I’ve owned an E-50 integrated in the past. I really enjoyed it, although it was very dark in tone. Great for Jazz, however, I would not want that exact tonal signature now. I have a pretty high end system now with a Gryphon Essence Amp and Rockport speakers. I was running without a pre; Sound was pretty, very airy, transparent, good imaging, but not realistic and not overall pleasant. After comparing multiple tube and SS pres, settled on an Accuphase C3900. Frankly, you nailed its characteristics above, with the exception it has very potent and punchy bass. It added the right tonal weight to make instruments and voices more convincing and involving. Let us know how you feel about what you hear in person!
Accuphase Experiences
In my search for a new amp I recently a look at Accuphase. I’ve watch numerous demonstration videos to get a sense of their sound characteristics and I find them very appealing especially when directly compared to Luxman and MacIntosh. They tend to be on the slightly warm side of neutral with a very life like beautiful mid range, a smooth extended treble and a tight but not overwhelming bass. In fact bass is the only region where they are a light but not by much and only in comparison to other amps that excel in this range. But the area they excel for me is soundstage. It’s very wide and depth is very good but not like tubes. Also instrument separation is excellent . The whole presentation appears real and expansive. I liked it so much I’m going to drive 90 minutes to a dealer that has several models to demo. Hopefully next week. I really want to hear the P-4600 amp and the e4000 integrated.
So has anyone had any experiences with Accuphase? I would love to hear you opinions and experiences.