Integrated amp as power amp? questions on Accuphase C200 and P300

 

BXT
Anyone can help to answer my questions:

Whether an integrated amp can operate as a power amp when it is connected to a preamp?

Anyone can tell me experiences or comments for Accuphase C200 preamp and P300 power amp?

Thanks
 

Hawk
BXT:

1. Yes, an integrated amp can act solely as a power amp, but only if it has an "amplifier in" connection. I know such a connection is common on NAD and Kyocera integrated amps, but you will have to look on the back of your integrated amp to see if it has this connection. Not all do.

2. I know nothing of Accuphase--sorry.
 

G-Man
Accuphase mostly makes very over-priced tube amps, pre-amps, and other audio/video items.

Generally you get mediocre performance for dollar spent. They have amps from $5,000 to much higher (like $10,000) that are far outperformed in both reliability and power envelope by amps that are $1,000 to $3,000.

Same is true for their pre-amps and such.

Unless you get one as a gift I would avoid them like the plague. If I got one as a gift I would immediately sell it on ebay or audiogon.com

There are always some tube nuts around that are willing to spend 100 times more than what the product is worth.

The same is true for Conrad-Johnson products--total waste of money.

And who wants to be a slave to re-biasing tube products all the time and replacing those very expensive burnt out or malfunctioning tubes.
 

Black Math
Goto www.accuphase.com. I believe the components you are askling about were made in the early 70's they may or may not be tube. You may be able to get a great price on some classic gear. Keep in mind if they are tube, it may not be cheap to retube. The current Accuphase lineup appears to be solid state with emphasis on high-rez digital.

I cannot be so bold as calling Accuphase or Conrad Johnson components a "waste". Both companies have been around too long and have too high of a reputaion to put out crap...they wouldn't still be in business. Owning tube equipment is a high maintenance love affair. Not for me, but I have heard Conrad Johnson and Audio Reasearch tube equipment. It all sounded fantastic.
 

BXT
Thank you all
 

G-Man
The tube components of Conrad Johnson and Accuphase only have a good reputation among the Stereophile-type magazines, their followers, and the audio salons that sell this high-priced stuff--who naturally claim the product is great and can only be improved with their special $1,000 speaker wires and $1,000 interconnects--not to mention the special bricks they have to put on top of these compnents that just do wonders.

These non-engineers that write for these publications rely on the "golden ear" theory rather than science. And I am being generous. They are probably also mightily swayed by the selling of ad space and the symbiotic relationship they have with the audio salon owners.

My main point is that there are so many solid state equivalents to their products that perform as good or better at a fraction of the price that to the knowledgable person that is scientifically aware (sadly in audio there aren't a lot of them), they wouldn't waste their money on these items. I am not saying that there aren't Accuphase and Conrad Johnson products that don't perform perfectly fine. There just are too many other products that do as well or better and do it more reliably and cheaper. Much cheaper.

I am sure if you don't even strain yourself you can think of many products that have been around a long time and by financial ratings one would consider them successful, and yet in quality and price I doubt you would think they merit the longevity of existence or any financial success they have had.

Consider a brand of canned spaghetti in sauce that sells very well and costs more per pound than your own boiled spaghetti and sauce. Would you rather eat that glop in a can? Yet they have done well for years.

Isn't it odd that the high end audio magazines don't argue with measurements on tv monitors and video (and video takes far more area of your brain to decipher than audio) and these magazines generally support the video products that measure well. Somehow they just don't want to do this in audio. I wonder why?
 

Black Math
Scientists don't use personal opinions about products effect their Judgement, you appear to. Scientists don't compare a $2.59 Jar of Prego to an Accuphase amp, because is isn't a relevent. A more relevant aregment may be buying a Pontiac Vibe over a Toyota Matrix or a VW Pasat over an Audi A4.

BXT asked a question about an Accuphase combo. I would think that a person so concerned with scientific facts would research this combo and then state an opinion based upon your findings. You assumed that Accuphase only makes tube equipment (which is wrong) and it, like Conrad Johnson (who makes solid state as well) must be a waste of money. A better answer may be "I am not familiar with that equipment, I think it may be tube. I do not use tube equipment in my home setup. I find it too expensive for my liking".

You can visually measure Video...another bad argument. You can attempt calibrate a video component for color, sharpness, brightness, and contrast. You have standards to visually measure this. This is not the case for audio. There is no test to determine if a trumpet sounds like a trumpet should sound or if Elvis reproduced croon sounds like it did on that day Sam Phillips recorded it. I wish there were...
 

i have a question. I hooked my amp up and it worked for the first two days and then the 3rd day the amp will not turn on. i checked all my conections (rca wires remote speaker wire ground and 12volt and allthe fuses) there is nothing wrong there. can u help me out?
 

ryan piffer
you stupid guys,, i am talking about a car stereo amplifier ro power my speakers in da trunk of my car. i think im smart enough not to take of my tires to solve my problem. LOOK AT MY QUESTION ABOVE THIS BEFOR U GO EMAILING ME U STUPId guys *********in ***
 

ahh i knwo u guys dont like me butt my winsheild wipers just got stuck can u help me out?
 

mrwernet
Unregistered guest
I hope this isn't too late for what you are asking, but I have owned both the Accuphase C-200 & P-300 since January, 1978 and have loved both pieces of equipment. I needed a heavy hitter for my Ohm-F speakers that required a minimum of 150 watts of recommended headroom at 8 ohms to run them as the bass response was such that it showed a low impedance which looked like a dead-short to the amp. Most amps could not handle either Ohm-F's or A's without burning out the "Finals!"

As age has creeped in, I have had to get all the Pot's. cleaned on the C-200 & P-300; plus, replaced both filter caps in the P-300 twice (1st time=~1993 and 2nd time now=2/04). The Electrolytic Caps are hard to find and very expensive. (Avail. through Newark Electronics).

High Grade equipment; A++++
 

fleibzz
Unregistered guest
If you don't have a "direct in" on the power amp section of the integrated, you could go out the tape output of the preamp. This would bypass the volume control and the gain stage of the pre. This hook-up should prevent any impedence mismatch or overload problems. Accuphase is very high quality solid state equipment from Japan.
 

Jan Vigne
Unregistered guest
Tape out is normally a different output impedance than pre out. May make a difference and it may not depending on interconnects and power amp input impedance.
To mrwernet, you have Ohm F's? Wow, I am impressed. And I do mean that as a compliment. Neat speakers that love to eat amplifiers.
 

Unregistered guest
I have enjoyed both the C-200 and P-300 Accuphase (solid state) components as well as the latest (E-408) integrated amp, and have successfully powered any number of very difficult speaker loads with the old (1976) and the new components. I have dealt with other tube and solid state high end electronics but have never had anything that lasts longer and provides more consistent listening pleasure than the Accuphase products. As Mrwernet has stated, upkeep may be required and expensive, but it is worthwhile in an exceptional component. To my knowledge, Accuphase has never produced a single tube product... in the event g-man should receive any of the Accuphase (non-tube) components as a gift I would appreciate him giving me a call before he relegates them to the block on ebay or audiogon. No one who has heard my Accuphase system would ever make that mistake.
 

Mc_Xit
Unregistered guest
Yesterday I was at a pond shop in search for an integrated amp, I saw 2 nice ones and Im having trouble deciding which one I should go for. There is a very nice NAD one but it is only rated at 50 watts rms per channel. The other one was a large Kenwood integrated amp rated at about 200 watts rms per channel (much more expensive). But the thing was the NAD seemed to be keeping up just fine pushing a large pair of 3 ways and a subwoofer. Is this watt difference going to make a difference in the future if Im pushing a real powerful set of speakers?
 

Silver Member
Username: Sun_king

Leeds, West Yorkshire UK

Post Number: 149
Registered: Mar-04
I doubt the Kenwood is a true 200w per channel. Nad amps are well known for being modestly rated - the dynamic power of a Nad 50w amp will be over 100w into 8 ohms and over 200w into 2 ohms. I've yet to see a modern Nad amp that can't drive a large insensitive speaker well. Plus the Nad will sound better, which has got to be the bottom line.
 

Mc_Xit
Unregistered guest
Thanks buddy. Im going with the NAD.
 

Frait5
Unregistered guest
I'm driving two 10" 4 ohm Pioneer car subs off my Akai home receiver. Is this safe? Am I going to screw something up becasue they are car subs?
 

Frait5
Unregistered guest
I'm driving two 10" 4 ohm Pioneer car subs off my Akai home receiver. Is this safe? Am I going to screw something up becasue they are car subs?
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