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Do you stream hi-res music or download hi-res tracks? We want your opinions!
plastic penguin
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Beautifully built, solid as a rock and maintained in pristine condition.
Sound wise these are my initial impressions. I believe this amp has been well run-in, the guy was using this constantly until he upgraded to a Quad pre and power combination. It doesn't seem to let my wonderful Triangles sing at their very best and sparkle like I know them. Voices do not sound as present and well... creamy as the Denon, I can't think of a better word. Sound stage may be a bit wider, but separation I think is not as good (not sure, have to listen more, different again to the Denon), bass digs perhaps a little deeper but punch is not as... punchy (oh dear, running out of good words) but overall I can hear, or think I can hear, more power. Playing softly this morning sounding quite nice. It offers an inviting and warm presentation, it's different to the Denon.... needs more time.
nopiano
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Much as I feared when I said I’d rather have your existing Denon. Sorry to sound like “I told you so”, but on this occasion I did!
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plastic penguin
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Interesting. I can only guess the Arcam isn't as dynamic as the Denon.
This is where my logic falls short: not heard the A29, Triangles or the Denon.
All I do know is hi-fi, regardless of brands and price, is a compromise.
To better the Denon I guess you'd have to go further up the chain to something like the A39 or Leema Pulse
You didn't tell me that. You told me like everyone else on here that the Arcam A29 should not be trusted as it had issues around reliability. I went for it as I found a very well looked after example from a seller I deemed to be very trust worthy, who said he'd had a minor problem with it in 2018 and no problem since then. As for its sound, well I'll give a full evaluation later.
Al ears
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Probably all to do with that reliability issues of the A29.....
plastic penguin
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It's because hi-fi is not an exact science. I don't always agree the more you spend is better, in the case of the A39 it's a cracking amp. Along with amps I am familiar with such as the Roksan Caspian M1 & 2, Naim XS and even my Leema, they are (or should be) a step up from the A29.
I love Arcam amps, one of my fav budget amps is still the A65 Plus. For some reason the A29 seems to be runt of the pack
I bought a new Arcam A39 and CDS27 several years ago and then quickly realised the future was streaming and digital, when the first Uniti Atom appeared. I left them unopened and got a great trade in deal, when I bought my Audiolab Omnia. The A39 was Class A for the first 20W and then the remaining 100W at Class G. I never got to hear it, but I'm glad I never used it. It was HUGE and really heavy and had no digital inputs. I don't see the point these days. I'd never consider anything like this now and I think the future will be light, efficient Class D streaming amps. I know they get some people excited, but having a Class A lump, using as much juice as a slow cooker, when on standby, just seems absurd to me. Seeing pictures of the old A39 and then looking at the new NAD C700 streamer, for example, just confirms how impractical and out of date the Arcam was.
Gonepostal
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I had the original Quad Vena which I liked, I just felt I needed a little more power for when I turned the volume up.
Hang on, I didn't say that either! A lot of posts aren't getting read properly around here. I commented on its build quality, my perception of the reliability issues (admittedly I'm taking a risk judging from the experiences of some owners), the trust-worthiness of the seller and my initial impressions of the sound quality. I've still yet to evaluate it completely.
nopiano
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I refer my learned friend to post #5. True, however, that my first recollection was about the dodgy relay issues. (You may well adjust to the mellower British sound).
Whato what what
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You've taken my reply wrong and been fairly rude in your response.
Good luck mate. I've now deleted my responses and I won't comment further on your stream. All the best with your Arcam.
Yes, like you I'm not convinced about this whole Class G is the answer thing. Actually, listening to this side with the Denon (50 wpc into 8 ohms, 85 into 4), if you didn't know you'd be hard pressed to say which is the more powerful amplifier.
The A65 and others in this series can be found used for ridiculously low prices. The guy I bought the A29 from had a DAB tuner from this era I think and it was very nice.
plastic penguin
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Having heard the A39 I'm not sure what Class G actually brings to the party. Other than perhaps the bass is slightly tighter than older DIVA range. To me it still has the typical Arcam presentation.
One thing I will say is Arcams in general are slow burners. It may take a couple of weeks before you notice an appreciative improvement.
Al ears
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Personally I feel the only good thing about Class G is the first 20 watts that are Class A.....
That and the fact it can normally double it's output into 4 ohms, but I have never needed that facility.
plastic penguin
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Al ears
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plastic penguin
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Think I know the answer already, Rob, but would be interested to hear whether the Arcam is a keeper. Obviously a new sound takes some time to adjust to and you might end up liking it... but then again maybe not 🙂
As a side-note I guess the attenuators didn't work for you on the Denon?
As a side-note I guess the attenuators didn't work for you on the Denon?
Hi Wayne, no I think they did work for me. The volume control is more manageable now certainly. Right now I'm not using them because I'm comparing the Denon and the Arcam and the Arcam does not have nearly as much gain as the Denon, so if I used these with the Arcam (they are fitted to my source: ifi Zen One sig) I would have to turn the volume right up on the latter. As for "is it a keeper?", well it's interesting, some sessions I've really enjoyed the sound, and recently I haven't been able to do much listening, but I still think I'm getting more out of the Denon. Good fun comparing though. I'll do a kind of full evaluation soon.
So I've been sitting down with the fmj A29 and giving it a good listen before I say goodbye to it. What I said in my initial impressions above and my general feelings about it haven't really changed.
Perhaps one thing that has become more emphasized in my mind about it is that it is a refined sounding amplifier, it's never going to sound harsh. But in its effort to sound so refined it kind of fails because it ends up just sounding safe most of the time. It does have detail, in fact it probably reveals more detail than the Denon but the impression it gives is more "listen to the pretty detail in this part of the song" rather than giving you the coherent sense of the song as a whole and letting you see how the detail goes into constructing that song, if that makes sense. Anyway, the Denon kind of does the opposite: this amp is not at the level to give you layers and layers of detail but boy are you going to get the general picture of the music and you're going to have fun when you're doing it!
The sense of performance in the music sort of gets lost with the Arcam. With Richard Hawley's magnificent Open Up Your Door the music builds to a crescendo as it should but doesn't take you up a mountain to see the sunlit uplands at the climax of the song the way the Denon does. Bass is deeper and richer on A29 and it should be with 80 wpc into 8 ohms and 140 into 4. Impact though is less impressive, at least with my Triangle speakers. The guy who sold it to me was running MA Gold 100 and they sounded like a better match than my Triangles. Quite a different sound to my set up and very happy playing the jazz that he was demoing the amp for me. And lastly, it doesn't do the magic thing with the voices the way my Denon/Triangle combination does: Lana Del Rey, Dionne Warwick, Astrud Gilberto all the stuff of goosebumps!
It was weird selling it on the Bay. I got loads of watchers, emphasized that it was in pristine condition with all the packaging and told several people that it had one minor fault in 2018 but had behaved faultlessly since then. I thought it might fetch £450 even £500 but with 10 minutes to go it was on £215. One minute 215, 20 seconds still 215, 10 secs same, 1 sec 215... then when the winning bid came up it was £360! Phew... £20 more than I paid for it.
Perhaps one thing that has become more emphasized in my mind about it is that it is a refined sounding amplifier, it's never going to sound harsh. But in its effort to sound so refined it kind of fails because it ends up just sounding safe most of the time. It does have detail, in fact it probably reveals more detail than the Denon but the impression it gives is more "listen to the pretty detail in this part of the song" rather than giving you the coherent sense of the song as a whole and letting you see how the detail goes into constructing that song, if that makes sense. Anyway, the Denon kind of does the opposite: this amp is not at the level to give you layers and layers of detail but boy are you going to get the general picture of the music and you're going to have fun when you're doing it!
The sense of performance in the music sort of gets lost with the Arcam. With Richard Hawley's magnificent Open Up Your Door the music builds to a crescendo as it should but doesn't take you up a mountain to see the sunlit uplands at the climax of the song the way the Denon does. Bass is deeper and richer on A29 and it should be with 80 wpc into 8 ohms and 140 into 4. Impact though is less impressive, at least with my Triangle speakers. The guy who sold it to me was running MA Gold 100 and they sounded like a better match than my Triangles. Quite a different sound to my set up and very happy playing the jazz that he was demoing the amp for me. And lastly, it doesn't do the magic thing with the voices the way my Denon/Triangle combination does: Lana Del Rey, Dionne Warwick, Astrud Gilberto all the stuff of goosebumps!
It was weird selling it on the Bay. I got loads of watchers, emphasized that it was in pristine condition with all the packaging and told several people that it had one minor fault in 2018 but had behaved faultlessly since then. I thought it might fetch £450 even £500 but with 10 minutes to go it was on £215. One minute 215, 20 seconds still 215, 10 secs same, 1 sec 215... then when the winning bid came up it was £360! Phew... £20 more than I paid for it.
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nopiano
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I’m delighted your experiment didn’t cost you.
Though I have heard various Arcam, Audiolab, Quad and the like over the decades sounding good, the over-arching impression I have is that most of these ‘classic‘ British amps are boring. There, I’ve said it!
There is probably a good match to be had - like the guy you got yours from - but I am not convinced they are as ‘universal’ a solution as the likes of Marantz or Denon or maybe NAD. And I confess my dislike goes back to the 1970s when Quad and Armstrong (for example) didn’t seem so energetic as Sansui or Harman/kardon. I’d like to hear a Quad Artera though!
Though I have heard various Arcam, Audiolab, Quad and the like over the decades sounding good, the over-arching impression I have is that most of these ‘classic‘ British amps are boring. There, I’ve said it!
There is probably a good match to be had - like the guy you got yours from - but I am not convinced they are as ‘universal’ a solution as the likes of Marantz or Denon or maybe NAD. And I confess my dislike goes back to the 1970s when Quad and Armstrong (for example) didn’t seem so energetic as Sansui or Harman/kardon. I’d like to hear a Quad Artera though!
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