jack667

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $600.00 from Ebay

Summary:
Having picked this up cheap on Ebay without hearing in the first place, I was worried about the quality of this amp. After reading other reviews and calming my nerves (ha!) I finally received it. It's a fairly heavy amp, weighing around 13kg's. The plastic front isn't to everyone's taste, and this was one of the few things I didn't like about the Alpha 10. When I got it over a year ago I had B&W 601 S3's and I was amazed by the sound coming from such small monitors, they truly sung at all volumes. Recently I upgraded my speakers to Monitor Audio Golf Ref 20's ($3000), followed by Chord speaker cable upgrade ($500) and I can safely say the Arcam really did shine through this set up. I was able to hear things I never heard in songs I had listened to hundreds of times. Overall, it's a fantastic amp, let down by the the plastic front, but this is a small flaw if you want a great sounding amp on on a budget. Recently upgraded to the Vincent SV238 integrated.

Strengths:
Warm nautral sound, great with vocals. Truly shines with rock, electronical and jazz music.

Weaknesses:
Treble hardens quickly at high volumes.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Brack Electronics

Summary:
Fantastic amp... tested a number of amp's in the same and above categories, from Rotel, Denon, Onkyo, and had it narrowed it down to the Rotel and the Arcam. With the main focus on Audio as opposed to HT and the Arcam won out, with the installation of D.A.V.E. Smooth and realistic reproduction of vocals and instrumentals in classical and Jazz music - warmth is the best description a combination I'm realizing more and more with my ML Ascents. I agree with many other posts that the front fascia could be more substantial, especially considering the price, instead of teh cheap plastic. I have not had any problems with the LED's, but then I keep them turned off at all times. Being rated at 100W per channel, was told that it seems to put out more than that.. closer to 110 as I was told. Currently the system consists of the Alpha 10 DAVE, Arcam MCD, Sony DVD, Rotel 1090 (200wx2), 2xRotel 991, Monster HTS 2500, Martin Logan Ascents, ML Cinema, various Monster and other interconnects. Extremely happy with the amp, when purchased at that time, HT was (as it still is I'm sure) going crazy with the various formats - and decided that a solid base of music reproduction will give more than adequate results in movie reproduction - so decided to stay away from the dedicated HT amp's and receivers - a choice I do not regret in the least bit.

Strengths:
warmth, bulletproof consistency and strength

Weaknesses:
weak looking fascia

Similar Products Used:
sony, rotel, onkyo

Price Paid:  $375.00 from Online

Summary:
I bought this amp simply on the strength of the Arcam brand name and recommendations from friends, I had never heard it before I bought it, and it didn't dissapoint. The first thing I noticed was its weight, it looks like a very lightweight amp, aluminium chassis etc, not much visible inside, but when you lift it you have to think to yourself "whoa, they make this thing out of lead?!" have another look inside and you realise nearly all of its 10kg (22pound) weight is its huge toroidal transformer, I dread re-wiring my system, it means I have to pick this thing up! The second thing I noticed, even when playing synthesized music is the massive resolution of the amp, every sound in (and probably out) of the audiable range was clear and precise, I was hearing bits of my favourite tracks I had never even noticed before! Then there is its sheer power, driving my Mission M74i speakers I never turn the volume above 3/4 for fear of shaking the house to the ground, the thuds of bass drums are incredible at this volume! I highly recommend this amp, they were discontinued in 2000 so are dirt cheap now but still sound better than brand new amps for 500 to 1000 GPB.

Strengths:
Well built and solid, massive dynamic range, wonderful stereo imaging, huge power.

Weaknesses:
Plastic facia, I had this item bubble-wrapped and boxed to move it around yet the plastic front cracked, its quite fragile around the edges. One minor gripe, even if you don't have the phono module installed the Aux/Phono input always shows up on the LCD as "Phono", I find this incredibly annoying as its actually by computer that goes through this input, not a turntable! Finally, you may never need to turn your home heating on again! This amp gets so hot I swear you could cook vegetables on it! Arcam claim the thermal cutout cuts in after 45mins at 13w, which worried me, but I've had this baby putting out well over 50 watts for hours without cutting out, did burn to the touch though!

Price Paid:  $900.00 from KJ

Summary:
Good solid performer. Seems to work OK with all types of music.

Now using Bi-Amped with Alpha 10p; Sounds even better!

As I've recently added the 10p, I've noticed that the control legends on the 10 Integrated have faded since I bought it. - Probably doesn't matter if you use the remote, but I may see what Arcam have to say about it...

I see no reason to get another amplifier for some years yet.

Strengths:
Power, ease of use, overall sound

Weaknesses:
Tacky exterior, legends hav faded

Similar Products Used:
Cyrus, Arcam 9's

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Singapore

Summary:
I've had the amp for about 6 months now and I must admit, it sounds really great. I'm driving a pair of B&W 602mkII with a classe cdp.3. It's sounds really excellent. Bass is excellent and depth is great. I can't find a better amp within the price range.

Strengths:
Power, modules, huge power supply.

Weaknesses:
Plastic front.

Similar Products Used:
HK 580