Accuphase e-205 integrated amp for sale

[Accudazed]

Hi

For sale here are my Accuphase E-205 amp and owner's manual for sale. The price is £550 which includes double boxed shipping (tracked, signed for and insured).

Amp is in mint original condition and works perfectly thanks in no small part to Accuphase's fabulous build quality. Quality of soldering is first class, lots of relays, beautifully laid out circuit boards, switches that feel like they are made from granite, substantial heat sinks, high grade electronic components, thick aluminium fascia, thick paint, etc, etc.

Photos of my E-205 below were taken today (apologies for the variable picture quality - my poor old 'put put' Nikon Coolpix just couldn't handle a black coloured object in, it seems, both indoor and outdoor lighting conditions):

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Oh lordy, now lets see it 'naked'

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And here it is in my system where it sounds fabulous!

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The E-205 was Accuphase's 'entry' level amplifier back in the day (1985 - 1989). In its first year of sale it cost a not inconsiderable £780 which works out at around £2000 in today's money. Here is the amp's specification as provided by Accuphase:

Power output: 80 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo), 110 watts per channel into 4Ω, 40 watts per channel into 16Ω
[I]Accuphase tend to rate their amp's power outputs conservatively. The E-205 tested in the April 1986 edition of Stereoplay gave: 110 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo) and 160 watts per channel into 4Ω. This is not surprising as the amp contains a hefty transformer.

Features: In addition to five high-level inputs, there are 2 tape loops and phono MM & MC. A muting circuit, Adaptable MC 10 /30/ 100 ohms, balance adjuster, 2 switchable speaker pairs, subsonic filter, mono/stereo circuitry, TapeCopy loops in both directions, headphone output (superb by the way). BASS & TREBLE knob with insert frequencies 200/500Hz & 7/2 KHz. The speaker terminals are substantial too!

Frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz

Total harmonic distortion: 0.02 %

Damping factor: 100

Input sensitivity: 0.09mV (MC ) , 2.8mV (MM ) 90mV (line )

Signal to noise ratio: 68dB (MC ) , 85dB (MM) , 103dB (line )

Output: 90mV (line )

Speaker load impedance: 4Ω to 16Ω

Semiconductors : 66 x transistors 11 x IC , FET 24 x , 71 x diodes, 4x2 D1148 B863 power transistors, 2x22000μF Elna filter caps, Marcon, toroidal power transformer

Dimensions: 445 x 145 x 370mm

Weight: 14kg

How does it sound?
A bit subjective this one, but, if you are after a brash, bright amplifier then I think the E-205 is not for you. I could go on at length here but let's just say that it is a very neutral sounding amplifier that reveals masses of detail within a wide and depp soundstage. Classical music, rock, jazz, etc, etc. are effortlessly taken in their stride. It's pretty powerful too having no trouble driving my greedy B&W Matrix 1's (which gobble up 100 watts at pretty modest sound levels). It's only fault is that it does not have VU meters!!!

Only selling to fund an upgrade (to another Accuphase amp - I would not have anything else).

Thanks for looking.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Nice photos Steve!
This is a lot of amp. I think the reason we don't know them better here is because, at the time, the 'wisdom' had it that serious amps had to be pre/power units - if you had 7 or 800 quid to splurge on an amp, you just wouldn't consider an integrated model. The rest of the world knew better and of course we've now eventually discovered that to be a load of codswallop. The alternatives of the time were the Audiolab pre/power, the bottom rung Naim separates for £100 or so less and......well nothing really.

Good luck with the sale.

[walpurgis]

Lovely. A serious bit of kit. Rather tempted really.

[loosend]

Great solid driven powerhouse of an amp, something of a rarity these days to find in good nick. The Grand Wazoo may be right in what he says about people not completely in the know about these but for those of us that have had the pleasure of hearing Accuphase a lot over the years can attest to these being a truly awesome amp and something that was preferred by many to the big Krells and MF's of the time.

[Accudazed]

Thanks Chris, Geoff and Dan for your valued comments and best wishes!

Accuphase hifi is something of an enigma in this country. Few hifi fans have any experience of Accuphase's products yet in other parts of the world, e.g. Germany, Japan and the USA they are held in the highest esteem. Is it any wonder why there are 'issues' here though? Accuphase products are reviewed on average once a decade in the British hifi press. Yet, when you do finally get a review, the journo is invariably blown away by the product's build quality and, crucially, the sound quality. Even then, the magazines don't always shout about the results of their test in perhaps the way they would had it been a Naim or Linn product. Not convinced? In the September 1992 edition of Hifi News and Record Review right at the back of all the tested hifi is Trevor Butler's review of the Accuphase T-108 tuner. Despite Trevor concluding his review by stating "It is rare to find a highly exceptional sound quality combined with an excellent standard of design and mechanical construction plus near perfect lab results" the tuner does not even feature on that issue's cover. Clever suspense building or indicative of the way us Brits deal with Accuphase's products?

Rarely do you see Accuphase products discussed in any meaningful way on British hifi forums (AoS excepted) either. Even on the AoS Accuphase products have been referred to as something like 'all fur coat and no knickers' (but who wouldn't want to spend some time with a metaphorical woman like that...?)

I suppose Accuphase have not really helped themselves either. I mean, they don't exactly push for big sales volumes here do they?! Seen an Accuphase advert in the last decade or so? I suspect probably not. Perhaps Accuphase has written this country off as a volume sales market?

Whatever, is all this rambling and pseudo conspiracy theory babble worth it any way? I mean, so what? Well, I guess that most of us on this ere forum like to hear our music as near to how it was recorded (although we are always at the mercy of the recording studio's equipment and the producer's ears...) as is technically/financially possible. If you are gonna listen to music, it may as well be 'right' eh? I do like looking at my hifi but when the shit goes down, it is just a means to an end - 99% of my pleasure is derived from the music. Isn't it a shame then that one of the world's greatest hifi manufacturers - up their with the likes of Krell, Mark Levinson, Audio Research, etc. - is, probably, off 95% of the UK's hifi/music lover's radar.

Actually, the more I think about it, that is just plain crazy!

[istari_knight]

Its lovely kit, I owned a T-101 only for a couple of weeks but I've never forgotten it... Best of luck with the sale, I'd have been interested if I had the dosh.

[Ali Tait]

Aye, had a T-101 also. Great bit of kit.

[Hudz]

PM sent

[Accudazed]

PM sent

Thanks.

PM's sent.

Cheers

Steve

[Accudazed]

Aye, had a T-101 also. Great bit of kit.

By all accounts one of the best tuners ever, and, in some countries, already highly collectable.

WANT ONE!