SAE A1001

Between the the gradual export of the manufacturing duties to Martubeni (aka Benytone, who also made quite a lot for Carver btw), SAE came up with big powerhouses that looked like what the new decade could be : flashy bright, black and red.

The 01 amplifiers boast high current capability (through beefy power supplies and an increased number of output transistors), balanced circuit design (through multiplication of amp circuits : one for the positive phase, one for the negative phase) and "natural damping" which avoids dealing with the NFB loop to remain independent from level and frequency.

Also in the A1001 is 14gauge output board wiring, a (big) toroidal transformer, 24 output transistors per channel (!), and "turbo-flow" heatsink arrangement à la Marantz (Sm 1000 or Model 510M oldie) but without a fan blowing air.

The smaller A501, A301 and A201 have the same circuit base but less power and less transistors.

The SAE "01" line had semi-equivalents for export which belonged to the "X" line, the latter being advertised fairly often in Japan.
SAE didn't manage to renew its lineup and design often enough throughout the 1980s and that meant a previsible slow disappearance completed in the early 1990s.

Several 1980s Pink Floyd concerts were powered by arrays of about a hundred P500 - the professional version of the A1001, bridgeable with front level pots and XLR inputs.


SAE is however somewhat alive again as "ATI" by way of an ex original owner - you can find the italian distributor here, the latter also having downloadable PDFs for each ATI component.


Jim's SAE website remains the reference place for all of SAE's 1970s and 1980s history.