Arcam Releases New (And Classy) Amplifiers For Everybody
Their latest range comes in three different flavours – The A18, A28 and A38, which replace the A70, A90 and A32 models. To give you an idea on build quality, all three new models have a five year warranty.
There’s a full rundown on the A38’s features after the jump, but as I alluded to in the opening paragraph, the best thing about these new models is the price – the A18 is $1498, the A28 is $1998 and the A38 is $3498.While that’s still pricey for most people, it’s fairly cheap when compared to other high quality audio kit.
• 105wpc Integrated Current Feedback amplifier
• Ultra Stable thermal management
• Hermetically sealed input switching
• Ultra wide band power amplifier
• Studio grade electronic volume control
• Menu driven advanced control system
• “Mask of Silence” & Stealth Mat EMC damping
• SDS resonance damped chassis
• Optional MM/MC phono stage
• Eight page CR90 learning remote control
• Class leading sound qualityA38 Integrated Amplifier
With over 30 years of audiophile engineering experience, Arcam is one of the UK’s most
respected audio companies. The new A38 stereo integrated amplifier is the latest in a
long family line of award winning HiFi.
The A38 design team was given a simple goal; to develop the best performing stereo
amplifier Arcam had ever produced. Although a huge task, the team dug deep into the
basic structure of amplifier design and the result was a remarkable improvement in
fidelity.
An in-house research project yielded a wealth of information concerning the influences of
thermal conditions on power amplifier performance. As a result the A38 features a
number of new technologies which practically eliminate thermal modulation of audio
signals and ensure truly dynamic and enthralling reproduction. New Sanken output
devices and dramatically improved thermal coupling provide an extremely stable device
temperature resulting in much improved linearity.
The massive torroid based power supply delivers
effortless power with a new low noise topology
improving transient response. A new pre-amplifier
design, featuring hermetically sealed “reed”
relays from Arcam’s range topping C31 preamplifier;
deliver a wonderfully transparent signal
to each power amplifier. Reed relays offer
extremely low contact resistance and virtually
infinite life span. An all new volume control (Burr Brown PGA2320) gives unprecedented
linearity and noise performance allowing fine details to be reproduced in startling clarity.
The A38 replaces the A32 in the FMJ range and will be available in black or silver finish.
They’ll all be hitting shelves in mid-June, with similar-styled CD players to follow.
Comments
In my opinion they internally they are well put together, however there are a few problems with buttons, they have cheap “tact” switches which colapse if You tend to be heavy fingered, they also don’t 100% mute both channels when volume is totally down, and the volume knob is very weighty “heavy set” on the volume encoder “volume pot” they do suffer they either work or they don’t (same encoder types used in low end Sony products), Good things for this amp is that is has a pre in trim for each input which is a plus and seperated Pre-amp and Phono Pcb, otherwise very clean, well controlled sound.