860A Evolution

Series

Dual-mono Power Amplifier

Owner’s Manual

860A Evolution

Series

Owner’s Manual

Important Safety Instructions

1. Read these instructions.

2. Keep these instructions.

3. Heed all warnings.

4. Follow all instructions.

5. Do not use this apparatus near water.

6. Clean only with a dry cloth.

7. Do not block ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves or another apparatus that produces heat.

9. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other. A groundingtype plug has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong is provided for safety. If the provided plug does not fit into the outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet. receptacles, and the point where they exit from the apparatus. Unplug mains cord during transportation.

11.

Only use attachments and accessories specified by the manufacturer.

12.

Use only with the cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table specified by the manufacturer or sold with the apparatus. When a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip over.

13.

Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.

14.

Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel.

Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as when the power cord or plug has been damaged; liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus; or the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.

15.

No naked flame sources, such as candles, should be placed on the apparatus.

10. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched, particularly at plugs, convenience

WARNING:

TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT

EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.

860A Evolution

Series

Important Safety Instructions (cont’d)

The lightning flash with the arrowhead symbol, within an equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated “dangerous voltage” within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.

The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature accompanying the appliance.

Marking by the “CE” symbol (shown left) indicates compliance of this device with the

EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) and LVD (Low Voltage Directive) standards of the

European Community

Please read all instructions and precautions carefully and completely before operating your MOON 860A Dual-mono Power Amplifier

1.

ALWAYS disconnect your entire system from the AC mains before connecting or disconnecting any cables, or when cleaning any component. To completely disconnect this apparatus from the AC mains, disconnect the power supply cord plug from the AC receptacle.

2.

The

MOON

860A must be terminated with a three-conductor AC mains power cord which includes an earth ground connection. To prevent shock hazard, all three connections must ALWAYS be used. Connect the

MOON

860A only to an AC source of the proper voltage; Both the shipping box and rear panel serial number label will indicate the correct voltage. Use of any other voltage will likely damage the unit and void the warranty

3.

AC extension cords are NOT recommended for use with this product. The mains plug of the power supply cord shall remain readily accessible.

4.

NEVER use flammable or combustible chemicals for cleaning audio components.

5.

NEVER operate the

MOON

860A with any covers removed. There are no user-serviceable parts inside. An open unit, especially if it is still connected to an AC source, presents a potentially lethal shock hazard. Refer all questions to authorized service personnel only.

6.

NEVER wet the inside of the

MOON

860A with any liquid. If a liquid substance does enter your

MOON

860A, immediately disconnect it from the AC mains and take it to your MOON dealer for a complete check-up.

7.

NEVER spill or pour liquids directly onto the

MOON 860A.

8.

NEVER block air flow through ventilation slots or heatsinks.

9.

NEVER bypass any fuse.

10.

NEVER replace any fuse with a value or type other than those specified

11.

NEVER attempt to repair the

MOON

860A. If a problem occurs contact your MOON dealer.

12.

NEVER expose the

MOON

860A to extremely high or low temperatures.

13.

NEVER operate the

MOON

860A in an explosive atmosphere.

14.

ALWAYS keep electrical equipment out of reach of children.

15.

ALWAYS unplug sensitive electronic equipment during lightning storms.

16.

WARNING: Do not expose batteries or battery pack to excessive heat such as sunshine, or fire or the like.

Owner’s Manual

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

Unpacking 7

Installation & Placement

Rear Panel Connections

Connecting the 860A

Balanced Operation

Bridged-Mono Operation

9

10

Operating the 860A 11

Troubleshooting 11

Remote Operation 12

Specifications 13

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8

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www.simaudio.com

Simaudio Ltd., 1345 Newton Road

Boucherville, Québec J4B 5H2 CANADA

Date Code: 20150805

860A Evolution

Series

Introduction

Thank you for selecting the MOON 860A Dual-Mono power amplifier as a part of your hi-fi reproduction system. This power amplifier has been designed to offer state-of-the-art high-end performance in an elegant package, while retaining all the sonic hallmarks on which Simaudio has made its reputation. We have spared no effort to ensure that it is among the finest two-channel amplifiers available. We have been building high-performance audio equipment for over

30 years, and the know-how gained through our cumulative experience is an important reason why

MOON amplifiers are so musically satisfying.

Your new amplifier is a true Dual-mono design, whereby each channel operates completely independent of the other. The performance of your 860A will continue to improve during the first 300 hours of listening. This is the result of a “break-in” period required for the numerous high quality electronic parts used throughout this amplifier.

Before setting up your new MOON 860A, we encourage you to please read this manual thoroughly to properly acquaint yourself with its features. We hope you enjoy listening to the MOON 860A Dual-Mono power amplifier as much as the pride we have taken in creating this fine audio product. We understand the power and emotion of music and build our products with the goal of faithfully capturing these elusive qualities.

The information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice. The most current version of this manual is available on our official website at http://www.simaudio.com

Your MOON 860A Dual-Mono Power Amplifier incorporates many significant design features to achieve its “world-class” level of performance. This is an abbreviated list of the more important features:

Proprietary “Lynx” Technology which eliminates feedback.

The results are: Real-time amplification is achieved since interactions from the speaker back to the amplifier are virtually eliminated; More accurate musical reproduction with respect to tonality; Virtually non-existent transient intermodulation distortion (which is far more degrading to sonic performance than harmonic distortion); The elimination of common phase errors resulting from feedback.

A custom proprietary toroidal transformer design with lower magnetic, electrical and thermal loss, yielding an improved power transfer and lower regulation factor, resulting in increased current speed and better dynamics.

Fully balanced differential circuitry up to the output stage.

Output stable to any known speaker impedance.

Class A output to 5 watts for greater efficiency.

RS-232 port for i) full unsolicited bidirectional feedback in custom installation setups and ii) firmware updates.

An oversized power supply.

An exceptionally short signal path for a faster transient response.

Precision matched and fully decoupled proprietary MOON

Bipolar Output transistors with unprecedented gain linearity resulting in improved bass response and even more accurate sonic reproduction.

A high damping factor which yields superior musical dynamics, improved signal speed and refined timbre accuracy.

Ultra rigid chassis construction to minimize the effects of external vibrations.

Designed to be powered up at all times for optimal performance.

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Owner’s Manual

Unpacking

The MOON 860A should be removed from its box with care.

The following accessories should be included inside the box with your power amplifier:

9 AC power cable

9 This owner’s manual

9 Warranty and product registration information

(USA and Canada only)

Once the 860A is unpacked, inspect it thoroughly and report any damage to your dealer immediately. We suggest that you keep all of the original packaging, storing it in a safe, dry place in case you’re required to transport this product. The customized packaging is specially designed to protect the 860A from any potential damage during transit.

Please write the serial number of your new MOON 860A in the space provided below for future reference.

Serial Number

Installation & Placement

TThe MOON 860A Dual-Mono power amplifier is both powerful and heavy. It requires reasonable ventilation to maintain an optimum and consistent operating temperature, especially since it will radiate heat when driven hard. Consequently, it should be placed in a location with empty space around it for proper heat dissipation. You should never place another component on top of this amplifier. As well, the amplifier should be placed on a solid level surface. You should avoid placing it near a heat source or inside a closed cabinet that is not well ventilated as this could compromise the amplifier’s performance and reliability. The 860A uses two large toroidal transformers in its power supply; even though they are well shielded, you should not place this amplifier too close to source components sensitive to EMI, such as turntables, phono preamplifiers and CD Players.

If the surface you have chosen isn’t perfectly level, each of the four (4) cones of your 860A are height adjustable; carefully using your fingers, you can either raise each leg by turning the cone underneath clockwise, or lower each leg by turning it counterclockwise.

We strongly recommend that you leave these cones mounted to the component at all times for reasons related to both performance and aesthetics.

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860A Evolution

Series

Rear Panel Connections

Figure 1: Rear panel of MOON 860A

The rear panel will look similar to Figure 1 (above). Each channel has one balanced (differential) input on an XLR connector and one unbalanced (single-ended) input on a RCA connector. There is no switch to toggle from balanced mode to single-ended mode. You may operate the amplifier in either mode, but only one mode at one time for each channel.

When you’re using the balanced XLR inputs, you must

first remove the factory installed “dummy” XLR

jumpers (see figure 2 below) from the back panel XLR connectors and store them in a safe place. These jumpers are required ONLY when using the singleended RCA inputs. If you decide to switch to singleended input mode, you must reinstall the XLR jumpers

(between pins 1 and 3) exactly as show below:

There are two pairs of heavy duty gold-plated speaker binding posts for each channel to accommodate biwiring. They are each labelled “Right Speaker Out” and

“Left Speaker Out”.

The lower left section has an RS-232 input on a DB9 connector. To the right of this connector are two 12 Volt triggers, each on a 1/8” mini-jack; one input and one output, the latter for use in the event that wish you to

“daisy chain” a second power amplifier on the same trigger circuit. The lower right section has from left to right; the “AC Fuse” socket cover; the power “main switch”; and the “AC Input” IEC receptacle for the power cord.

Figure 2: XLR connector without and with jumper accessory

8

Owner’s Manual

Connecting the 860A

Prior to making any connections or removing the XLR jumpers, the power amplifier must be turned off and the AC cable disconnected for at least 1 minute.

1.

Connect the input cables running from your preamplifier’s outputs, whether balanced or singleended, to the amplifier’ s XLR or RCA inputs, respectively. We highly recommend that you use the balanced XLR inputs (provided that your preamplifier has balanced outputs) to take full advantage of 860A Stereo Power Amplifier’s capabilities. Please refer to the next section,

“Balanced Operation” on for further information.

Do not connect cables to both the XLR and RCA inputs at the same time. Damage to both the 860A and the connected equipment can result that is not covered by warranty.

Don’t hesitate to use high quality interconnect cables*. Poor quality interconnect cables can degrade the overall sonic performance of your system. It is recommended, though not mandatory, to use balanced interconnects between your preamplifier and the 860A when using long cable runs (i.e. more than 3 meters in length).

2.

Connect your speakers, with the cables of your choice, to the 860A’s speaker binding posts. Take care to respect the polarity (“+” , “-” ) of the outputs.

Once again, don’t hesitate to use high quality speaker cables*. Poor quality speaker cables can degrade the overall sonic performance of your system.

3.

Connect the supplied AC power cable to the IEC receptacle, located on the amplifier’s rear panel.

Ensure that the AC wall outlet you use has a functioning ground. For the best sonic performance, it is preferable that you plug your

860A directly into a dedicated AC outlet and avoid using an extension cord.

•

Please speak with your MOON Authorized Retailer about the benefits of high quality cables for your system.

Balanced Operation

When using an unbalanced interconnect, the audio signal runs through both the center wire and the shield/ground wire. Any noise picked up by this interconnect (ie. nearby magnetic fields such as an AC power cord) will be reproduced by the amplifier and heard through the loudspeakers. Conversely, a balanced interconnect has three separate conductors; one for the ground and two for the actual signal. These two signals are identical except that one is 180 degrees out of phase with the other. For example, when one conductor is carrying a signal of +5 Volts, the other will be carrying a signal of –5 Volts. When these two inverted signals on a balanced line are input into a differential power amplifier such as the MOON 860A, any noise picked up by the interconnect will be eliminated since a differential circuit amplifies only the difference between these two signals: Noise on a balanced interconnect will be equal on both conductors and therefore cancel out.

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9

860A Evolution

Series

Bridged-Mono Operation

Speaker

From Preamplifier

Figure 3: Bridged-Mono operation of the MOON 860A Dual-Mono Amplifier

If wish to operate the MOON 860A Dual-Mono Power

Amplifier as a monoblock amplifier, it can be converted to bridged mode without any complex modifications.

Only a Simaudio XLR-BRIDGE Y-cable is required. This custom cable will allow one input signal to be sent to both channels of the amplifier’s inputs, as pictured above in Figure 3. One lead from the “Y” adapter must plug into right channel input and the other lead must plug into left channel input. As well, you must use the positive terminal of each output binding post (exactly as in figure 3) for the loudspeaker connection. If you are unsure about how to accomplish a bridged-mono mode of operation, don’t hesitate to contact your Authorized

MOON dealer.

The MOON 860A produces 800 watts of output power at 8 ohms for a single channel when operating in bridged-mono mode.

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Owner’s Manual

Operating the 860A

We recommend leaving your 860A powered up at all times to maintain optimal performance. When you plan on being away for a few days, it may not be a bad idea to power off your amplifier. Please keep in mind that once fully “broken-in”, your 860A requires several hours of operation before reaching optimal performance after powering it up again.

Turning on your MOON 860A for the first time

Prior to turning the amplifier on for the first time, make sure that every cable is properly connected to avoid any problems. Then turn on your preamplifier connected to the 860A. Flick the main rocker switch, located on the rear panel, labeled “POWER” to the ‘1’ (on) position. The blue LED on the front panel will blink for up to 10 seconds while it achieves standby mode. When it stops blinking and is not illuminated, your 860A is in standby mode. Next, briefly press the push button labeled

“Standby” located on the front panel. You will hear a very faint click sound confirming that everything is in order. The blue LED on the front panel will illuminate, indicating that the 860A is now powered up and ready for use.

On and Off Sequence

To avoid having any annoying noises (ie. “thumps” and

“pops”) emanate from your speakers when powering your 860A on or off, you should always power up your preamplifier prior to powering up your 860A. As well, always power down your 860A prior to powering down your preamplifier.

Troubleshooting

The blue LED located on the front panel also indicates the operational status of your MOON 860A Dual-Mono power amplifier. When the LED starts blinking on and off during use, the circuitry is either over-heating or has detected the presence of DC in the input signal:

Left Channel DC protection ................ LED blinks 2 times

Right Channel DC protection ............. LED blinks 3 times

Left Channel Over-heating .................. LED blinks 4 times

Right Channel Over-heating .............. LED blinks 5 times

Unknown Problem ................................. LED blinks 6 times

Your MOON 860A is a “smart” power amplifier equipped with a self-diagnostic system that will automatically shut itself down when it detects DC

(direct current) from any input. If your 860A power amplifier turns itself off or will not power up, there may very well be DC present in one (or more) of the amplifier’s inputs coming from one (or more) of your preamplifier/processor’s outputs or connected source components. You must determine if there is any DC present. The best way to accomplish this is by first powering down the 860A via the main power rocker switch, then physically removing all inputs to the 860A leaving only the speakers connected. Attempt to power up your 860A again: A successful power up will indicate the presence of DC coming from your preamplifier or one of your signal sources (ie. CD Player).

If your 860A still doesn’t power up, turn off the main power switch and check the AC fuse. If the fuse appears

OK, put it back in its socket and then try to power up again the usual way. If the fuse is blown, replace it with a fuse of the same rating, and repeat the above process.

At this point, you should be able to power up your

860A. If not, immediately consult your dealer for assistance.

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11

860A Evolution

Series

Remote Operation

Figure 4: Remote Operation with 12V Trigger

In figure 4 we have a 740P Preamplifier and 860A amplifier connected together via their respective 12V triggers;

The 12V trigger output on the 740P is connected to the 12V trigger input on the 860A (using a 1/8” mini-jack cable). When you turn on the 740P via remote control (or its Standby button), the 860A will turn on automatically.

The same rule applies when you put the 740P into Standby mode.

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Owner’s Manual

Specifications

Configuration

Power Supply Transformers

Class Of Operation

Input Impedance

Input Sensitivity

Output Device Type

Output Power at 8

Ω

Output Power at 4

Ω

Output Power – Bridged Mono at 8

Ω

Frequency Response

Gain

Signal-to-noise Ratio

Crosstalk @ 1kHz

Intermodulation Distortion

THD (20Hz - 20kHz @ 1 watt / 200 watts)

Power Consumption @ idle

AC Power Requirements

Shipping Weight

Dimensions (W x H x D, inches / cm.)

Balanced Input Pin Assignment:

Pin 1

Pin 2

Pin 3

Fuse Replacement:

Ground

Positive

Negative

Fully balanced differential, dual-mono

2 x 0.5kVA

A/AB

47,500

Ω

1100mV

MOON Bipolars – 12 per channel

200 Watts per channel

400 Watts per channel

800 Watts

10Hz - 200kHz +0/-3dB

31dB

106dB @ full power

105dB

0.006%

0.015 % / 0.04 %

55 Watts

120V / 60Hz or 240V / 50Hz

90 lbs / 40 Kgs

18.75 x 7.5 x 17.5 / 47.6 x 19.1 x 44.5

For the 120V version use a 8A fast blow (3AG size).

For the 230V version use a 4A fast blow (3AG size)

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860A Evolution

Series

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