2. amps-preamps
  3. 191754-343

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
bluethinker's avatar
bluethinker
177 posts
 

@ckr1969 - My ire was directed at the old distributor who I understood was steadfast in their pricing. Is there a new distributor? That is good news! 

jond's avatar
jond
5,794 posts
 

It makes sense that a preamp would sound better going up the chain but to me amps are a different cup of tea. Especially Class A amps so assuming you don't need the extra wattage it is entirely possible the A-48 will sound as good and possibly better than the A-80 or A-300.

toronto416 OP
224 posts
 

I think that as you move up from the A-48 to A-80 to A-300 amps you are getting more than just increasing power (45W, 65W, 125W), but also improved performance.  For example increasing damping factor (800, 1000, 1000) and signal-to-noise-ratio (117dB, 123dB, 130dB) impact sound quality.

 

westcoastaudiophile
300 posts
 

@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. 

dznutz
146 posts
 

A qualifier for anyone wanting to give an opinion should be actually having owned an A80 or A300 in a complete Accuphase system.  Im afraid you wont find that here.

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