Hi Everyone,
I think it is fair to say that Arcam really are on it at the moment as we now have their new A49 Integrated Amp on demo and it really is something quite special.
We got it in last week but it wasn’t until Saturday that I had a chance to have a proper listen, once with a customer then later in the evening. I was always keen to listen to this amp at length as it uses a new type of amp design called Class G which Arcam promised would be something quite special and it appears that they weren’t wrong. Now I’m not that technical and to be honest it is the sound that matters but the beauty of Class G is that it gives you the first 50 watts as Pure Class A which always sounds natural and as soon as I powered it up I could hear that the A49 was something pretty special.
I was running it on the excellent PMC Twenty.23’s which I know extremely well and with the A49 driving them there really was a extra level of bass weight and control that sounded gorgeous and a fullness to the sound that just sounded right, it offers a very natural, effortless presentation that is hard to not be impressed with, this is an amp where you could listen for hours without any fatigue setting in.
In total it has 200 watts per channel, offers a MM phono stage and can power direct Arcam’s R Series of products so pair it with the irDAC or airDAC to add digital playback to it all powered from the A49.
Even better partner it with Arcam’s excellent D33 DAC to create something very special indeed, and with the UDP411 Universal Player just round the corner shortly followed by the C49/P49 Pre/Power Combo based on Glass G as well as some other exciting products from Arcam this year, it certainly looks like Arcam are going to be a big player in the 2 channel market again which is great news for everyone and needless to say that we will have it all on demo once available.
It is an exciting time at the moment for integrated amps as there is so much choice of really top end amps like Naim’s excellent SuperNait 2, Musical Fidelity’s new M6si or their storming M6500i, Devialet with their stylish highend amps, Bryston with the B135 SST2, or something quite different like the PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium valve amp, and now with the Arcam’s A49 joining the party there is now another top end offering that really does bring something quite different to the party.
If you’d like to book a demo of the A49 please get in touch, it is priced at £3750, please find more details below + a few pictures -
http://hifilounge.co.uk/arcam-a49-integrated-amplifier
Cheers,
Paul.