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Arcam Amps Are Underpowered
HI
I USED TO OWN THE ARCAM A85 & P85 AMPS BUT SOLD THEM AS I JUST FELT THEY DIDN'T PRODUCE THAT BIG ENVELOPING SOUND THAT I DESIRED. THERE GOOD POINTS WERE GREAT DETAIL AND SPEED BUT WERE WEAK AND UNDERPOWERED. IN THE END I SOLD THEM AN BOUGHT THE MUSICAL FIDELITY A5cr PRE & A5cr PWR AMPS AND THESE ARE DIFINETLY FAR SUPERIOR.
WHAT DO OTHER OWNERS THINK OF THE ARCAM DIVA OR FMJ RANGE OF AMPLIFIERS?
CHEERS
JAZZ
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Well ...
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Originally Posted by Yasvanth
HI
I USED TO OWN THE ARCAM A85 & P85 AMPS BUT SOLD THEM AS I JUST FELT THEY DIDN'T PRODUCE THAT BIG ENVELOPING SOUND THAT I DESIRED. THERE GOOD POINTS WERE GREAT DETAIL AND SPEED BUT WERE WEAK AND UNDERPOWERED. IN THE END I SOLD THEM AN BOUGHT THE MUSICAL FIDELITY A5cr PRE & A5cr PWR AMPS AND THESE ARE DIFINETLY FAR SUPERIOR.
WHAT DO OTHER OWNERS THINK OF THE ARCAM DIVA OR FMJ RANGE OF AMPLIFIERS?
CHEERS
JAZZ
I have heard, (but never owned), Arcam and Musical Fidelity equipment on a number of occassions and was fairly impressed by both. To my knowledge, the MF A5cr is considerably more powerful than the A85, that is, you aren't really comparing apples to apples. So the power difference would entirely explain your prefernence for the MC and that doesn't condemn the Arcam at all.
As for me, I really like the Arcam equipment, especially the FMJ series, but it is a bit over-priced, IMO.
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LET GO OF YOUR CAP-LOCK KEY!!!
maybe you just have to powerfull speakers for those amps...
Greetings,
Bert.
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Hi Bert
Or just maybe my MF A5cr Pre & Pwr is just too powerful for my Kef Ref 1:2's. I do understand the other members opinion, on that you can't compare the Arcam A85 amp with MF A5cr due to differences in price and power range.
But I just feel that Arcam should try and beef up the power of the amps in both the Diva and FMJ range because even though there plus points are fantastic speed, detail, and excitement from ones music they do sound thin and lean compare to MF cheapest amp which is probably the A3.5.
What do you think?
All the best
Yas
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probably you have loads and loads of power reserve now...
and you've got a different preamp, which means the sound will automattically differ from your previous system, and the MF's are really powerful, with a very high current.
it's not so easy to add more power while keeping the disortion very low, also, maybe arcam doesn't want to beef them up, they make mid-priced amps and other gear, when they'd beef the power up, then they would have
A: an amp that is really good, but most people who bought arcam will find them ridiciously overpriced
or
B: an amp that haves loads of power, but sounds really bad because they had to stay in the mid-priced class...
in the first case, not so much people would buy the amps, because they cost alot to be arcam, and in the second case, they would need to take it up against brands like MF, and then they'd fail, which results in that not so much people would buy their top of the line stuff...
it's like a top of the line pioneer speaker, they make them, they cost alot of money (like 10k or so, yes, they make such ones), but you don't buy them, because you know there's better for the same price...
Greetings,
Bert.
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All the Arcam's I've used and the one amp I've owned had more power than the specs suggested, and certainly enough for all but the most demanding speakers.
They definitely aren't underpowered. Arcam is very honest with their specs.
Arcam isn't about the horsepower race to pump out high wattage. They're about refinement and quality. That's what you pay for. You might not like their sound (I sorta outgrew mine) but they have design philosophy that works for them, and they stick to it.
With today's reasonably efficient speakers, I'd take less power if the sound quality was up to snuff, and your room size and volume preferences were compatible. Arcam is one of the trusted name's in audio - no worries there.
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As...
Quote:
Originally Posted by basite
...maybe you just have to powerfull speakers for those amps...
...a point of order...speakers are not powerful, they have no power...they are transducers, not gain devices...They may have low sensitivity or otherwise place a difficult or demanding load on the amplifier to which they are connected and may require an amp with greater headroom...
jimHJJ(...FWIW...)
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I've heard both the Musical Fidelitys and the Arcams... And yes I prefer the sound of the MFs, but I can't agree with the statement that Arcam Amps are underpowered.
Despite the fact that we (critics and consumers) review products 'individually', music is not produced in isolation. Speakers, amp, pre-amp, source, cables and room acoustics all impact on the final sound that is produced....
My point is simply that the Arcams may not have had sufficient power to drive your speakers, to a specific volume in your listening room, but that does not mean that they are underpowered.
There is no magic number that dictates how powerful an amp should be. 5W per channel may be more than enough to produce deafening volume levels in a small room with highly efficient speakers, while 500W may barely be able to drive some of the power hungry inefficient speakers in medium to large rooms...
So, I'm sure that with the right speakers the Arcams would have more than adequate power.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Resident Loser
...a point of order...speakers are not powerful, they have no power...they are transducers, not gain devices...They may have low sensitivity or otherwise place a difficult or demanding load on the amplifier to which they are connected and may require an amp with greater headroom...
jimHJJ(...FWIW...)
thanks for the correction, my English isn't perfect yet,
so I didn't find the right expression/word, maybe 'power demanding' should have been better...
Keept them spinning,
Bert.
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