Tandberg 3026A (TPA-3026A)
Little is documented about the Tandberg 3026A. No factory literature has surfaced in the Archive, and the model number is a little slippery. Period reviews identify this unit as the TPA-3026A, a stereo power amplifier rated at 150 W/ch. What the record does hold is a pair of enthusiastic reviews from the late 1980s, and they make a strong case that this was one of the more serious amplifiers of its time.
Audio (April 1987, p.74) covered the TPA-3026A together with the TCA 3018A preamp and came away impressed. The magazine noted that the high damping factor was especially remarkable because the design uses absolutely no negative feedback. That is a rare choice in a solid-state power amp. Audio (April 1987, p.70) credited the current delivery to a tightly regulated supply built around a toroidal transformer and large storage capacitors. This let the amp play highly dynamic music into speakers with difficult impedance loads. A proprietary "Thermic Servo Loop" kept speaker-damaging DC components off the output terminals without interfering with the audio signal.
The same profile measured frequency response of 20 Hz-20 kHz within +0/-0.1 dB, extending from 0.07 Hz to 1.5 MHz at +0/-3 dB. Signal-to-noise was 94 dB referred to 1 watt (115 dB referred to rated output), and rated THD was listed at 0.05%. When HiFi-Stereo (February 1989, p.85) catalogued the 3026A, it quoted $3,700 and confirmed the high-current output stage at 45 A/ch. It also listed selected metal-film resistors, polypropylene capacitors, and an output impedance of 0.1 ohm from 20-20,000 Hz. It was a big piece of hardware, too: 19 × 9.5 × 17.5 inches and 78.5 lb.
Audio's closing verdict on the 3018A/3026A pairing is the best summary the record offers. If money were no object, the reviewer would have taken this combination not as an alternative but as a first choice. Beyond that, almost nothing is recorded. Production years, quantities, and service history remain undocumented, and this page will be updated if more material turns up.
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