China Grand Tour 2009
Sheng Ya Factory Tour
Report By Steven R. Rochlin

 Sheng Ya began as a husband and wife company back in May 1991, though the husband started as a DIY tube amplifier enthusiast about 30 years ago. Now at 47, he oversees all designs, engineering and quality control. In a sense he is still doing DIY yet on a much larger scale. He graduated as a specialist in electronic design from Columbia University in Hong Kong. He did DIY years before his formal education, with the added knowledge bringing about a higher understanding of circuit design. The owner feels his specialty is analog amplification and over time he accumulated knowledge of where to best use various parts like tubes, chip, etc to get the best results.

As an example, they use many transistors operating in pure Class A so that there is ample headroom to handle the dynamics without restraint or clipping. This allows for linear operation as well. The company owner said he chooses to use about 20dB or thereabouts of global feedback to keep everything operating in a stable condition. To ensure the sound quality and reliability, it takes Sheng Ya approximately two years to go from the initial concept and design stage of their high wattage Class A amplifier to the final product being offered to audiophiles worldwide.

 

Circuit designs are done in-house and there were a few engineers in their office making changes and tweaking various schematics.

 

        

Sheng Ya was the very first Chinese manufacturer to produce a hybrid design, with tubes for preamplification and solid-state for the output.

 

Sheng Ya also produces a very wide variety of loudspeaker that range from floorstanders to monitor, from standard design to horn-loaded tweeters.

 

A few examples of their amplifications product

 

At the factory are three listening rooms. Seen above is a medium-sized room that has some very impressive acoustic panels.

In another listening room, about the same size, it has a more 'normal' acoustic design. My apologies as i somehow forgot to take a photo of their very large home theater room. The main point being that Sheng Ya has a variety of equipment and room types to conduct real-world tests to ensure their products sound the best in a wide variety of situations.

 

Moving on to inside the factory, here we have A203MK pure Class A 100 wpc stereo amplifier as it comes to life.

 

 

Each unit gets tested at various stations, then burned in for two days, then retested. Not just selected pieces, each and every unit gets tested during the final stage three times.

 

Products are boxed and ready to be shipped to dealers.

 

The warehouse holds parts and bits necessary to build the over 100 different products! They have 80 dealers in China and multiples of that when we include their OEM and other brand names. Sheng Ya is very selective who they OEM for and all their products are made to very high standards. What impressed me most was the care of even the smallest of details and the way they test, retest, burn in and test again. The factory is very clean, naturally brightly lit and easily rivals those of the best American brand name counterpart. Everyone at the factory was very helpful and their designs have received many awards over the years.

 

Website: www.shengya-audio.com

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Click here for the main China 2009 tour page.