Airpulse A200 Bluetooth Speaker System

The A200 cabinet is built with 25mm thick high-strength MDF with cherry wood veneer finished in a satin lacquer. Internal bracing supports and stabilizes the drivers and helps minimize cabinet resonance. To further reduce sound coloration, the cabinet interior is fully lined with 36mm thick waved sound absorption material. The oval shaped vent tube in the A200 is carefully designed to minimize wind noise. The internal wiring is made by TRANSPARENT for enhanced accuracy and minimal signal loss.

Like other high-quality audio equipment, the amplifier panel on the A200 is made with 3mm thick brushed aluminum. The CNC-machined aluminum knobs are not only elegant looking but are also designed with ergonomics and functionality in mind.

The horn-loaded ribbon tweeter of the A200 inherits the mechanism of the tweeter in the Airpulse 7001 near-field monitor speaker, but with an added phase correction device to help improve frequency response and increase sound dispersion. The ribbon tweeter has a low resistance of about 0.2 ohms and works with a transformer. The low resistance brings more current through the ribbon, thus increasing the SPL of the high frequency and widening the frequency response. It’s constructed with a strong neodymium rare earth magnet material coupled with an appropriate transformer to give it high sensitivity, superb transient response, and high definition. The shape and size of the horn was designed from precision calculation and simulation. Pairing the ribbon tweeter with the horn helps the sound generated by the ribbon better couple with the air, increasing efficiency, power handling, frequency response, and dispersion.

The mid-woofer is a 5.5″ driver with an aluminum cone and large voice coil in the signature Phil Jones design. It uses a neodymium motor to provide a high magnetic flux to cover the entire voice coil of the driver. By using this large magnetic field, harmonic and inter-modulation distortion is reduced to provide a more musical, natural sound. The Proprietary Aluminum Alloy Cone (PAAC) of the mid-woofer was designed from analysis of all types of cone geometry and materials using a Klippel Laser Doppler Interferometer. The voice coil is larger than most loudspeakers of this size for less power compression because they run at a cooler operating temperature. Sonically, this means a more realistic dynamic representation of the music. The cooler running temperature of the voice coil also has the added benefit of a more reliable loudspeaker, since a cooler voice coil means less chance of speaker failure.

Most loudspeakers use round copper wire in the voice coil, but Airpulse uses a single-layer, edge-wound, copper-clad aluminum ribbon. Ribbon voice-coil wire provides more electrical conduction in the magnet gap and increases efficiency and power handling and helps lower distortion.

For uncompromised performance, the A200 mid-woofer uses a rigid cast-magnesium alloy frame. Its rigidity reduces speaker coloration, and its material helps to dissipate heat efficiently from the voice coil much faster than a typical steel speaker frame, which all leads to increased dynamics and power handling, and ultimately, a satisfying musical experience.

The amplifier section of the A200 is composed of three TAS5754 Class D amplifiers. Two are connected in parallel bridge mode to drive the left and right woofers, and one is connected in bridge mode for the two tweeters. Unlike other Class D amplifiers, these feature a closed-loop structure with lower distortion. Its digital input accepts signal with up to 192 kHz sample rates. The amplifier’s Hybrid-Flow digital processing enriches the system processing capability even more.

The A200 amplifier was designed to work precisely with the components of this system. It uses Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to blend the woofer, tweeter, and enclosure to work as one. The amplifier delivers 55W to each mid-woofer, and 10W to each tweeter.

The processing core of A200’s amplifier uses two TLV320A1C3254 from Texas Instruments. The miniDSP inside the chip offers two parallel signal paths for processing high frequency and low frequency independently. The miniDSP accepts input signals with sample rates up to 192 kHz. Signal processing, like electronic crossover, speaker compensation, and dynamic range management are all done by the miniDSP.

The power supply reserves sufficient power for dynamic playback with minimized ripples, and can meet the ENERGY STAR power consumption requirement in Standby Mode.

The A200 amplifier includes two analog input modes, one balanced and one single-ended, which are converted into the system by two ADC (analog to digital converter) chips, the PCM1802 and the PCM1804, both from Texas Instruments. The PCM1802 takes the single-end analog signal and features a typical -96 dB THD+N, 105 dB SNR, and 105 dB dynamic range, while the PCM1804 takes the balanced analog signal with an even higher spec, typically -102 dB THD+N, 111 dB SNR, and 112 dB dynamic range.

On the digital side, both the optical and digital coaxial signals go through an audio front end receiver chip, the PCM9211 from Texas Instruments. This audio front end supports up to 192 KHz input sample rates.

The A200 offers a built-in Bluetooth receiver for A2DP application. The receiver features the CSR8645 chipset from Cambridge Silicon Radio. Though designed for more casual music playback, the receiver supports aptX.

The A200 comes with a wireless remote control used for taking control of your sound. You can switch between inputs easily from the comfort of your seat.