Both are beautiful pieces. The 3800 has a more robust power supply with greater capacitance. As expected, from a sonic standpoint, the extra expenditure gets you more in the way of dynamic contrasts, bottom end authority, transparency, soundstaging and a slightly lower noise floor. The 2820 design allows for the inclusion of the optional internal phono stage, whereas the 3800 does not. All that aside, both preamps are world class and you can't go wrong with either of them. If you can spare the extra cash, go for the big dog.
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Hi Classact, it looks like the upgrade and Accuphase bugs have bitten you well, viz. less than a year ago you were contemplating whether to buy an Accuphase or a Musical Fidelity integrated, and now you are thinking to go after the Accuphase top of the line pre-aplifier. While I do not have experience with either pre-amp, I advise you to proceed with care and patience. I know you have ProAc Response K6 speakers and you were planing to buy an Accuphase A-46 power amp. IMO none of the two is no where near the league of the C-3800 pre-amp. Consequently, the price difference between the C-2820 and C-3800 might be better spent in another direction, e.g. buy an A-65 instead of an A-46, or use it to partially cove the price of a good Accuphase digital source. I would also not dismiss just yet the Accuphase solid state power amps, e.g. the P-6100, P-7100 or the evolution of P-7100 (which should be release in the very near future). Given the amounts involved I would not take a decision before doing the following comparisons: 1) A-46 & C-2420 vs. A-46 & C-2820 2) A-46 & C-2820 vs. A-65 & C-2820 3) A-65 & C-2820 vs. A-65 & C-3800 Oce you have settled on a pre-amp also compare the A-46, A-65 and P-6100 power amps. (Of course, you should use your speakers when make any of these test.) Dfwmediagroup, maybe you could shad some more light on the differences between the power amps I have mentioned above. You seems to be a deal so probably you have much more experience with these amps than me. Good luck and keep us posted. Paul |
Hi Nvp - apologies for the late reply. Yes the upgrade bug has bitten and yes I have listened to the A-46 versus the P-6100 and preferred the A-46 which I thought was a lot more musical, especially with the ribbons on my K6s. I considered the A-65 but it doesn't have two speaker outputs, which is what I need. So it'll be the A-46 for me. As for preamps - no, I haven't listened to any yet. I figured I'd add the A-46 first, then wait a while (and save like mad!). Dfwmediagroup - thanks very much for your input. Yes, I think if I do decide on a dedicated preamp, I should seriously consider the C-3800. Will have to see how the finances go after the A-46 purchase, and also whether I can have a home demo of the 2820 against the 3800 to see how each performs in my system. Many thanks again for your inputs guys. |
Quote : "I considered the A-65 but it doesn't have two speaker outputs, which is what I need. So it'll be the A-46 for me." ____________________________________________ Hi Classact, are you using the A-46 as yet? If so, did you find bi-wiring them wrought much further improvement? Appreciate if you could extent on the difference. Can imagine how mighty fine your ProAc's are sounding now driven by A-46.. Enjoy! |
Hi Bvdiman - yes the K6s sounds fabulous with the A-46, but they are not bi-wired. I actually connect a second pair of speakers to the amp's speaker B terminals so I can enjoy a different sound when I want it. For example, for late night listening sometimes the K6 can be a bit overpowering so I switch speakers to something more mellow. Currently, my speaker B is the Spendor SA-1 but I'm considering trying Harbeth as well... |
Hi Classact, interesting.. In so doing, do you use switch or manually? - as I don't recall seeing any A/B speaker select switch in most of their recent amps. My vintage integrated (E302 - '80s) did have them though. What cabling (IC, SC, PC) you using? The C3800 is an extremely well built and great sounding piece. Have you gotten around to listen yet? Or perhaps already using one now? ;) |
Bvdiman, unlike most of the old Accuphase power amps, the new amps (i.e. including the A-46 amp) have two sets of speaker terminals and therefore also on/off buttons (on the front panel) for each set. Also Bvdiman, would you care to share with us your thoughts on FM Acoustic vs. Accuphase electronics. Dave, who also posted here is interesting in buying one of these two brands. (Since there are not that many posts and/or contributors to this thread, I hope Classact will not mine this "distraction".) Classact, interesting to hear that you have found the A-46 to be better than the P-6100 amp. What preamp have you used for this comparison? |
Hi Bvdiman - as Nvp has correctly pointed out, the A-46 has two switches on its front panel for Speaker A and Speaker B. I have to manually switch one off and the other on when alternating between speakers. I use Auditorium 23 and Crystal Microdiamond speaker cables. As for the C-3800, no I haven't gotten round to listening to it yet. Hi Nvp - no problem with your FM Acoustic question since I too would be interested in learning the answer!:) When I compared the A-46 and P-6100 I used my E-560 integrated as the preamp (there is an Ext Pre button to press). Even though the 6100 was very good, I believe the class A sound is a better match for a speaker with ribbon tweeters. |
Well, I used to own FM Acoustics (I bought them 20 years ago; Resolution Series 244C preamp and 611 amp,) and the sound was great. But, I needed more volume, and I set the gain too high on the amp. This caused the amp to go into thermal shutdown with the volume up most of the way. So you gotta watch the gain on FM. It can be too high or too low. You can easily go too high especially with cd and digital and too low with analog. Other than that, they worked flawlessly. However, the build could have been a bit better; the panels on the amp and preamp were on the thinner side. I would very much like to go back to FM, but the prices are that of a nice big house here in the US. It's rather ridiculous imo. I dunno who's buying this stuff, but they must be millionaires and billionaires. If you have any other questions, let me know... |
Nvp, was curious because with A-200s there are 2 set of speaker outputs per mono amp as well, but no select switches to be found. Well, perhaps more for bi-wiring / bi- amping purpose in this case I assume? Classact, thanks for your feedback! Re : Accuphase - FMA, will jot brief impression in my system's page so as not to run this thread off its course. *My A-200s had around 150hrs on them currently. Anyway, looks like Dave has had much experience with FMA too having owned them before. |
Hi Bvdiman, Yeah, thanks. The FM has not really been upgraded that much as far as I can tell. It's more of an evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes. I could be wrong, however, since I don't work over there to see what redesigning they did. Anyway, the prices are ridiculous really. For a 711 MK. II, a 255 MK II preamp, 222 MK. III phono stage, and cables, you're looking at well over $150,000 USD. The resale value on FM is rather good, but will you get at least $100,000 on the above units remains to be seen. |
Dave, When I bought my 268, CHF rate was about .90c to the dollar, so @CHF110k paid $100k. They have since increased the rrp a little and with current exchange, a friend paid $128-130k for his just a couple of months ago. Unlike most other brands, FMA strictly adhere to their fixed pricing policy. Which is fair to all and a good thing for their residual value IMO. Was actually offered 100k for mine recently by a another friend. Not bad at all considering it used for 4yrs.. (of course it's in as new cond.) ;) My 611 which I bought new in '93 @36k, sold them last year and still got close to 20k for it. Again, not bad for a 20yrs old un-reconditioned amp! So there you go speaking of their value.. *Sorry if a little off topic. |
Hi Bvdiman, I have just seen on your system page that you have bough a pair of A-100 mono blocks and also the DP-900/DC-901 SACD player. Congratulations! (In my first post to you here, I was not aware of this and I was actually wondering why are you interested in Accuphase - I knew that you are a FM Acoustics owner. I will follow your system page with interest for a Accuphase vs. FM Acustics comparison.) Dave, it seems to me that compare to the FM Acoustics prices, the Accuphase prices (at least of the components in which the two of us are interested) are peanuts money. :) Classact, I find it interesting that you have preferred the A-46 amp over the P-6100 amp. My impression was that the P-6100 is better than my A-45 amp, while, on the other hand, I have found the A-45 and the A-45 comparable. Beside more "features", the A-46 also has more "drive", i.e. more power, than the A-45 (but more power is something that I simply do not need with my current speakers.) |
Hi Bvdiman, Imo, $100k USD is silly money to pay for a preamp. I appreciate the fixed price policy and the resale value. I got $20k for the 611 too back in '05, unreconditioned as well. Anyway, Accuphase is silly money here in the US. I appreciate the build quality and technology (Accuphase just might be the most high tech brand)but this distributor here is a bit off his rocker, so to speak. But, if he's selling at these inflated prices, then there's no chance they will be lowered anytime soon! So, for me, Pass Labs is the ticket at this time. It's not really cheap per se, but when you're dealing in pure Class A for both amps and preamps, it's never cheap. Nelson Pass is a competent and humble designer. The people that run the company are pretty nice guys too. No, it's not the best, but it's affordable to me, and it sounds and is built damn good. |
Hi Dave, Agree.. That I come to think of it, yes the 268 is definitely silly money and cost wise not in proportion with the rest of my system.. ;P But I just can't seem able to rid it yet for what they do so well (linearizing). Rendering all my precious older nostalgic CDs (hundreds of which are rather poorly recorded) pretty much 'very' listenable, and that's what matters most to me ~ the musical content. Hardly ever listen to perfect audiophile pressings anymore nowadays, most of which I found boring ~ of course when so, with linearizer setting off / bypassed mode would be best. Pass is yet another highly reputable and well regarded marque in the 'A' turf. Bet they could sound just as wonderful, or probably even better.. It's all in the synergy. Follow your heart. On a slightly different note, I see you are currently using JBL S4700? Might be better to have them on stands, no..? Stumbled upon this on YouTube, hence visualized how your system would be with Accuphase, here's the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eplKGurrnc Great looking and sounding speakers for sure.. Enjoy! |
Hi Bvdiman, Well, it was just my opinion. I'm sure it's an excellent unit that runs rings around the competition. I know that FM is excellent stuff, but again, the price! lol. Yes, I agree about Pass. I don't think it's as good as FM overall, but I only can afford so much, and the Pass Labs is in my price range for Class A amps. Yes, I am using those JBLs. I really don't need stands at the moment, because the tweeters are ear level when I sit down on my listening sofa. Thanks for the video and for the suggestion! Thanks and take care. |
Classact..I have heard the C-2810 but not the C-2820. The C-2820 is a far superior design to the 2810 and is definitely in the same league as the C-3800. The whole idea behind the C-2820 was to make a Preamp that comes within inches of the C-3800. Arturo with Axiss in CA. is the Accuphase Distributor in the States and listened to the C-2820 at a show in Tokyo in late 2011 and told me its 90% of the performance of the C-3800. Jonathan with Perfect Note Audio in Mass. who is one of the top two Accuphase retailers in the country says the same thing. The C-3800 does not sell well for Accuphase so they decided to dump all their C-3800 tech stuff into the C-2820. The C-2820 has a newer and better designed volume gain control that is superior to the one in the C-3800. If you can afford it, the C-2820 is a steal compared to the C-3800. |
Audiozen, I do not agree with what you are saying. Firstly, with Accuphase (and any serious manufactures for that matter) there are no quantum leaps in performance from one generation to the other. The new generation is most often "only" a fine tuned version of the previous one. Sometimes this is for the better other times is not. In my experience, to talk about significant advancements in Accuphase products one has to compare products that are at least two generations apart. Secondly, in the hope of selling a C-2820 any dealer will tell you any kind of crap, e.g. last time we talk about Accuphase preamps you said that Arturo from Axiss told you that the C-2820 puts out 98% of the performance of C-3800. Now he things it is only 90% thereÂ… |
Nvp..you obviously haven't read the technical changes on the Accuphase website. Just one of many major changes is using superior circuit boards that were not in the C-2810 such as glass cloth flourocarbin resin boards. The power supply in the 2820 is larger with bigger toroidal transformers and larger capacitors. The multiple circuit boards have a larger amount of small caps and components. This is a major upgrade not a minor one and Accuphase has a reputation when putting out new models to put them on a higher level than the previous one. I was off the mark saying 98% but it is accurate that Arturo did state 90%. Again, the reason for the 2820 is that the C-3800 is a slow mover for Accuphase since it sells for over $40K and the 2820 will capture greater buying power since its almost half the price. |
Audiozen, First, I have actually read the user manuals of the C-2810 and C-2820 (also of C-2800) pre-amps, and also compared the guts of these pre-amps based on what it is written in the manuals. The three pre-amps are part of the same family and share very similar circuits layout and circuit boards. However, unlike you, I know that teflon is - a polymer made of fluoro-carbon. (Teflon is also known as PTFE, i.e. polytetrafluoroethylene.) Now if you read the manuals of the older Accuphase premium preamps, e.g. C-2800 and C-290V, you will learn that Accuphase is using flouro-carbon resin (sometimes referred in the manual as "flourocarbon" resin other times as teflon) for its circuit boards since 1999. Thus, not such a new thing! Second, Japan is the most important market for Accuphase. They sell more than 50 percent of their production locally! The second largest market for Accuphase is Germany, and chances are that USA represent a very small (if not insignificant) percent of the Accuphase market. Since in Japan the C-3800 is only 50 percent more expensive than the C-2820, I am very sure Accuphase sells enough C-3800 in Japan, and that it is not at all worried by the low numbers of C-3800 sold in USA. In fact, if you would know anything about Accuphase (e.g. how arrogant and pride their owners are, or the fact that the important Accuphase international distributors are chosen among relatives of the Accuphase owners) you would not for a second claim that Accuphase dumped they top of the line technology into the C-2820 preamp just because the C-3800 was too expensive to be sold in USA. That is dealer talk! Third, unlike you, I find it silly to express my opinions here when I do not have first hand experience with a product. (A year ago you told me and Dave that the C-2820 gives 98% of the performance of C-3800 but admitted that you have never listen the C-2810 and the C-2820; now after you have apparently listened the C-2810, you say that the C-2820 gives only 90% of the performance of C-3800. How do you come up with these numbers?). Moreover, I find it very wrong to give advice to somebody based on what you were told by your dealer, or on experience gain only by reading reviews and/or user manuals (which you obviously do not fully understand)! |
Baloney. I have no idea who Dave is. Arturo is the only exclusive wholesale Distributor for Accuphase in the United States. He is very objective in his assessment and has more experience with Accuphase than anyone else in the country. He is not my retail dealer. He is a wholesaler. Why would he want to jeopardize the sales of the C-3800? You are really showing your ignorance referring to the manuals. I could give two craps about the manuals. I am specifically referring to the technical information in the Catalog pages and interior photo's on the Accuphase website. You have no idea what your talking about by stating the C-2820 is a minor change from the C-2810. The C-2820 is a whole new creature. |
I have never said the C-2820 is a minor update over the C-2810. Only that the difference between them can not be qualified as a quantum leap. (The C- 2800, C-2810 and C-2820 pre-amps belong to the same family and the differences between them are incremental.) You on the other hand have listed circuit boards made of fluorocarbon resin as one of the important advancements in C-2820 over C-2810. As I've mentioned, you have no point. Both have circuits boards of fluorocarbon. It is certainly not the first time I see you giving advices that are silly and/or incorrect. Instead of continuing to argue with you or to expose your ignorance. I will let the readers figure out for themselves how trustable you really are by inviting them to glance at two of your previous threads: World's best Pre-amp for $10K and above? PMC vs. Salk Sound Speakers. Which is better? |
Nvp... You are in outer space and LaLa land on the tech info on the two Pre-amps. The C-2810 uses teflon copper circuit boards. The glass cloth flourocarbon resin boards are only used in the C-3800 and the new C-2820. This board material is extremely expensive and provides a much lower noise floor. Incremental improvement? Absurb. Do your homework and go buy a six pack. |
Audiozen, do not worry about typos we all type in hurry. (Plus English is not my first language, so I do not always pick up on them and often make many myself.) Now, my knowledge of circuit boards is certainly limited, but it does not come from internet browsing and/or hi-end dealers. That is, I am a physicist doing research in university for more than 10 years now, who in his last year of university has taken a course on advance physics lab techniques that have applications in industry, e.g. chemical vapor deposition (CVB), laser lithography (LL), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and a few more others. Since I caught this hi-fi bug, I have returned quite a few time to those lecture notes. Regarding printed circuit boards (PCB), the lectures about LL mentioned two thing that are of interest here: 1) that when it comes to printed circuit boards teflon (i.e. fluorocarbon) is considered an exotic material (which while expensive yields very good dielectric constants and dissipation factors), and 2) that most often the substrate is not pure teflon (i.e. fluorocarbon) but it uses glass cloth and fluorocarbon resin. I have no doubt that there are very expensive teflon PCBs and extremely expensive teflon PCBs. It may be possible that, unlike in the C-2810 where they used expensive PCBs, in the C-2820 Accuphase went for extremely expensive PCBs. However, one can not pick that up from the way the terms "teflon", "fluorocarbon resin" and "glass cloth fluorocarbon resin" are used in the Accuphase brochures and/or by Accuphase dealers. IMO it is more important to realize that we talk about very small returns here as these techniques deal with 2nd and 3rd order effects. The weak point of most C- 2820 and C-3800 owners (also C-2810 for that matter) is the room which induces zero order effects, i.e. 100 to 1000 times larger than what it is gain by using exotic material for the circuit boards. According to Accuphase the most important advancement in C-2820 is further refined AAVA volume control which was derived from the C-3800. I must admit that I find this claim by Accuphase intriguing. In the C-3800 pre- amp, the AAVA circuit is design as a balanced network, which IMO does not seem to be the case in the C-2820. (The schematics in the C-3800 manual clearly show a balanced AAVA, whereas the schematics in the C-2820 manual show a design that is not balanced and that is very similar to the one in C- 2810). What I would say that the C-2820 borrows from the C-3800, is the superior power supplies but with less caps. (The C-2810 seems to have the transformers developed for the older C-2800 model). This should make it more dynamic than the C-2810. Though, ultimately this will depend sensitively on the power amp and the speakers that are used. Here comes my take on this matter, or what I call dealer's talk vs. the "poor's man" talk, i.e. me. The difference between the C-2810 and C-2820 is roughly 10K and the difference between the C-2820 and the C- 3800 is also about 10K (at least in Europe). The dealers, will always tell one that a C-2410 is almost a C-2810, that a C-2420 is almost a C-2820 or that a C-2820 is almost a C-3800. Whereas I would tell anyone to take the 10K difference, to do some bargaining with the dealer and to get a DG-48 room correction system together with a "smaller" preamp. A C-2810 + DG-48 will yield better results than a C-2820, or a C-2820 + DDG-48 will yield better results than a C-3800. As mentioned, the room affects the sound significantly and the Accuphase DG-48 (also DG-38) do a marvelous job at correcting this. In the end, I should maybe apologies to the rest of the contributors here for "brutally" attacking Audiozen and going way off topic in my debate with him. I wrote my posts yesterday after reading Audiozen's thread above on PMC vs. Salk speakers. I lost my patience with him when I read that he never listen the C-2820 (as I also remembered some of his other posts and my previous encounters with him here on Audiogon). I will be glad to hear Audiozen's opinions on the AAVA volume control in C- 2820 vs. the on in C-3800. Not as a preach but as a constructive discussion. Paul |
Thank You Nvp for your positive, polite response. My hope is to keep things civil even though I have a tendency to have an acidic bite from time to time. I'll refrain and keep things polite. Looking at a cutaway of the Attenuator Potentiometer interior in the C-2820 appears to have a better gear drive and a better Attenuator pot and housing than the one in the C-3800. So it is a slightly improved AVAA design over the C-3800. As I already mentioned, the C-3800 is a slow seller nowadays and word is it will be put out of production within the foreseeable future. |
Hey, I have recently uppgraded from Accuphase C-2410 to C-2820. I have to say I am very impressed.For example the perspective is rocksteady, the soundstage is wider and there is considerable more depth. Also ther is more ait around the instruments.You can easy follow all instruments for example in a pianoquintett of Schumann.There is a tremendous dynamic in for exampel a record of Bruckners great mass for large orchester and Choir and you can mor easy hear throug and follow the diffrent lines in the Choir.Today the C-2820 have bin runned 275 houres.I also own Accuphas A-45 And Accuphse Sacd-combo DP-800/DC-801- The speakers are 3,5-ways floorstanders from Danish Audiovector, very sensitive 92 dB. |
Well, after much deliberation, and careful research, I am slowly coming back to Accuphase, even though it's much more expensive than Pass Labs. Pass Labs is very good, but it looks to me that Accuphase is more musical and accurate. What I really would like to do is have a "shoot out" between the 2 brands. Hopefully I'll make a final decision! The 3 units I'm looking at are the C-2420 preamp, A-46 amp, and C-27 phono stage. I think this would really be a dynamite combo. |
Audiozen, sorry for my very late reply. I too am glad the spirits have calmed down. Communication between people (both verbal and in writing) is a difficult thing. Debates like this often happen between passionate individuals. :) Even though sometimes I disagree with you conclusions and/or approach, I certainly respect the fact that your opinions are based on personal research (which sometimes seems to be quite involved, e.g. your thread WHEN DID DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY BEGIN?). Coming back to the C-2810, C-2820 and C-3800 pre-amps, I still believe that, unlike the C-3800, the C-28XX models do not have a balance AAVA volume control. Since I did not do a direct comparison of these products, and also because of a very recent experience (read my next post), I will refrain to make further speculations. |
Labo, congratulation for the new C-2820 pre-amp and thanks for sharing your experience with us. I should say that what you have reported (i.e. the C- 2820 being much better than the C-2410) is very much in line with my recent experience. I have recently bought an A-65 power amp - mostly because it had a very decent price and also because I was hopping to end the search for a power amp. Since my A-45 amp has much more power than my 104 dB Avantgarde speakers need, I did not expected a significant difference. However, I have quickly realize that my assumptions were incorrect. Compared to the A-45, the A-65 has: 1) a much more relaxed, controlled and fuller presentation of the bass, and 2) a more stable and better defined stereo image and sound stage. The A-65 also retrieves more details than the A-45. I should also say that I have found the A-45 & C-2410 & DP-600 combo to sound slightly inferior (but overall comparable) to the A-65 + DP-600 combo, i.e. the C-2410 pre-amp is bypassed and the signal of the DP-600 cd player is fed directly into the power amp. On the other hand, I have preferred the A- 65 & C-2410 & DP-600 combo over the A-65 + DP-600 combo. Dave, it's good to hear you are reconsidering Accuphase. |
Nvp, Congrats on your A-65 acquisition, they should be awesome. I had inadvertently deleted my old system page while trying to edit things. It's dated anyway, will post latest when I find the time to take some new pics. In the meantime just laying low whilst enjoying the A-200s and DP-900/DC-901 settling down and rounding in to form nicely. With few recent cable upgrades, better than I had expected, so big smile here. Next up probably trying out their Power Supply units.. but one (baby) step at a time. ;) Labo, Have you tried playing with the HS-Link interfacing your DP-800 > DC-801? I did with 900s, and the improvement wrought over the standard Accuphase's green freebie cable is not subtle and definitely a worthwhile upgrade. Few cables worth noting/checking out are Acoustic Revive Lan-1.0PA, AIM Shieldio NA3-R, and Audioquest Diamond Ethernet RJ/E. Do give them a go and let us know. Goodluck. |
I am very interested in Accuphase A-46. The reason you can run two pairs of speakers? Is there a button for A+B like my Luxman L-507U? Looking at the power supply section it uses two 83000uF Nichicon LNT series capacitors at 105C. That is almost 200KuF in capacitance will have no problems with any speakers. |
Bvdiman, please report back after you have tried the Accuphase PS units. I am very interested to hear your findings. Renjy651, the A-46 power amp has two Nichicon capacitors of 47k micro Farads each. Also, they are 85 Celsius degrees not 105. What you have quoted resembles the specs of the A-65 power amp which has 82k micro Farads caps. The A-65 probably has 105 Celsius degrees caps as it gets much much hotter than the A-45. However, I am not 100 percent sure about this as the picture of the caps in the manual is poor and this figure can not be read properly. I currently have both the A-45 and A-65 in my system. As far as I know the A-46 is a bit more powerful than the A-45, but overall the two amps are comparable. On the other hand, the difference between the A-45 and the A-65 is huge. Since a pre-amp might not be needed with the A-65 (read my last post before this one for some more details), I urge anyone who is planing to buy a A-46 to also listen the A-65. |
Hi Nvp, Sure, if the cd player or dac has a volume control, the preamp can be bypassed. I see, but the A-65 is about twice the price of the A-46. 11k for the A-65 vs. around 6k for the A-46. In Japanese Yen. Whether you wanna buy from Japan is up to you. The prices are much lower. Anyway, if one is unable to afford the A-65, why not the A-46? Realistically, the A-46 is a great amp, and I'd say it will please the vast majority of audiophiles out there. |
Dave, what I meant to say is that because the C-2420 & A-46 combo is a bit more expensive than a A-65 one might want to consider the second alternative if he/she has a single source, i.e. a cd player with a good volume control. Of course, the A-46 amp is a very good amp and it will please the vast majority of audio-files. Bvdiman, did you try to bypass your FM Acoustics pre-amp and feed the signal from the DC-900/DP-901 player directly into the the A-200 amps (the DC- 900/DP-901 has a built in volume control)? I am curious what the result would be as I am having a bit of a dilemma right now, i.e. sell my C-2410/A-45/DP-600 and get a DP-800/DP-801 or sell the A-45/C-2410 and get a better Accuphase preamp (e.g. C-2810 or C-2820). |
Nvp, I understand. I'm glad you agree on the A-46. I'm on the fence between that one and the A-65. I can only go by your comments here at the moment. I don't believe there's a dealer here in the US where you can compare both amps! It's a damn shame, really. So, I will have to rely on CES to listen to Accuphase equipment in general. As I've been doing for the last 4-5 years! |
Hi Dave, thanks! Not quite Nine yet, still on Seven creeping up ever so slowly at the moment.. ;P Nvp, As per your request which aroused my curiosity, on a whim I have just re-tried plugging the 900/901 direct to A-200s again (this time using Siltech Empress DC XLR as Ic), and A-B'd them for a bit. Although my immediate preference was still firmly with pre in chain, surprisingly realized that with good IC, the Accuphase combo direct to amp did managed damn fine sounding results too.. Hence can imagine how some would opt to run them this way forgoing pre's. If you are currently running single digital source only, in your position, I'd opt first for the 800/801 combo (but do check how much differ 800's output is from 900's), throw in the best Ic you could into your A-65 and I believe you are set. Will take one heck of an excellent/sota pre to beat that and not to mention the hefty $um involved. Further, you have, and still using the DG correction unit right? *Add in pre later, only when you happened upon a truly sota one at a truly good price. ;) |
Hi Dave, too bad you are not living close to Amsterdam. I'll be happy to demonstrate the A-65 vs. A-45 amps for you. :) Hi Bvdiman. Thanks for your answer. I am thinking quite seriously to buy a 801/800 but I will need to sell my A-45 and DP-600 first. I'll keep my C-2410 pre-amp for the time being, as I use quite often its balance control button. The 900/901 is certainly a no-go as here it is 2 times more expensive than the 801/800 combo. Regarding the DG-38 unit, I still use it. In fact, I can not recommend this unit enough. Its room correction function should be mandatory to any serious system. |
Hi Nvp, why thank you for the invite! I really would like to hear the differences. Here in the US, the A-65 is a whole $9k more than the A-46. So, I really am not able to afford it. If I get it from you know where, yes I would. Also, I don't believe there's a dealer over here where you can compare both amps! I don't get it, the importer wants all of this money, but there's hardly anywhere to audition! Except for CES, really. Imagine that! I will look into the DG-38 as well. Talk to you soon! |