Arcam Diva A85 has no Personality, New Amp Needed!

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Anonymous

Guest
MUSICRAFT:APatel8:
I'm completely amazed. The Rotel RA-1062 sounds absolutely perfect! It's exactly what I wanted. The sound is more 'in your face' and the music has come to LIFE finally. At even very low volume the sound is brilliant, where as on the Arcam I had to keep pushing it higher to get some oomph. Very happy, and have ended up paying £50 less for this.

Also replaced the interconnect as I said earlier in the thread, now using chord chameleon silver plus.

I think I will also replaced my QED Silver Anniversary with Chord Odyssey 2 shortly!

Hi APatel8

I am pleased to read that you are also happy with the the RA-1062. The A85 is ok however there is a rightness about the RA-1062 which imo the A85 just does not have. Hence why in the 92 demos i did of the A85 versus the RA-1062, 90 of my clients chose the RA-1062 regardless of associated components used and in the process saved themselves some money.

The RA-1062's balance is very well judged without tipping over the edge and becoming bright.
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Btw, i will again suggest you consider using generic speaker cable as this will do the trick nicely with your RA-1062 and RS8 speakers.
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All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the recommendation, I owe you one!

What is this 'generic speaker cable' you talk of, and where can I get it. Would it give better results than what I have at present, and why? Sorry for the 100 questions - just haven't seen that type of cable recommended on here :)
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Old thread I know,but catching up and voicing it.

Arcam a85 with no personality!...I'm under the impression that's what every pro reviewer listens for in audio components,no personality,neutrality,transparency.

120 watts into 8 ohms,200 into 4 ,will drive fussy speaker loads...described by a few well respected reviewers as comparable to much more expensive knell and mark levinson amps...a bargain no brainer.

I use one,you mention hip pity hop pity and r'n'b etc and say not worthy,I listen to a lot of styles and genres of music,poorly and skilfully recorded and this amp does it all.

If you find this amp inadequate,it's either your source,your speakers,your cables or yourself or combination of all that's mistaken.

Regards
 

micthetic

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Oct 24, 2016
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Some people amaze me. An amplifier that has been universally lauded is now lacking 'character' If an amplifier is adding character to music then it isn't very good. As a famous Quad engineer said, an amplifier should be as near as damn it a straight wire with gain. The vitality, character, should be in the music.

A great amp is a great amp regardless of vintage. Let the sheep rush out and buy the latest and greatest, which invariably is a slight improvement on the previous model, while you sit with a grin on your face listening to your A85. If you're not smiling it isn't the A85's problem.

I recently had in my possession a Nait 5i (italic), a Rega Mira and a Arcam A85 all at the same time. Front end is a Schiit Bifrost feeding flac and wav files to a pair of Chord Odyssey'd Epos M12.2 on dedicated stands. In isolation all three amps performed well but the bottom end on the Nait was unruly and the PRAT factor over emphasised, the Mira was a tad less loose but overall well balanced and the A85 had the best low end grip and overall presentation was the most neutral.

I know its all about opinions and the net can be the worst place for people espousing them (like me lol) but its rare to be in that position and see first hand the'character' of amps side by side. I've had some fairly esoteric amps in the past, Exposure 6, 7 & 8, Naim 72, HiCap, 140 plus a myriad of integrateds (but not a Myriad) The ones i've kept for more than a week have tended to have grip and neutrality at their core.

Of the 3 integrateds i mentioned i could easily live with all 3 but pushed i'd go A85 with the Nait edging out the Mira by a neck.

Remember..source, amp then complimentary speakers, fine tuned with speaker cables and interconnects. Mains conditioners and cables are the preserve of the certifiable. IMO ;)
 

insider9

Well-known member
micthetic said:
Some people amaze me. An amplifier that has been universally lauded is now lacking 'character' If an amplifier is adding character to music then it isn't very good. As a famous Quad engineer said, an amplifier should be as near as damn it  a straight wire with gain. The vitality, character, should be in the music.

A great amp is a great amp regardless of vintage. Let the sheep rush out and buy the latest and greatest, which invariably is a slight improvement on the previous model, while you sit with a grin on your face listening to your A85. If you're not smiling it isn't the A85's problem.

I recently had in my possession a Nait 5i (italic), a Rega Mira and a Arcam A85 all at the same time. Front end is a Schiit Bifrost feeding flac and wav files to a pair of Chord Odyssey'd Epos M12.2 on dedicated stands. In isolation all three amps performed well but the bottom end on the Nait was unruly and the PRAT factor over emphasised, the Mira was a tad less loose but overall well balanced and the A85 had the best low end grip and overall presentation was the most neutral.

I know its all about opinions and the net can be the worst place for people espousing them (like me lol) but its rare to be in that position and see first hand the'character' of amps side by side. I've had some fairly esoteric amps in the past, Exposure 6, 7 & 8, Naim 72, HiCap, 140 plus a myriad of integrateds (but not a Myriad) The ones i've kept for more than a week have tended to have grip and neutrality at their core.

Of the 3 integrateds i mentioned i could easily live with all 3 but pushed i'd go A85 with the Nait edging out the Mira by a neck.

Remember..source, amp then complimentary speakers, fine tuned with speaker cables and interconnects. Mains conditioners and cables are the preserve of the certifiable. IMO ;)
Thanks for your opinion. I have also compared A85 against circa 10 different amps so far and kept Arcam.

Most recently I auditioned Roksan Kandy K3 and even if I was offered a straight swap at no cost I'd still keep Arcam. Actually, scratch that I'd get Roksan sell it, buy another A85 and be close to a £1,000 better off. I can understand different people like different things though.

And by the way this thread is a few years old now :)
 

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