Arcam FMJ A19

[Andy Madden]

Hi all,

just a quick update. The A19 is in the building and it's currently being reviewed - we'll have a full, exclusive review in the Feb issue of the magazine...

 

[ID.]

Thanks for that explanation drummerman. Interesting.

 

[drummerman]

Pleasure. For anyone interested in more than headlines, head over to DIY Audio.

Whilst a lot of it will go over many peoples heads, it is one of the better places to learn. There are very good minds there, debating all things hifi in a mostly objective way, backed up by technical reasoning/measurements. Quite a few of the contributors are electronics engineers and some of the creations have/will end up in commercially available designs.

If it makes anyone feel better, even they often can't agree on which way is best but it all adds to the diversity of this hobby of ours. Furthermore, most of them seem to live in cellars without windows and which look like a bomb just exploded.

regards

 

[paulsue38]

Well the wait is over and the Arcam has had a very positive review in this months edition of WHF. What did people make of the review? Clear improvement over the previous model it seems.

Small snippets on the second page of the review are interesting when they start to compare the 19 with Cyrus and Rega models. 'The Arcam's scale is unmatched the soundfield is larger and more open........... '

Best wiahes

Paul

 

[Rick1979]

I heard it paired with its matching cd (don't know which) driving some cm1's and it sounded very good. I bought the cm1 to pair with my alpha 10 and it was horrible and they had to go back. In the end I kept my rs6's, ditched the alpha and bought a brio r and WOW

Anyway, I think I can honestly say the new arcam gear ain't nothing like the old stuff.

 

[kev g]

hmmm...I wonder which would be better - an old Alpha 10, an A85 or the A19 ?

 

[radiorog]

i was really surprised with the review. I auditioned the A19 a few weeks ago, and immediately thought it was a very light sound, fairly cold, crisp yes, but way to light, lacking in any sense of authority. Maybe it was because of driving my dynaudios. Or maybe it was because the amp was literally straight out of the box...one hour run in. I only listened to it for 5 mins before i had decided it was not for me. the Brio r and the Audiolad 8200 and Quad elite were all much better. After reading the review though, i am tempted to ask dealer to run it in for a couple of days, and then i might reaudition, but i think my dyns just arent matched for it (going by the WHF review).

 

[plastic penguin]

Have to say I've never been impressed with Arcam/Dynaudio combination. Although not heard the A19, older Arcams were dreadful with Dyns. For some reason they just don't work together.

 

[Andrew Everard]

B&W moved production to China and their speakers don't sound half as good as they used to. Just saying.

Only some of the production. And drivers are still made in the UK and shipped out to the assembly plant in China for those speakers made there.

 

[bigblue235]

Have to say I've never been impressed with Arcam/Dynaudio combination. Although not heard the A19, older Arcams were dreadful with Dyns. For some reason they just don't work together.

PP, you don't half make some sweeping statements How can you justify saying Arcam and Dynaudio 'just don't work together' and that 'older Arcams were dreadful with Dyns'? 'Older Arcams', what, all of them?!

Maybe you don't like the result of that pairing, fair enough, but a quick Google leads me to plenty of other people who are happy with the combination. And the review which most people seem to use when listing A85s on ebay goes on about how well that amp worked with a pair of Contour 1.3s, despite their Current requirements.

Sorry if this seems a bit grumpy, it's not meant to be, but I think those sorts of comments could be a bit misleading to newbies who might take that opinion as gospel. There's a lot of stuff passed about as fact, but it's often just based on 'I read it on the net so it must be true, I'll pass it on'. In another thread someone advised a poster to get a P85 over a P90, presumably because the A85 received better reviews than the A90. But the P85 and P90 were the same thing according to Arcam.

I quite fancy a change, so I'm wondering if technology has moved on enough to make it worth changing my A85/CD192 for an A19 and Arcam DAC.

 

[plastic penguin]

Have to say I've never been impressed with Arcam/Dynaudio combination. Although not heard the A19, older Arcams were dreadful with Dyns. For some reason they just don't work together.

PP, you don't half make some sweeping statements How can you justify saying Arcam and Dynaudio 'just don't work together' and that 'older Arcams were dreadful with Dyns'? 'Older Arcams', what, all of them?!

Maybe you don't like the result of that pairing, fair enough, but a quick Google leads me to plenty of other people who are happy with the combination. And the review which most people seem to use when listing A85s on ebay goes on about how well that amp worked with a pair of Contour 1.3s, despite their Current requirements.

Sorry if this seems a bit grumpy, it's not meant to be, but I think those sorts of comments could be a bit misleading to newbies who might take that opinion as gospel. There's a lot of stuff passed about as fact, but it's often just based on 'I read it on the net so it must be true, I'll pass it on'. In another thread someone advised a poster to get a P85 over a P90, presumably because the A85 received better reviews than the A90. But the P85 and P90 were the same thing according to Arcam.

I quite fancy a change, so I'm wondering if technology has moved on enough to make it worth changing my A85/CD192 for an A19 and Arcam DAC.

Well, I heard the Dyn 52s with Arcam A80 and, to my ears, sounded flat compared to the A80 and Focals. The dealer, Audio-T, put that down to a lack of power, allied to a lack of pure current. Had no evidence to disagree. Unless the new A19 has bigger reserves of power than the older ranges, IMO, there could be better matches.

 

[bigblue235]

Well, I heard the Dyn 52s with Arcam A80 and, to my ears, sounded flat compared to the A80 and Focals. The dealer, Audio-T, put that down to a lack of power, allied to a lack of pure current. Had no evidence to disagree. Unless the new A19 has bigger reserves of power than the older ranges, IMO, there could be better matches.

So, by saying 'older Arcams were dreadful with Dyns' you meant "I didn't like the A80 with some Audience 52s"?

 

[paulsue38]

It sounds as if this Arcam amp is a significant improement. As mentioned earlier in the thread it was first tested at a Hi-Fi show with Dynaudio floorstanders and in the WHF review with ATC SCM 50 speakers. It will be interesting to see if the the rest of the range is updated. New Creeks out soon as well so an interesting battle emerging!

Paul