Accuphase class A amps - going up the food chain from an A-48 to an A-80 or A-300?
Earlier this year I acquired Accuphase separates (C-2450 pre-amp, A-48 amp) and have been very happy with them.
We have a decent resale market in Canada for Accuphase products, and I was able to snag a C-2900 pre-amp at a good price this past weekend. We see mostly integrated amps on the resale market here, and current production separates are much harder to find.
The C-2900 sounds noticeably better than the C-2450, and it got me thinking about moving up from the "entry level" A-48 to either the mid-level A-80 or even the top of the line A-300 monoblocks (though size and expense are almost prohibitive).
Does anyone have any experience or advice about moving up from the A-48 to the A-80 or A-300 monoblocks?
BTW Accuphase pricing in Canada is significantly better than in the US - so much so that Canadian Accuphase dealers are not allowed to post prices online for fear of alerting US customers to how unfair pricing is in the US - and Canadian dealers are not allowed to ship to US customers.
@toronto416 damping factor increase for heavier SKUs - yes, S/N ratio - not. S/N ratio measured against highest power, thus the same or lil higher noise floor for heavy brother will show higher SNR. Damping factor increase over 200 will not benefit much system with long speaker cable, and high passive spkr crossover components ESR (low freq. driver ckt etc). For example: low freq. driver inductor ESR is in a range of 100..500mOhms, which introduces DF (damping factor) of 80 (if inductor ESR=100mOhms) limit even if amps is oo DF spec. |
You could actually buy a brand-new Accuphase Japanese model with a step-down transformer here in US with limited warranty and it can indeed be a cost-effective option (less than 50% listed price here). However, there is some concern regarding the potential impacts on sound quality. Using a step-down transformer might introduce minor electrical noise or interference, especially if the transformer isn’t top-notch quality, as transformers can sometimes cause slight hums or limit the amp’s full potential under certain conditions. That said, many audiophiles report negligible or even no noticeable impact, particularly when high-quality transformers designed for audio equipment are used. |
I have an Accuphase A48 and I must say it is quite an articulate and powerful amplifier. Build quality is impeccable. I love it. Going up the "food chain" to their more powerful Class-A or A/B amps or their integrated amps I don't think would get really notable performance improvements over their lower powered counterparts. I find it disturbing that the US importer has to mark these up so much. Getting a Japanese market unit with step-down transformer could be an option however why have to go through this when a more modest upcharge would most likely sell more of their great equipment. Also, there are many well regarded amplifiers and integrated's out there and personal taste prevails as to which is best. Pass Labs, Accuphase, Bryston, Coda, Sugden, and many more are all good, reliable products. |
