Acurus - What happened and why? long


After years on the hifi merry-go-round, I have had one hell of an education. You simply do NOT always get what you pay for. In an effort to make myself feel better about all of the money I've wasted over the years, I started to work my way back down through the chain, listening to less expensive equipment with each change.

In my searches, I found one brand in particular that was a seemingly ridiculous value -Acurus. While not terribly sexy to look at, Acurus equipment employed solid circuit topology. In stock form, their pieces were competetive or better than Adcom, Rotel, Parasound pieces at similar price points.

The real revelation, however, came after simple modifications to Acurus pieces. The RL-11, once modified, is free of what I feel was its main weakness: a slight touch of treble grain that held it back from truly stellar performance.

The DIA series of integrated amps were actually quite polite, but lacked that last bit of inner detail. A series of modifications opened them up to the extent that they could go head-to-head with big money separates.

The Acurus amplifiers could actually sound downright bright in some systems, but again, once modified, these (specifically the A100 and A200) were better than many of the big name amps that I have owned.

So it's obvious that these were well designed and reliable products, held back only by cheap parts (a necessary evil at their price points).

So why was the plug pulled? I have listened to numerous Aragon pieces. They are better than stock Acurus items, but fall short of modified Acurus amps and preamps. Was there ever any explanation for the discontinuation of the Acurus line?

Please note that I have owned Rowland, Krell, Threshold, Sonic Frontiers, etc. I'm not comparing performance to Arcam or Musical Fidelity.

Any thoughts?
128x128lneilb
It may be easier to get Acurus owners in one place for exchange of information. So here goes....

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acurusowners/

Enjoy!
I'd be very interested in Acurus DIA 100 MK2 mods (I've got one in the closet somewhere). It served me well before I went back to tubes.

There's a lot of Acurus stuff floating around and it should be relatively cheap to buy and modify if the results were worth the effort.
The mods list for each piece would take volumes to explain in these pages. But see my post above for basics. At some point I will attempt to map out the upgrade process.
The mods to the A series amplifiers include upgraded PS caps, rectification, and replacement of a number of caps, resistors and diodes on the boards. At least Acurus did a decent job with the power supply section, otherwise it might not be worthwhile.
I could be wrong, but the last time I chatted with a dealer ( sold ACURUS for years ) It was a finacial decision, and if I recall Mondial sold out? I think it was a case ( ACURUS ) of to many companies competing at this price point. I know there are tons of gear that sold for the ACURUS price. And of course most people bought what was availabe in their locality. I'm sure you have heard a dealer say: " This is the best I have heard at this price point " So most people who don't want to bother looking further believe and buy. After all, most items at a high-end dealer do sound better than what can be purchased at a BEST BUY store.

I agree, ACURUS was quite good for the dollar. I actually prefered it to ARAGON.

I too would be interested to know what modifications you made.
What kind of modifications did you do to achieve the stellar results you mention ?
Sometimes things just have a tendancy to run thier course.

Doc Martin shoes for one. Great shoes. they last forever. Now they have been sold to the chinese and unfortunatly they just arent the same quality or style. They were fantastic shoes and they sold alot. Now, Doc Martin is a name without the quality.

shit happens...