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SMART TA225 cinema amplifier

efrance45

efrance45

Active Member
Hi all! An old Smart amplifier came up for sale near me for $20. It definitely would be in fair condition at best, but I was curious if anybody can chime in if this would be a good purchase or not? I've looked for information but not drawn up much - supposedly they were manufactured by Hafler for movie theater usage?

The seller said it has been tested and works well. I will be using it to power a pair of ELAC B6s off of some preamp (still currently searching, though I'd use a Marantz sr7200 for the time being!). I am also wondering how I would connect it to a preamp, considering the "inputs" are the bare wire screw in connectors? If I can figure that out, I might take a gamble and get it since it is only $20.

Here is the link, which I have no affiliation to.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/652272228807429
 
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Some of the Smart amps are rebranded Hafler Mosfet (maybe all of them?). I’m not sure about this one.

Personally I would buy it, but I like older pro amps.
 
For connection you could cut one end off a couple cables you have then strip back the ends. Or, order one cable, say 6ft, then cut it in half and strip back those ends. If you wanted to get fancy you could solder or crimp on some spade terminals to the stripped cable ends.

The wire from the center pin of the RCAs goes to CH ONE and CH TWO, the wire from the shell/outer contact of the RCAs go to G.
 
Worked on several of the Smart 242 cinema amps. Decent sounding stuff. Head over to Film-Tech.com, I think there is a manual in the library.
 
elitopus said:
Some of the Smart amps are rebranded Hafler Mosfet (maybe all of them?). I’m not sure about this one.

Personally I would buy it, but I like older pro amps.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your input! I love the way older pro amps look, but I haven't personally heard any yet. Maybe this is a good segway into them!
 
bowtie427ss said:
I think just the first ones were built by Hafler, the 242 and the 120(mono version).

It would be interesting to know if Musical Concepts was involved later on.

Before they went out of business Smart offered a MOSFET/tube hybrid. The chassis sure looks an awful lot like a more contemporary Hafler. https://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/512/index.html
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I had read about the 242 but just couldn't find much about this model.
 
whoaru99 said:
For connection you could cut one end off a couple cables you have then strip back the ends. Or, order one cable, say 6ft, then cut it in half and strip back those ends. If you wanted to get fancy you could solder or crimp on some spade terminals to the stripped cable ends.

The wire from the center pin of the RCAs goes to CH ONE and CH TWO, the wire from the shell/outer contact of the RCAs go to G.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this! I was thinking something like that but I appreciate the clarification.
 
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