Conference hips::uk_audioo

    Sorry about .1 but I was using a 168 column window at the time, so here's
  an 80 column version.


                        -< The Acoustic Research A-04 >-



  [Is this really the first equipment review?  Dosen't anyone else buy new
   equipment?]
    

   The beast: Teledyne Acoustic Research A-04 integrated amplifier

   The spec: 40W per channel (a very conservative estimate)
             20A peak current delivery (need thick speaker cable!)
             tone controls with defeat switch
             mono switch
             skeaker mute switch (a 90dB cut in volume to allow you to answer
                                  the phone)
             inputs:
                    Tape, VCR, CD/Aux, Tuner, Phono (a selector is provided
                                                     for MC/MM)



   In use: I've only tried the tape and CD inputs so far (don't have a record
           deck!)

           In short this is not an amplifier for the OAP's. The basic sound 
           of this amp is very dynamic and forceful, suited to rock music best
           I suppose. The bass is very firm and goes very low but seems just a
           bit "lightweight" whilest the treble is just a bit wispy (adds a
           slight lispiness to the vocals, particularly if you listen to Aled
           Jones). The strengths of this amp is definately it's midrange and
           it's stereo soundstage.

           The above comments are very minor and in general it sounds great
           (that is when I can stop my house-mate playing Tina Turner on it)
           and in one of the Hi-Fi mags (can't remember which) the A-04 was
           described as just behind the class winner (ie Mission Cyrus I MkII)
           in terms of sound quality. Wires are doing the A-04 for #120 at the
           moment, a full #40 off the normal price, so it looks like a real
           good buy.

Steve. 

   

    Well, I'll tell you a story!  Many moons ago I was the owner of
    a rosewood cabinetted LUX L30 which served me well for about 10
    years (that was in the days when LUX were good!!).  The only problem
    I had with it was a few blown fuses when a 'friend' put his sound
    to light unit (his own undesign) on it with triacs going the wrong
    way round dumping mains almost straight into the speaker outputs!
    
    Eventually, probably as a result of the above the poor thing degraded.
    So having left the hifi scene I rejoined it wondering just what
    I would find.  Surely technology would have really improved things...
    
    Well, I was shocked!  Every amp I listened to (or was recommended
    to listen to by dealers and magazines) sounded the same to me!!!
    There was NO WAY I was going to buy something for X00 pounds that
    was no real improvement to what I had.  With horror in mind I almost
    decided to dig the soldering iron out of the cupboard, borrow an
    ossillyscope and sig generator and dive in to fix the old amp. 
    But then I started to really look and it was then I discovered the
    likes of NAIM, Musical Fidelity and other more esoteric amps.  These
    really are good!  Finally after driving what seemed like millions
    of miles between demo after demo - I decided!  For me within that
    price range there was only one choice which delivered an incredible
    soundstage with mega clarity (and all the other bull**y words which
    mean one likes it!!!)
    
    So I ended up with the Exposure VII preamp which is a little box
    with a volume control and input selector which is fed by a huge box
    called the Exposure IX monitor supply.  The output of the preamp
    goes to another huge box - the dual regulated version of the Exposure
    IV power unit.   
    
    I've had this system for one and a half years now and am still amazed
    whenever I put music on!!
    
    I don't recall the exact specifications of this system - perhaps I
    can look them up if anyone is interested - but it quite happily
    blew the fuse on a pair of magneplanars I borrowed (honest it was
    the owner who said pump up the volume so I did!!) - there really
    is PLENTY of power there for even the worst loads.
    
    Now I only need another 10 pay rises and I can afford to upgrade
    again.....!!!!!

    This follows on from 199.0 -
    
    Read about the wonders of this amp through the HIFI press (and this
    conference dear noters!) and had a demo @ B+B Hi-Fi, Reading. That was
    OK but I felt a little rushed when listening to different sources.
    Anyway....I am staggered at the sound produced by this amp. It has a
    clarity and vibrancy of which I'd never heard the like previously.
    For someone with years of using `tone' & filter controls it'll take a
    bit of getting used to going without them but to get the sound I do
    I'd say it's well worth it.
    I think there are only two (minor) nits:
    1) The amp is heavy (man) - requires consideration before placement
    2) There is no headphone socket - too much signal corruption involved
    if this feature were included, so Mission say.
    I can live with the above I'm sure. My Delta 70 was no budget amp but
    this knocks spots off it. Buy.

RE: .last

Funny that, when I was thinking about buying HiFi (1984-5), the Cyrus 1 was
my dream amp. In the end, I couldn't quite afford it, and I went for the
Yamaha instead.

I heard one 3 years ago, when I was buying speaker stands, with a Linn Axis,
and my Diamonds. To be honest, I preferred my REGA and the Yamaha.

Maybe the Cyrus has improved since then, but I'm not so sure.

Mark.

Before parting with your money on the Mission Cyrus, just check out what you can 
do with �200 worth of Music Fidelity B1.

Like the Cyrus it lacks/(gains from) having no tone controls but does boast a
headphone socket (but unfortunately accessable from the rear of the box).

It is definitely lighter in weight and is standard hi-fi width and depth.

Sounds...well...thats ok as well!!

Alex.

PS. I got mine from Reading Hi-Fi.

    
    I'm thinking about getting a new amp. to replace the old Cyrus I , and 
    had a couple on loan from Reading Hi-Fi over the weekend. These were
    the Exposure X and the Arcam Delta 90.
    
    The Exposure sounds quite similar in character to the Cyrus I, but a
    little warmer and more involving. It seemed particularly good at
    picking up vocal nuances, which you could then hear if you listened to
    the same track through another amp., but it was always the Exposure
    that made you notice them. In the long run, I couldn't live with it
    because of its idiosyncrasies. It thumps very badly when switched on
    and off, it picks up mains glitches unmercifully, and has a very high
    level of background hiss (too high to leave it permanently powered on).
    It is a completely no-frills design, and the controls are, frankly, a
    bit tacky.
    
    The Arcam is a different kettle of fish altogether. It has a number of
    features (tone controls, balance, two sets of speakers, headphone
    socket etc.). It produced more bass than the Exposure, and generally
    made a much "bigger" sound. However, the sound wasn't quite as open as
    the Exposure, and the top end was perhaps a touch brighter. In fact I
    preferred this amp in our system, as the added weight worked well with
    the Royd speakers.
    
    
    Trevor
    

Why not try the Exposure XV which is the updated X with some of the annoying
foibles corrected (like the power on thump) ? I've found their sound to be the
best I've heard from an integrated, nice MC phono...

Actually, I didn't think the X was still for sale ?

    
    The XV is a bit more expensive (600 vs. 450). I may give it a try
    later though, anyway.
    
    Trevor

    I have a set of Epos ES14 loudspeakers (see note 16.21), and I feel it
    is time that I replaced my Yamaha CA2010 amp. The Epos deserves a good
    amp with a reasonable amount of power. On my shortlist, I have got
    Acoustic Research A05, Arcam (several), Audiolab 8000 (integrated or
    separate pre & power) and Marantz PM80-like.
    
    I would like to have some feedback from owners of these amps, or of
    course ideas for alternatives, as long as they have a decent MC pre-amp
    and good CD sound.
    
    Jelle Kooi @APD (Apeldoorn, the Netherlands)
    

    Make sure you get an amp that can handle the unusual impedance curve of
    the ES14, it dips quite low at some frequencies.  That's not a problem,
    it just means you'll need an amp with good current driving ability.
    
    Certainly, Naim (possibly 250 minimum), Arcam (the powerful top end one) 
    and Audiolab.  Not sure about the A05 and PM80.  Any of the Audiolab
    kit is probably the most cost effective.

>>>    Certainly, Naim (possibly 250 minimum), Arcam (the powerful top end one) 
>>>    and Audiolab.  Not sure about the A05 and PM80.  Any of the Audiolab
>>>    kit is probably the most cost effective.
    
    The Arcam amp is the Delta 120 mkII, I've not heard it though it
    reviewed well recently in HFN.  It is able to pump out 25 amps peak,
    should have good speaker driving capability.  Costs �550.
    

    The Quest for the Holy Amp (to go with me beloved Epos ES14s)
    continues. I auditioned both the NAIM 72/140 (1250 pounds or so) and
    the new 92/90.2 (800 pounds) pre/power set-ups. CD player was a Pioneer
    PDS802, the cabling was all NAIM stuff. This set-up indeed appeared to
    be a very musical one, but swapping the CD player for other players had
    such a massive impact, that we decided to call it a day and continue as
    soon as this shop either had the Marantz CD10 or the new NAIM CD3 on
    stock, because the NAIM/EPOS simply deserve the best you can buy.
    
    In the UK, I happened to come across Son et Lumiere, a shop on
    Tottenham Court Road in London. They were just demoing the ES14 with
    top-of-the-bill NAIM stuff, the CDS CD player (over 3000 pounds), the
    NAC52 pre and two NAP135 mono power amps. Unfortunately the speakers
    hadn't been run-in yet, and they were used without the foam plug, so
    apart from the sheer amount of SOUND I can't comment on the musical
    capabilities of this system.
    
    Next stop will be Sugden and Meridian -- watch this note if you are
    interested.
    
    Jelle Kooi

    Jelle
    
    If you're still in the U.K., my Naim amps mentioned in note 9.102
    are still for sale.
    
    Pete

    Yesterday evening I visited a new hifi shop in town ("Transform" in
    Apeldoorn). It's a shop with guts since it stocks some brands that you
    don't come across that often in the Netherlands, such as Berendsen, Sugden,
    Classe, Meridian and Martin Logan.
    
    Goal was to find a suitable amp for my beloved Epos ES14 speakers.
    Set-up used for the demo consisted of Marantz CD12 CD transport and DAC
    and MIT cables.
    
    We started with the Sugden A48b integrated amp, which costs some 500
    pounds in the UK or 700 in the Netherlands. Overall sound was warm and
    gutsy. This set-up really asked for driving up the volume. Big fun,
    though not the last word in detail and imaging.
    
    Then we moved over to the Meridian 551 integrated amp, which costs some
    800 pounds. It is part of the all-new 500 series, with two CD players, a
    separate DAC and transport, a tuner, a pre- and a power amp and some AV
    gear. As compared to Sugden, the Meridian means a major step forward.
    Initially, overall impression was an amp that is too forward for the
    ES14, but by moving closer to the speakers, tonal balance turned out to
    be superb. In fact, we played disk after disk. Imaging was precise, "s"
    sounds were handled very well. Rated at 50 Watts/channel, you wouldn't
    expect such a solid sound.
    
    Just for the sake of curiosity, we then swapped the Meridian with
    separates from Classe, the model 30 pre-amp and the model 70 power amp.
    They cost some 1325 pounds each. The pre-amp comes with a "heavy metal"
    remote with just three knobs for volume up and down and for muting. If
    you are looking for a pre/power combo in the 2650 pounds price range,
    then you should really listen to this Canadian gear. Its sheer control
    and balance is phenomenal, and if I would have had the money, I would
    have returned home with both my speakers and this amp. Yet the Meridian
    came close, very close, and that says a lot about the Meridian's
    qualities.
    
    Jelle Kooi