clayton audio M-200 User manual
Clayton Audio
M-200 Monaural power amplifier
Owner’s Manual
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Clayton Audio
M-200 Fully Balanced Monaural power
amplifier
Introduction
Congratulations on your purchase of the Clayton Audio M-200
monoblock amplifiers! Your M-200 was made to sound as good and to
outperform many of the very best amplifiers on the market. This is a
high-current design that can drive the most demanding speaker loads.
This power amplifier was designed to produce reference-quality sound
with all the excitement and elegance of live music. The M-200s are
handmade in the USA after years of careful design and testing. Properly
used and installed, these amplifiers will provide you with many years of
trouble-free, high-quality amplification. We hope that you will take the
time to read and look through this owner’s manual before operating the
M-200.
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Installation
Please unpack the amplifier carefully in accordance with the
enclosed instructions. Please thoroughly read the Unpacking
Instructions prior to actually unpacking. Each amplifier weighs 49
pounds so we urge reasonable caution in handling to avoid injury.
Please save all packing materials for future use. Should you need to
ship your amplifier to us, only the original shipping cartons will be
acceptable. Other packing methods might result in serious damage to
your precision amplifier.
Inspect your amplifier carefully to make sure that it has suffered no
damage in shipping. Consult your dealer if you have any questions.
Do not stack any equipment on top of the amplifiers. Always remember
to power-off and disconnect the amplifiers when moving or handling
them.
The four offsets at the rear were designed to ensure enough space for
cabling when locating the amplifier. The amplifier was not designed to
be mounted horizontally. The amp should sit vertically on the four-
bottom feet.
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Operation
The Clayton Audio M-200s are high-performance class A amplifiers,
conservatively rated at 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms. They are a
no- compromise, wide-bandwidth design that should drive virtually any
high-end speaker load with relative ease. Because the Clayton Audio
M-200 is a class A design, it will run hot in normal operation. Make
sure to place it in a well-ventilated location on a stable support. Be
careful about touching the top of the heat sink when in operation.
Depending on the AC line voltage the amplifier will run at a temperature
up to 55 degrees Fahrenheit above the room temperature.
The M-200 is a true, fully balanced design. On the rear apron, there is
XLR input only. Connect to your preamp with XLR output.
Each Clayton Audio M-200 has three fuses, one for AC power line, two
for DC power, easily accessible from the rear panel. All fuses are 5 amp,
Fast Blow (FB) types, which must be replaced with fuses of the same
value. To examine and replace a fuse, make sure the amplifier if powered
down, then simply push in the rear knob (nut) of the fuse and turn it
counter-clockwise to release.
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This is the only repair that the user should attempt to make. If you are
experiencing any problems with the amplifier that cannot be solved by
replacing the fuses, DO NOT OPEN THE AMPLIFIER. You should contact
your Clayton Audio dealer immediately. Any attempt to open and/or
tamper with the amplifier will void the warranty immediately.
The Clayton Audio M-200 has one pair of high-quality German WBT
binding posts that accept either spade lugs or banana plugs for
connection to the speaker wires. Between the binding posts is 3 mm.
Make sure to connect the positive (+ usually red) speaker connector to
the + connection and the negative (- usually black) speaker connector to
the - connection on both the right amplifier and the right speaker. Do
the same for the left amplifier and speaker.
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Design Concept
The Clayton Audio M-200 is a high current amplifier using class A design
in both the driver and output stage. All gain transistors are operated in
their linear region for the smoothest, purest sound reproduction.
We believe that most amplifier power ratings into 8 ohms are a poor
gauge of the subjective loudness that can be achieved with amplifiers.
Most speakers --- even fairly inefficient ones --- will only draw a few
amps even when playing quite loudly. What counts are the sonic quality
of the power produced, the ruggedness of the amplifier design, and an
amplifier’s ability to drive difficult speaker loads. Not only can our 200-
watt amplifier drive most audiophile speakers to realistic listening levels,
but we believe you will find our amplifier to sound more powerful,
elegant, and controlled than many 500 and 1000 watt class AB designs.
The power supply in each channel contains a 1KVA toroidal transformers
with up to 160,000 microfarads of capacitance. The M-200 makes use of
separate power sources for the driver and output stages. The driver
stage incorporates a high-precision regulation circuit for stability. The
output stage is an extremely high current design using a filter to
enhance stability and minimize noise. No capacitors are used in the
signal path.
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The power supplies are symmetrically balanced in positive and negative
voltage to eliminate any possible instability caused by powering the
amplifier on and off. A precision power-on sequence control circuit is
also used to prevent any damage that might be caused by the initial
power surge.
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Warranty
Clayton Audio warranties your M-200 amplifier against any defects in
design or manufacture for three years from the date of purchase.
Defective units will be repaired within the warranty period without
charge for labor or parts assuming that the units have not been altered
or damaged through abuse, negligence, deliberate modification,
accident or improper operation. All repairs must be directly undertaken
by Clayton Audio. We ask that you ship the defective amplifier to us,
after proper authorization. You are responsible for the one-way
shipping and insurance expenses and we will cover return shipping costs.
Equipment must be returned in the original box with the original packing
material along with a copy of the sales receipt from an authorized dealer.
This warranty is transferable from the original owner to future purchasers
with proof of resale and any subsequent owner will receive the
remainder of the three-year warranty from the date of the original
purchase.
You are responsible for mailing the enclosed warranty registration card.
This officially registers your unit and permits us to inform you of any
upgrades or improvements that we may offer. You may also receive new
production information from us. Your name and address will never be
sold for use in general mailing lists and is only for our own internal
records.
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Specifications
Rated power output:
200 Watts continuous rms into 8 ohms in Class A
400 Watts continuous rms into 4 ohms in Class A
Voltage gain: 29 db
Input Impedance:
Balanced input: 100K Ohms
Dimensions:
9.25” W by 20.0” D by 9.0” H
Weight: 49 lbs. each.
Heat sink capacity: 0.13 degrees C/Watt
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Contact Information:
Clayton Audio
8151 Stratford Ave.
Clayton, MO 63105
Phone: 314-862-6017
Fax: 314-862-0765
Email: claytonamp@aol.com
Dealer Sales, Marketing, Technical Support:
TRI Audio Marketing
13604 Hartsbourne Drive,
Suite 101
Germantown, MD 20874-2828
Email: triaudio@yahoo.com
Phone: 301-540-1156
Fax: 301-916-1772
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