Something livelier than an Arcam A19?

[Mr Neds]

I think this is my first proper post, though I’ve been a member for a while. 2021 will be my year to start joining in more? As above, any suggestions? I’ve been loaned a Simaudio Moon i -5 over Christmas, which is lovely, but probably not for sale. Ideally something with a phono stage and used, please!

[hifinutt]

Great to have you , may I suggest the a39

[Lawrence001]

May I humbly suggest you avoid Arcam? Having tried the A32 and SR250 (very similar to A39) over the last year or two, after owning both the Alpha 8/8P and 9/9P in the past, I can say from personal experience, if you don't enjoy the house sound then move on to another brand.

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[Mr Neds]

Ha ha! I open my first thread here and the first replies I get are from two Wammers! I posted this on the Wam a while back, so I thought I’d try a new audience, forgetting the large overlap. Thank you both anyway 😉

[walpurgis]

You didn't mention your budget or whether you want new or second-hand or either. How much power you need and speaker sensitivity would be useful.

[struth]

i wouldnt call the a class arcams lively.. good amps but not lively.. maybe a budget and new or used etc will help

[Mr Neds]

Yes, I did say used! Budget around £500, speakers are Dynaudio Emit 20. I’m not a loud listener, so mega power not needed, although I have to take into consideration the Dyns 4 ohm load

[struth]

missed that bit :D yes 4 ohm nominal but dont seem to go below that figure so anything 30/40 watts up i'd say, ss or valve would be fine. the quad vena amps etc are an option, but only if you want their very good dac too.

[Mr Neds]

I like the look of the Vena, though Quad always makes me stroke an imaginary beard. Never heard one, mind! No, I don’t need another dac, but I could always sell my Beresford SEG if the Quad one is Decent?

[walpurgis]

Quad amps are well liked here.

[Mr Neds]

Currently watching the two Sonneteers on eBay, Campion and Alabaster, as I’ve always fancied one,but I suspect they may be in the polite sound arena. Also considered a Cambridge 840a, but I imagine that will have the hard edge that seems to be the Cambridge way

[hifinutt]

Ha ha! I open my first thread here and the first replies I get are from two Wammers! I posted this on the Wam a while back, so I thought I’d try a new audience, forgetting the large overlap. Thank you both anyway 😉

ha we get everywhere !!!! :lol:

[hifinutt]

Currently watching the two Sonneteers on eBay, Campion and Alabaster, as I’ve always fancied one,but I suspect they may be in the polite sound arena. Also considered a Cambridge 840a, but I imagine that will have the hard edge that seems to be the Cambridge way

last cambridge system i heard was superb, they seem to be highly favoured

[struth]

I like the look of the Vena, though Quad always makes me stroke an imaginary beard. Never heard one, mind! No, I don’t need another dac, but I could always sell my Beresford SEG if the Quad one is Decent?

yes its a good dac when it breaks in.. like amp it takes a little while to sing. was the vena 2 i had. it has the phono stage.. they do a play version too that streams

[Lawrence001]

Currently watching the two Sonneteers on eBay, Campion and Alabaster, as I’ve always fancied one,but I suspect they may be in the polite sound arena. Also considered a Cambridge 840a, but I imagine that will have the hard edge that seems to be the Cambridge way

I recently bought an 840A v2 (apparently much cleaner treble than the v1) but unfortunately the balanced switch on the back snapped off in transit so it's with RS for a new one. When I get it back I'll report back with my findings. It might be up for sale at some point depending on whether it suits my speakers.

One thing I did notice it weighs a ton and has the biggest transformer I've seen in an amp.

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[hifinutt]

May I humbly suggest you avoid Arcam? Having tried the A32 and SR250 (very similar to A39) over the last year or two, after owning both the Alpha 8/8P and 9/9P in the past, I can say from personal experience, if you don't enjoy the house sound then move on to another brand.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

its interesting to see myself and lawrences various experiences . I had not had any arcam for many years then a chap on the wam with hearing trouble had a arcam a75 for sale and found it was one of the only amps he could cope with and liked the sound . At the time i had my horns and the room was pretty bright and they were toed full in . Many many amps have been with these horns , the best being silbatone which was superb , but i havnt got 10k at the moment !!

then popped the a75 in and it really had a mellow and rather lovely sound , one of the AOS chaps heard it and was rather taken .[ this is using a jolida dac ]

but i have no doubt if i pop this amp into my tannoys [ legacy eaton] that it will not sound that good . maybe a bit weak perhaps . they seem to thrive on Sugden or thrax or class D

. however with the 93db horns the arcam sounds mighty good !

[Lawrence001]

its interesting to see myself and lawrences various experiences . I had not had any arcam for many years then a chap on the wam with hearing trouble had a arcam a75 for sale and found it was one of the only amps he could cope with and liked the sound . At the time i had my horns and the room was pretty bright and they were toed full in . Many many amps have been with these horns , the best being silbatone which was superb , but i havnt got 10k at the moment !!

then popped the a75 in and it really had a mellow and rather lovely sound , one of the AOS chaps heard it and was rather taken .[ this is using a jolida dac ]

but i have no doubt if i pop this amp into my tannoys [ legacy eaton] that it will not sound that good . maybe a bit weak perhaps . they seem to thrive on Sugden or thrax or class D

. however with the 93db horns the arcam sounds mighty good !Yes I can see the synergy between the tonality of an Arcam amp and "proper" horns. The one thing that I would be concerned about is that I always found Arcam to have an inherent solid state grain to the sound. It's not immediately apparent but it's always subtly there for me. I would suspect that horns would expose this more than any other speaker except perhaps electrostatics.

Having said that I may be particularly sensitive to it as I haven't seen it widely reported.

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[Mr Neds]

Wow Lawrence, how many boxes do you get through in a year?? There always seems to be a lot of coming and going at Lawrence Towers! Yes,I’d be interested in your thoughts on the Cambridge - they seem to be good value

[Mr Neds]

I don’t seem to be getting email notification of all replies- I did for the first few. Anyone know why?

[struth]

I don’t seem to be getting email notification of all replies- I did for the first few. Anyone know why?

you should get one, then you have to sign in to show youve seem that email. then any new one can come to you.

[Mr Neds]

Hmmmm, I had to re log in for this reply, but not for the ones I missed?

[struth]

yes you only get one email per thread at a time. once youve been back on site it is reset, and so on it goes.. obviously you have to select instant email as well..:)

[Mr Neds]

Ok, seems fine now. Didn’t know about instant email. I’ll try to find that setting. Cheers!

[Lawrence001]

Wow Lawrence, how many boxes do you get through in a year?? There always seems to be a lot of coming and going at Lawrence Towers! Yes,I’d be interested in your thoughts on the Cambridge - they seem to be good valueHa I have to admit it's quite a few. I go through phases, for most of the last 10 years I was getting through a different pair of speakers every month or two. As I started to settle in a particular direction that suited me (ie keeping them for more like 3 months at a time!) I started to play with DACs instead. As that's settled down as well (about 2 months ago!) I've started working my way through amps to match my Amphion speakers.

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[hifinutt]

if i remember they were one of the biggest bargains of 2020 !!!! enjoy !

[JohnJo]

Audiolab 6000A will retain a bit of the Arcam sound but with a bit more life and verve, for even more get up and go (fun) try a Rega Elex-R.

[Mr Neds]

Audiolab 6000A will retain a bit of the Arcam sound but with a bit more life and verve, for even more get up and go (fun) try a Rega Elex-R.
Both of these were on my list, but no way of hearing them. I’ve got an 8000a, but it’s getting a bit creaky now. The Elex r was used for the Techradar review of the Dyns, so seems like a good shout

[Mr Neds]

Decided on the flavour change option. I seem to be in a minority that prefers silver to black, so got a Creek Evolution 50a for £329 on the Bay. No phono stage, but includes the tuner module, which I don’t really want! Any views on the Sequel phono stage as opposed to an outboard?