one could work at least somewhat adequately only at half the load designed for it, if you increase it, then that’s it. There is no need to talk about the precision with which the coils of speakers sold on the same market are wound; in our electronic 302 they were wound completely differently... And yes, Soviet transistors at least do not fail once every half hour :) But they really work for decades, as it should be.

Moving on, smartphones. Products that seem to be mostly all made in China. However, if it is some kind of Samsung, they will have fewer jambs than the so-called “originally Chinese” ones. Moreover, it’s Chinese, not some kind of cheap thing from Ali, but even pre-top and normal, some Lenovo bucks for 300 bucks when it was new. It's crooked, there are all sorts of nasty micro-lags, but the main problem is the battery, it really barely lasts a day, and if you use even less, from home without a power bank, it will run out in any case. When it was new, it didn’t last very long either. In all kinds of applications for viewing the characteristics of the device, it shows that everything is fine with the battery, but apparently I’ll still order a new one. I don’t think there’s any need to list all the shortcomings and shortcomings; every original Chinese product has its own, not documented in any way.

These are the very backward Chinese who, according to you, cannot do anything themselves.

So be it, they convinced me. They can make roads for themselves, but there are problems with doing something for others. I wrote above. If Ali didn’t have the opportunity to return the money, no one would use it, almost half of all products are actually defective... And lately there may be more, here they are, quality standards. Here, the absence of basement China and high-tech production.

Your opinion is based solely on your erroneous opinions and reluctance to search for information.

Only on statistics and personal experience. Which is exactly what is written above. I don’t need information about their roads if they can’t do a single detail properly. We made equipment for import normally, better than for ourselves, and with them, abroad, our equipment has a collector’s value due to its rarity...

Regarding opinions, you are right. But I always have something to object to, and something to surprise, and even to amaze when meeting in person.

Likewise.