Hi Charles,
The reason for the discrepancy in power capability that you cited relates to the amount of distortion the ratings are based on.
JA's measurements in Stereophile indicated that:
And in the graph at the bottom of page 10 of the manual for the SIT-3 it can be seen that the amp can provide 30 watts with distortion of about 2.3%. The distortion being "dominated by second harmonic with a “negative phase”, the signature that we have come to prefer with the previous SIT amplifiers." Which would seem to be a relatively benign distortion characteristic.
Best regards,
-- Al
The reason for the discrepancy in power capability that you cited relates to the amount of distortion the ratings are based on.
JA's measurements in Stereophile indicated that:
Into 4 ohms (fig.5), the SIT-3 delivered 16.8Wpc (9.24dBW) at 1% THD+N, and 36Wpc (9.55dBW) at 3%.
And in the graph at the bottom of page 10 of the manual for the SIT-3 it can be seen that the amp can provide 30 watts with distortion of about 2.3%. The distortion being "dominated by second harmonic with a “negative phase”, the signature that we have come to prefer with the previous SIT amplifiers." Which would seem to be a relatively benign distortion characteristic.
Best regards,
-- Al