Details:
- Sweetwater recently developed a dedicated Home Audio Room at its Fort Wayne, IN, music store, designed to help customers compare and audition a wide range of passive home audio speakers in a controlled environment.
- Sweetwater selected LEA Professional Connect Series 168 amplifiers to power the installation as a solution that would remain sonically transparent throughout the signal chain.
- Outcome: The completed Home Audio Room now provides customers with a highly controlled and consistent speaker audition environment that helps them make more informed purchasing decisions.
LEA Professional Amplifiers Behind Sweetwater's High-Performance Home Audio Audition Experience
Founded in 1979, Sweetwater, U.S. retailers of music technology and audio equipment, serves musicians, engineers, producers, integrators, and audio enthusiasts worldwide. As part of its continued investment in customer experience, Sweetwater recently developed a dedicated Home Audio Room at its Fort Wayne, IN, music store, designed to help customers compare and audition a wide range of passive home audio speakers in a controlled environment. For an unbiased comparison experience, Sweetwater selected LEA Professional Connect Series 168 amplifiers to power the installation.
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Sweetwater needed a reliable amplification platform capable of powering up to 80 passive home audio speakers while maintaining absolute consistency across every listening test. The goal was to allow customers to audition different speaker models, one pair at a time, using the same source material and amplification settings.
Sweetwater needed an amplifier solution that would remain sonically transparent throughout the signal chain. The system also required high channel density, a compact rack footprint, and consistent power delivery across all channels.
Enter the LEA Professional Connect Series 168.
“The amplifier needed to be our ‘constant’ source that never changed to make it a level playing field as customers auditioned one speaker pair at a time,” said David Kars, IT audiovisual engineer at Sweetwater. “LEA was right in that sweet spot where we have the power requirements, the channel counts, and the super-efficient architecture.”
The CS168 is an 8-channel amplifier delivering 160 watts per channel in a compact 1RU chassis. Like all Connect Series models, it’s a professional-grade, IoT-enabled smart amplifier designed for installations of any size. It supports both Hi-Z (70V/100V) and Lo-Z operation, selectable by channel, eliminating the need for separate amplifiers to accommodate different speaker impedances. This simplifies system design, streamlines installation, and helps reduce overall equipment costs. The Connect Series also includes onboard 96kHz DSP as a standard feature, providing a range of benefits that greatly enhance audio performance and system versatility.
LEA Professional’s third-party API capabilities give integrators the flexibility to connect LEA amplifiers with a wide range of control platforms and custom software solutions. By supporting open API protocols, LEA enables deeper system integration, allowing access to amplifier controls, DSP parameters, monitoring data, and fault indicators. This open approach helps integrators deliver customized solutions that align with each customer’s needs.
“Having the ability to manage the amplifiers through the network connection and apply settings across all the amplifiers was incredibly useful and saved us a significant amount of time,” said Kars. “The biggest advantage for us was the Q-SYS integration and the plugin developed specifically to manage and control the amplifiers.
“We were already using Q-SYS to manage the Home Audio Room’s audio, user interface, and overall room control, so integrating the LEA amplifiers into the existing system was seamless. It allowed us to bring amplifier management directly into the workflow we were already using.”
The completed Home Audio Room now provides customers with a highly controlled and consistent speaker audition environment that helps them make more informed purchasing decisions. Both internal staff and customers have responded positively to the installation, citing the room’s superior performance and ease of use.
