Chinese fake Accuphase A-65

restorer-john

Addicted Member
I'm going to say it. Faking, copying, or making replicas of HiFi equipment is disgusting.

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Anyone who buys this crap deserves to have it confiscated and destroyed by customs as it enters the country.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/YAY...4.0&pvid=42d0231b-ba65-46e8-aff9-736c1c0e831b

My favorite part of this piece of junk: one bridge rectifier for 400,000uF of capacitance, +/- rails funnelled up a bunch of chrome plated brass standoffs all screwed together haphazardly and single screwed to the PCB.

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No electrical approvals, no CE/UL approvals, nothing. Importing this sort of non-approved junk (and there's a lot of it) should be a serious crime.

It's a fire waiting to happen.
 
I wonder what happens if your house catches fire because of a non approved piece of gear. You know if the fire started with the amp the inspectors would want to talk to the manufacturer so it wouldn't take them long to find out what the deal is with it.
I suppose it would be a similar scenario if you burned your house down with a home built amp.
 
Like most of the new Smart Meters forced upon those using the electric grid .....
NO U.L. LISTING and many have caught on fire..
Google it , there are many videos on YouTube

U.L. Underwriters Laboratories listing is a must for insurance to cover your loss.
 
U.L. Underwriters Laboratories listing is a must for insurance to cover your loss

I'm sure there would be an equivalent in most countries. Non-approved grey market imports of non-compliant hifi gear will be a problem, especially as this type of gear is left on, sometimes permanently powered up 24/7.

I wouldn't touch this gear with a 10ft barge pole and if anyone brings it to me to 'repair' I'll be sending it, and them, away.
 
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the seller stated it is a DIY copy trying to match the original parameters. who is going to have it approved anyway?
 
the seller stated it is a DIY copy trying to match the original parameters. who is going to have it approved anyway?

With respect, their operation is a commercial one, look at the amount of component stock they are holding. It is offered for sale on the international marketplace that is Aliexpress complete with freight to any country in you might name.

Once a so-called DIYer starts volume manufacturing and retailing their products, they are subject to any and all safety regulations in markets they sell their products into.

Does it not bother you that the legendary Accuphase brand, logo and legacy are being tarnished in such a way?
 
John,
I'm with you for 99% of this.
It doesn't bother me a knock off company is going to tarnish Accuphase. Accuphase didn't make these .
I suspect if there are IP things to prosecute, they will.(I understand it's difficult to pursue in china)
If one is so naive to buy one and think they're getting the real deal, well, you get what you pay for.
Old adage,
"If it sounds too good to be true, it is"
Or
"You can't beat an honest man"
 
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Does it not bother you that the legendary Accuphase brand, logo and legacy are being tarnished in such a way?
Copying the Accuphase branding is highly questionable.

Copying circuits and mechanical designs has a long history, in everything from automobiles (Toyota started in the 1930's by virtually cloning Chevy engines and Ford chassis, and the Chinese make modern copies of Porsche vehicles) to computers (the original IBM PC and its clones, and mainframes like Amdahl's 470/6 copy of the IBM 370) to test equipment like Hickok's 1805A clone of Tektronix's 545A oscilloscope. The latter was at the request of the US government, so one can hardly castigate second-rate Chinese manufacturers for being the only culprits.

For better or worse, the practice is often more dishonourable than illegal, which means there's little to stop it.
 
It appears to be trade dress infringement,
Copyright infringement
And if it copies the design, patent infringement.

I'm not an IP lawyer, My ex wife did intellectual property law.
I guess a little (read that as very little) rubbed off.
 
Looks like they even tried to match the weight (net: 55 kg). I think what bothers me the most is the use of 'Accuphase' on the front panel, which is an attempt fraud people. Most of us here can spot the differences between the counterfeit unit, and a genuine Accuphase, but the unsuspecting consumer may not.

I would've expected them at least change the spelling like 'Acuphase, Accufase, or Accuraphase'.
 
My favorite part of this piece of junk: one bridge rectifier for 400,000uF of capacitance, +/- rails funnelled up a bunch of chrome plated brass standoffs all screwed together haphazardly and single screwed to the PCB.

It's nuts; why go to the expense of sticking those damned great capacitors on, and then compromising the ESR by using such a shonky method of connection? Not to mention the size of the exposed busbars...

Of course, those caps may just be baked bean tins filled with sand and a 33uF cap...

The name, front panel design, etc, are all blatant trademark or design rights infringements.

I've bought stuff from China, but only low voltage DC devices. I'm not sure I'd trust anything mains powered.

To get back to the marking; they're not shy about forging those markings, either. CE, UL, VDS, whatever. If they're prepared to contaminate baby milk with formaldehyde, I think we can be pretty sure about the approach to regulation that some of them are quite happy to take in order to make money.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal
 
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I see the heatsink fins do not have any micro groover or micro fins around the perimeter of heatsink shape. This micro groove actually can double (or almost triple) the conductive surface area. I'll bet the real Accuphase heat sinks will have these mirco-grooves.
 
With respect, their operation is a commercial one, look at the amount of component stock they are holding. It is offered for sale on the international marketplace that is Aliexpress complete with freight to any country in you might name.

Once a so-called DIYer starts volume manufacturing and retailing their products, they are subject to any and all safety regulations in markets they sell their products into.

Does it not bother you that the legendary Accuphase brand, logo and legacy are being tarnished in such a way?

I bought a diy built Nelson Pass designed amp from a fellow AKer last month, and doing some after purchase research found that there was some controversy concerning it's being origionally being built for sale, tho not trademarked in any way and no resemblance to the Pass Labs offerings. Construction is rough-and-ready but adequate and performance equivalent.
NP, and it appears the Pass diy community have harsh responses to the builder and the offerings as a commercialization of intellectual property offered for diy, I suppose the builder is offering the diy build to interested folk cost-plus who prefer a prebuilt for various reasons.
As I acquired it third or fourth hand since build, I don't know if I should feel some remorse or some obligation for choosing sides.

If it had been offered, even passively, as a copyright trademarked knockoff, that would be different, it was plainly offered as a "clone" of the trademarked product, and I bought it as such.
The ethical differentiation is imo between NP and the builder, afaik, these "clones" are no longer available, fwiw.

Which brings us to the trademark appropriations, some of us have purchased the Chi-Fi 1969 J.L. Hood class A amps, solid, well-built sonic competition for upgraded console tube amps at a nice price, unfortunately bearing a KRELL logo. The amp stands on it's own as a J. L. Hood replica, and could have been logoed just as well as such. The appropriated logo does sully an otherwise commendable offering.
Good workmanship, quality component parts, and honest ethical labeling would go a long way to gain respect as well as sales.
 
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How do these people even sleep at night, geez. Price is about half what a real one would be, right? Who in their right mind would buy that.

Kinda off topic:

First I've heard that my home insurance would be checking labels in the ashes of my house and refusing to pay if they can't find the remains of a UL sticker. I thought UL was a means for manufacturers to get a third party safety certification for their products, which reduces their product liability. Obviously the ins companies would support such a thing as a way to improve safety and reduce claims.

I was never clear on what CE meant. Some people seem to think it means 'China Export' but what would that even mean. Is it actually some type of safety certification?
 
I was never clear on what CE meant. Some people seem to think it means 'China Export' but what would that even mean. Is it actually some type of safety certification?
It means (culled from the UK government CE marking Web site):
  • shows that the manufacturer has checked that these products meet EU safety, health or environmental requirements
  • is an indicator of a product’s compliance with EU legislation
  • allows the free movement of products within the European market
See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ce-marking for more.
 
How do these people even sleep at night, geez. Price is about half what a real one would be, right? Who in their right mind would buy that.

Kinda off topic:

First I've heard that my home insurance would be checking labels in the ashes of my house and refusing to pay if they can't find the remains of a UL sticker. I thought UL was a means for manufacturers to get a third party safety certification for their products, which reduces their product liability. Obviously the ins companies would support such a thing as a way to improve safety and reduce claims.

I was never clear on what CE meant. Some people seem to think it means 'China Export' but what would that even mean. Is it actually some type of safety certification?
Had to look it up;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking
 
Wow, that's awful...and dangerous. They are not that far off from making an original design with excellent specs. Hire restorer-john to identify circuit problems and Houston, we have lift off. Of course, performing constant quality control to make sure they do not de-content is another problem.
 
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