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Accuphase amplifier choice

Hello All,

I have decided to upgrade my Parasound A21 amplifier looking for a more refined sound. The following are the amplifiers that I have in my mind:

Accuphase A-48s
Accuphase P-4600
Coda No. 8 (meterless)
Coda 16.0 (meterless)

Currently I am leaning largely to Accuphase. My dealer says that the Class A 48s will sound better with my ProAc D48R. But I am worried that I will lose dynamics since the Accuphase is only 50W into 8 Ohms. But it doubles all the way into 1 ohm.

The P-4600 is a higher wattage amp and I think it should be able to drive the D48R with ease because it doubles down to 2 ohm load. So I am not concerned with it's ability to drive the ProAcs.

I do have some feedback on the P-4600 from another thread here and appreciate it. But now looking for some comparisons.

Has anyone compared/experienced the Accuphase Vs Coda amplifiers? Any feedback is appreciated.

milpai
milpai's avatar
milpai OP
2,664 posts
 

@mclinnguy 

Yes, but I am currently more excited with my 2a3 amp. It brings a smile to my face when my walls are shaking from 2 watts, like a squad of F-16’s just flew over my roof. There are watts, and then there are watts. After knowing what my 4wpc amp can do 30 watts sounds huge!

I hope you realize that the specs are different for your loudspeakers Vs mine.

Is this something you have observed, or just going off of historical potentiometer-bearing pre amp religion? 

From my experience with the Rhumba (since Jan 2018), the volume between 7:30  to 10 o'clock positions sound very much "in your face". But once you cross 10 o'clock position, it sound a bit relaxed and natural. Andy did mention to me about the volume position too. But my experience has not been the same - at least in my system. YMMV.

 

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
1,077 posts
 

I hope you realize that the specs are different for your loudspeakers Vs mine.

yes, of course. I do have a set of Maggies which require a little more oomph also.

From my experience with the Rhumba (since Jan 2018), the volume between 7:30  to 10 o'clock positions sound very much "in your face". But once you cross 10 o'clock position, it sound a bit relaxed and natural. Andy did mention to me about the volume position too. But my experience has not been the same - at least in my system. YMMV.

Okay interesting. I will do some experimenting. 

jfrmusic
406 posts
 

@milpai 

Not sure I could tell exactly how long for the Amp to open up but I’d estimate about 300 hours. There was this point where I noticed everything was slightly more open and smoother. I also found that after many attempts borrowing power cables from the Cable Company I never found anything that sounded better than the stock cable supplied by Accuphase. And Accuphase documentation strongly discourages replacing the stock cable. 

milpai's avatar
milpai OP
2,664 posts
 

@jfrmusic 

Interesting experience about your power cord swapping. I am not using stock cord at the moment and switched the Cullen from the previous amplifier. But you are right - I did read the "specially highlighted" section in the Accuphase guide on power cords.

jfrmusic
406 posts
 

@milpai 

The Cullen was the first I tried among many others.  

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