Accuphase Power Amps

It depends on the speakers you have and how loud you like to listen to music. What speakers do you have?

Hi Dave, we do not know his/her speakers and listening habits. The P-4200 may be overkill.

When it comes to choosing between Accuphase class A and A/B amps the situation is quite simple. While the class A amps sound a bit better than the class A/B amps, IMO one can not be happy with a class A amp if it is constantly clipping. Therefore, one should buy a class A amp if:

1) has efficient speakers
2) listens music to not very high volume levels
3) does not listen mostly to large orchestras and/or large big bands (i.e. music styles that have large dynamic variations)

Paul

Sorry for the very late reply guys.

Tls49, indeed I meant to say speaker sensitivity not efficiency. Thanks for
correcting me. I am fully aware of the difference between the two. English is
not my first language, and even though I am writing and speaking English on
a regular basis, I still make this kind of silly mistakes. :)

Beat496575, Dave and Tls49, I have some experience with Accuphase vs.
Bryston as before buying my first Accuphase unit (an E-550 class A integrated
amp) I have tried a Bryston combo (4BSST & BP25) for two weeks in my room.
As Bvdiman has pointed out, the power rating of the Accuphase amps are very
deceiving. For example, in the dealers room, the E-550 integrated (rated at
30 watts in 8 ohms and 60 watts in 4 ohms) has driven the B&W 802D
speakers (which are know to like power) better than the Bryston 4BSST & BP25
combo did. Of course, the E-550 could not go as loud as the Bryston combo,
but at normal listening levels (i.e. 70-75 dB) the E-550 sounded better than
the Bryston combo.

Dave, if you are set on the A-70 power amp, then I would advise you to buy
the C-2820 together with the AD-2820 module instead of the C-2420 and
the C-27. I am not 100% sure about the prices in USA, but I guess that the
price difference between the C-2820 and C-2420 is roughly the price of the
C-27. My take is that you will gain more by buying the C-2820 than you loose
by not buying the C-27. For safety reasons, you should buy the A-70 & C-
2820 combo from a USA dealer. The AD-2820 module, on the other hand,
you could buy from Japan as the option boards should not require any voltage
conversions. You could even buy one of the older AD modules that are
compatible with the C-2820, e.g. AD-2810, AD-2800, AD-290V and AD-
290, which should be significantly cheaper. Since the C-27 is a significantly
smaller investment than the C-2420 or C-2820, you could buy it latter
when your bank account recovers. I am sure you will be very very happy for a
very very long time with an A-70 & C-2820 & AD-28xx combo. Finally,
regarding the component that you should buy first, I too think that it is best
to buy the pre-amp first.

Simon, if I understand your post correctly, you have bought a P-4200 power amp. If that is indeed the case, congratulations!

Dave and Simon, the C-28xx pre-amps are actually significantly better than the C-24xx. The C-28xx models stand out as being much more dynamic and at the same time sounding much more relaxed - they have a much better control over all aspects of music. Personally, I would rather go for a 2nd hand (or demo or ex-demo) model from the C-28xx line than a new C-24xx model.

I've tested rather extensively many Accuphase integrated and in the end I have ended up with the E-550 class A integrated, then I moved to A-45 & C-2410 combo and then to a A-65 & C-2810 combo. The differences between the E-550 and A-45 & C-2410 was solid but probably not worth the price difference (especially in my case as I did not needed the additional power). On the other hand, the difference between the A-45 and A-65 have huge, as so was also the difference between the C-2410 and the C-2810. Now I am contemplating to get a C-3800 pre, I have actually made a down payment but I am not yet 100% sure that I will go through with it - I am a bit afraid the C-3800 will be replaced soon. :(