Ferenc Teremini: If sound quality counts Copland desereves better.If you want to judge Coplans staff´s attitude they deserve:0
Swedesh sindrome?

I would give this amplifier a solid rating of four (I'd be reluctant to give anything five, especially at this price level). I agree with some of the comments above that the sound can be somewhat "blended", however that is not necessarily a bad thing, and it seems to suit the particular characteristics of my Monitor Audio 705PMC speakers. The slight tendency of those speakers to have an "edge" at high volumes (presumably a result of the tweeter technology) has simply gone. While it's an obvious comment, it really depends on the rest of the system and if possible, I recommend that you audition one in context before parting with the money.
Now, the highs are transparent without having any nastiness to them. Midrange, especially vocals, seems to sound very natural with this combination. Overall, it has given the system an extremely "listenable" sound without sacrificing detail to any great degree. That's not to say that it is overly warm, like some products which make you suspect that they're trying to cover something up or seduce you with warmth at the expense of information. The Copland still presents everything before you, but not aggressively so. A very minor reservation about the bass exists, and it may not be as tight as some fully solid state designs, but it's a nice and solid nonetheless. Again, it's a question of context and appropriate matching.

This amplifier may not represent the last word in clinical detail, but if you buy one I bet you'll spend more time listening to your music than with some other competitors. The sound is just so "listenable" either soft or loud. You can assault yourself in sound at really high levels and not feel like you are getting a headache and need to turn it off!

In summary, match them with the right speakers and source and you will have a classy sound which will make you want to listen again and again.

Other Equipment :- Copland CDA-277
- Martin Logan Aerius i
- Nordost Red Dawn interconnect
- Symo LS5 speaker cable
- Audioquest BigFeet for CDA-277
- Kimber Acoustic power conditioner

I never give 5 star for the equipment as you may know from my reviews
of Martin Logan Aerius i and Copland CDA-277.
This is a perfect match for my Copland CDA-277 CD player. It sound
warm like tube yet also has solid state characteristic. This is a
good amplifier for those of you, like myself, who need a reasonable
powerful tube amplifier but can't afford it.
The only critics I have is that I hope they deliver more power. The
120 W/chn into 4 ohm is barely handle the Aerius i 4 ohm nominal (1.7
ohm at 20kHz). I also heard this integrated amplifier doesn't like a
high capacitance cable.
If you got an easy to drive speaker (4-8 ohm impedance) then you
should find the CSA-14 an excellent choice.

The Copland sounded rich and sweet on my system comprising of Mission 753 speakers, partnered with my Cyrus CD/DAC source, running Audioquest Midnight 3 and Audioquest Quartz 3 interconnects. One thing about the Copland amp, it lacks a bit of punch, but hey.. it's a transistor valve design. The yanks like the transistor design, the english like the more sweet and subtle sounds.. The Copland fits right in the middle of the two likes.. That is why it should suit all music types.. Running Jazz, classical and even Top 40 music.. A true bargain, with a big dose of true high fidelity.

Great bass,sweet clean highs,very good soundstage

nothing I've heard in a years listening

Reading the reviews between the CSA 14 and the CSA 28 made me smile. I was thinking of trading my CSA 14 for a CSA 28 because of the remote. The dealer wanted $1000 difference so I called Divergent Technologies in Kitchener who distributes Copland in North America. Tosh at Divergent told me that that was a lot of money to pay for a remote control. He told me that the only difference between the two was a remote and a little better phono. Other than this these are identical products. So when reading that someone thought the CSA 28 sounded better than the CSA 14 I have to chuckle.
This is a very fine Integrated and with upgraded Siemen tubes it sounds even better. The only change I will make in my system is a Copland 289 CD player to match my Totem Tabu speakers. With the 289 cd player and the rest of my system I will be hard pressed getting much better sound.

Similar Products Used:

Celeste 4070i,Sugden A21 and A25,Naim Nait 3,Nad,Bryston BP25&3BST

In the Copland gamma, the CSA-14 used to be a bit of a strandeanimal. Copland being a reputed manufacturer of tubed amplifers,
the '14 is a hybrid thing, all-solid state, but with a triode in
the driver stage. Further specs of this $1700 costing beast
are 70W in 8Ohms, 120W in 4Ohms, no tone controls, relay switched
inputs, MM phono preamp. Build quality is exemplary, while the
housing is, as we are used from Copland, very Cello-like in
appearance. A remote control equiped version was recently launched
at the Ramada 96 show, tagged the CSA-28.

And now, how does it sound? Frankly, I don't know. I tried it in my system,
but it didn't quite feel at home there. Here's the story: I have old Quad ESLs
(yes, those legendary electrostatics, still thought by many people to be the
best speakers ever), and I used to drive them with a lowly Cyrus One. But
with my work as a free-lance hifi scribbler proliferating, I needed better
amplification. A complete Michell set (sounds good, looks good drives
anything) was financially impossible, so I tried the Cyrus III as well as
the Copland. Initially, the CSA-14 was leagues ahead of the Cyrus, sounding
more neutral, dynamic and with very impressive bass from the Quad panels.
But then I noticed that the image was decidedly flat, and that piano sounds
could get hard and clangy. What was happening here? Probably the highly
reactive impedance of the Quads tore the Copland near to instability. With
about all other speakers it won't happen like this (compared to the ESL,
all other electrostats are easy loads), and so I believe that the Copland
indeed *can* be a very good amplifier. Anyone interested in a high class
integrated to be used with neutral-sounding boxes or planar magnetics
should give it a try.

And me? I ended up with a Quad 34/306 set. Simply because they give me
the best overall sound quality for the money.

Don't pay too much attention to the star rating, given the peculiar circumstances...

I was very impressed by one characteristic of the Copland hybrid: it did a wonderful job of revealing the dynamics of individual instrument lines.
For example, in the jazz CD I listened to, each note of the sax had its own distinct characters, and each organ shot sounded different.

However, it seemed to have a hard time maintaining clarity, and the timbre of individual sections during orchestral passages.

It's almost as if it 'blended' the sound a bit too much.

Although I'll carry the sound it produced from the jazz CD around for a while in my head, I've decided to keep looking at other integrated amps.

--
Steve Ranta