ACCUPHASE E350
Hi,
For all of those who have been following my attempts to divorce myself from the Sugden Masterclass and I know some of you think I must be mad for even trying! I'm back to tell you I have finally found an amp I feel I will be happy with for quite a few years to come!
It may be a bit hasty, it only arrived yesterday, but I quickly realised I was listening to pure class! even though it's not Class A.
The E350 has recently been superceded by the E360 and I wasn't at all sure whether to hold tight and save like mad to be able to afford the newest model in the range, but for the price I have paid and the price I've got for the Sugden, it really wasn't such a great risk, in financial terms anyway. Also these amps rarely come up on the second hand market, so I knew I probably wouldn't get another chance to buy one of these at this price for along time, so just had to go for it.
At 47.6Lbs it's about 10Lbs heavier than the IA-4 and is beautifully machined with a champaine gold fascia and black bodywork.
The input selecter knob clunks firmly with every turn, the volume pot is as smooth as silk. In a concealed solid metal damped fold down flap there are a variety of dials... speaker selection, source recording and best of all, tone controls... these can be bypassed, but with these additions I am now able to tame that boom issue that I've been battling with for so long. It also has a superb built in headphone amp.
How does it sound? well as much as I respect the Sugden, I always felt, apart from the slight base issue, in my system, the music was a bit like looking at an old black and white photograph... this isn't to say the Accuphase colours the music, but it does have a much more lush textured SQ, with greater dynamics and really brings the best out of the Harbeths, having much more grip and control.
I did enjoy experimenting with isolation products and do believe they are a good solution in some systems, but I really don't think I will need to go down that route now... as for cables, I will still be looking to change the SC's and adding matching jumpers, but no urgency now.
Mac
Hi,
For all of those who have been following my attempts to divorce myself from the Sugden Masterclass and I know some of you think I must be mad for even trying! I'm back to tell you I have finally found an amp I feel I will be happy with for quite a few years to come!
It may be a bit hasty, it only arrived yesterday, but I quickly realised I was listening to pure class! even though it's not Class A.
The E350 has recently been superceded by the E360 and I wasn't at all sure whether to hold tight and save like mad to be able to afford the newest model in the range, but for the price I have paid and the price I've got for the Sugden, it really wasn't such a great risk, in financial terms anyway. Also these amps rarely come up on the second hand market, so I knew I probably wouldn't get another chance to buy one of these at this price for along time, so just had to go for it.
At 47.6Lbs it's about 10Lbs heavier than the IA-4 and is beautifully machined with a champaine gold fascia and black bodywork.
The input selecter knob clunks firmly with every turn, the volume pot is as smooth as silk. In a concealed solid metal damped fold down flap there are a variety of dials... speaker selection, source recording and best of all, tone controls... these can be bypassed, but with these additions I am now able to tame that boom issue that I've been battling with for so long. It also has a superb built in headphone amp.
How does it sound? well as much as I respect the Sugden, I always felt, apart from the slight base issue, in my system, the music was a bit like looking at an old black and white photograph... this isn't to say the Accuphase colours the music, but it does have a much more lush textured SQ, with greater dynamics and really brings the best out of the Harbeths, having much more grip and control.
I did enjoy experimenting with isolation products and do believe they are a good solution in some systems, but I really don't think I will need to go down that route now... as for cables, I will still be looking to change the SC's and adding matching jumpers, but no urgency now.
Mac
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