Charles Darwin was right

Charles Darwin was right,

We decided since the early days to cooperate with a designer to draft the look of the smart amplifier.

The materials and texture, the shape and the appearance of TheSMA had to be memorable and have an immediate and blunt impact. We liked the idea to depart from the standard look of hi fi gear and we also rejected the aesthetic excesses of some well-known or less known brands. We also believed that our minds were too accustomed to the classical hi fi gear and that fresh ideas coming from the experience of different people had to flow freely on the table. As ideas surfaced during the discussions with Yet|lamatilde, we steered towards one or the other and some survived while others were lacking that impact we were looking for.

One concept won the attention of all of us, the idea to use different materials with a new and unusual look and gratifying tactile sensations. Aluminum for a chassis is quite a standard and it looks and feels great. Wood is pretty much a standard too while carbon fibers, glass, brass and others are somehow used. Color options are also available from a number of manufacturers. But all of this is still limited, we wanted to explore more options and offer these materials and finishings to the customers.

Shape of TheSMA was reduced to an essential and elementary monolith built around a solid frame and its simple geometry completed with customizable panels. Its shape allows for a horizontal and vertical placement on a dedicated stand. It is compact and might stay hidden in a corner concealing itself behind matte color panels or just scream in the middle of the room with flashing surfaces. It is really up to you to imagine and personalize your TheSMA.

The metal frames give the chassis higher stiffness against external vibrations and allow PCBs to be rationally installed, it is the base for the heat sinking of the power buffers and the connecting dots across the whole Audiodinamica production. Now, it might sound easy but we had to understand how to place the feet for horizontal and vertical placements and how to emboss the logo without having it flipped by ninety degrees, and how to adjust panels with different thickness, where the controls should be, welded? assembled with nuts and bolts? And how to fix panels on the frame. We again threw ideas on the table and Mr Darwin selected the most appropriate; some were nice but practically impossible to manufacture so they did not survive.