Anyone heard the Acurus Aries integrated amp?

[ezekini]

Hello everyone. This is my very first post, although I've done much reading this past few days through this forum, it has been very educational. I am in the process of acquiring my first ''hi-fi'' system. I am upgrading from a pair of Polk bookshelf speakers and an inherited Sansui receiver which have given me a lot, but it is time for an improvement!

I have decided to buy the Dali Zensor 7 speakers. The offer in Argentina regarding audio equipment is not very large, so it was basically between Dali, Monitor Audio, KEF, Klipsch and a few other brands. I really liked the Dali's, so I decided to fix that, and try different int. amps. I was deciding between the Arcam fmj A19 and the Rega Brio-R (the new model, Brio, hasn't arrived and when it does, it will be more expensive because Rega raised the new model's price). There is a lot of fuzz around both amps, but in the listening session I liked the rega more. It sounded warmer, less edgy. I couldn't hear any humm, although I read about it extensively in this forum. The Dali's are rated at 6 ohm, the rega sounded really loud at 1/3 in the listening room. 50% was almost party volume. I was almost set and decided, when the dealer told me that he had an Acurus Aries that could be sold with a very good discount because it was a demo unit (I also gave him some advice to enhance the acoustics of the shop ). Now, this is a totally different piece of equipment, both in price and specs. It has 4x the power of the other 2, and a few other things (balanced input, etc). I couldn't audition the aries because it was in an another store location. I googled a lot about this equipment, but I could only find one real review, which talked good about it, but nothing spectacular. And that was it. It is really weird how little information is out there about this piece. So, has anyone tested or listened to this gear? Any information will be highly appreciated. I will do my best to listen to the whole system but it is not that easy. I don't have much time to decide for reasons that exceed this post (boring personal stuff).

Reference prices (converted from argentinian pesos to USD)

Arcam fmj A19: U$1530
Rega Brio-r: U$1530
Acurus Aries: Original retail price U$2770 -----> Offer U$1790.


Thanks everyone!!!

 

[Alan0354]

How come the price are so high? I have an Acurus 200X3 power amp, I paid less than $1000 before, I can see used one for less than $400. Check ebay.

I don't know your Aries, To me, Acurus is only a middle of the road amp, it's good enough, but it's not spectacular by any stretch. I upgraded with a Nakamichi PA-7 Stasis designed by Nelson Pass. But the Acurus comes close. Never listened to the other two so I cannot comment on those. The main reason I even answer is the price is so so high in your area, is Argentina a lot more expensive than in US?

 

[esprits4s]

How come the price are so high? I have an Acurus 200X3 power amp, I paid less than $1000 before, I can see used one for less than $400. Check ebay.

I don't know your Aries, To me, Acurus is only a middle of the road amp, it's good enough, but it's not spectacular by any stretch. I upgraded with a Nakamichi PA-7 Stasis designed by Nelson Pass. But the Acurus comes close. Never listened to the other two so I cannot comment on those. The main reason I even answer is the price is so so high in your area, is Argentina a lot more expensive than in US?

Aries is an integrated amp offered by the new Acurus (Indy Audio Labs). Comparing this new (or demo) item to a 20 year old Acurus amp isn't relevant.

http://www.acurusav.com/aries/

To the original poster, that price is a couple of hundred lower than the price we see here through Amazon for a new unit. I've read some good things about the new Acurus and Aragon gear coming from Indy, but haven't heard any of them in person.

 

[Alan0354]

Aries is an integrated amp offered by the new Acurus (Indy Audio Labs). Comparing this new (or demo) item to a 20 year old Acurus amp isn't relevant.

http://www.acurusav.com/aries/

To the original poster, that price is a couple of hundred lower than the price we see here through Amazon for a new unit. I've read some good things about the new Acurus and Aragon gear coming from Indy, but haven't heard any of them in person.

It is absolutely relevant as power amp likely more expensive and power amp 20 years ago is just as good as the new power amp. Acurus is not an expensive amp by any stretch.

I am not saying Acurus is bad, I used it for 18 years. Even the Stasis amp is very marginally better sounding. my question is whether Argintina is a lot more expensive than here.

Aries is class D amp, I serious doubt it's as good as the good old class AB amp.

 

[ezekini]

How come the price are so high? I have an Acurus 200X3 power amp, I paid less than $1000 before, I can see used one for less than $400. Check ebay.

I don't know your Aries, To me, Acurus is only a middle of the road amp, it's good enough, but it's not spectacular by any stretch. I upgraded with a Nakamichi PA-7 Stasis designed by Nelson Pass. But the Acurus comes close. Never listened to the other two so I cannot comment on those. The main reason I even answer is the price is so so high in your area, is Argentina a lot more expensive than in US?

Everything here is more expensive than in the US. Import taxes are very high. Add the freight, the profit of all those involved in the selling chain and you arrive at those prices. Nothing to do about it....

 

[esprits4s]

It is absolutely relevant as power amp likely more expensive AND power amp 20 years ago IS just as good as the new power amp. Acurus is not an expensive amp by any stretch.

I am not saying Acurus is bad, I used it for 18 years. Even the Stasis amp is very marginally better sounding. my question is whether Argintina is a lot more expensive than here.

No it's not relevant The Aries is a completely different design from the old Acurus you are familiar with. The Aries is a 200WPC class D integrated amp. Your's was a traditional class A/B 200wpc three channel amp. The two have absolutely nothing to do with each other aside from the name Acurus. As far as I can see, the pricing here for the Aries is similar to what the OP found. FWIW, the OP may want to check US Ebay right now...

Yes, Acurus was mid market back then (as was Nakamichi, at least as far as your Stasis amp goes), and it's still mid-market today, but mid market is a lot more expensive than it was 20 years ago.

 

[Alan0354]

No it's not relevant The Aries is a completely different design from the old Acurus you are familiar with. The Aries is a 200WPC class D integrated amp. Your's was a traditional class A/B 200wpc three channel amp. The two have absolutely nothing to do with each other aside from the name Acurus. As far as I can see, the pricing here for the Aries is similar to what the OP found. FWIW, the OP may want to check US Ebay right now...

Yes, Acurus was mid market back then (as was Nakamichi, at least as far as your Stasis amp goes), and it's still mid-market today, but mid market is a lot more expensive than it was 20 years ago.

I don't like class D. I would take a class AB amp any time of the day. Class D is a cheap way to get middle of the road sound quality. When comes to high end, still is class A or high bias class AB.

Mine is not just Nakamichi, Nelson Pass designed that, it is almost identical to his famous Threshold S300. I design amps, I know. I read the schematic in detail before I bought it. In fact, I like the design of PA-7 over the Threshold S300 because it used a 30MHz power transistor rather than the old 4MHz transistor in the S300.

Far as I concern, I am not even touting the PA-7, I bought it as reference to compare with my own design. My prototype is every bit as good as the PA-7, better than the Acurus, I am waiting for my new revision which I just finish building the pcb and start testing. I have every intention to beat the PA-7. It's not like the PA-7 is my end game, just a good enough amp to serve as a reference for the absolute minimum quality I targeted and beat.

Far as I concern, the rest of Nakamichi is not even compare to Acurus.

 

[ezekini]

No it's not relevant The Aries is a completely different design from the old Acurus you are familiar with. The Aries is a 200WPC class D integrated amp. Your's was a traditional class A/B 200wpc three channel amp. The two have absolutely nothing to do with each other aside from the name Acurus. As far as I can see, the pricing here for the Aries is similar to what the OP found. FWIW, the OP may want to check US Ebay right now...

Yes, Acurus was mid market back then (as was Nakamichi, at least as far as your Stasis amp goes), and it's still mid-market today, but mid market is a lot more expensive than it was 20 years ago.

I know that the price I was given is very good, both here and in the US, just concerned about the audio itself, since I haven't listened to it (I may be able to listen to it but with a different pair of speakers on friday, which may be kind of useless because the loudspeakers will make a great difference) . It is designed and made in the USA, which may be a good thing regarding quality control. I am not an expert on amps or int. amps, but is Class D a common thing in this power range? I have only seen Class D designs used in amplifiers for live shows. They give great performance, high power, and run colder than traditional Class A or Class A/B. But the Aries is designed towards consumers like you and me....

 

[esprits4s]

Again, I haven't heard any of the units that you are considering, so I can't comment on how they sound. As for class D, it's still a hot debate in high end audio. It has become the standard for subwoofer amps, increasingly popular in professional audio, and is making serious inroads in high end audio amplification at all price points. You can buy class D consumer amps from a few hundred to $10K or more for ones that are targeting the high end audiophile customer base.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. I haven't seen much in the way of first hand reviews here on the newer Acurus gear.

 

[Alan0354]

This is only my opinion:

I don't think Class D can ever match the best of Class A or high bias class AB. The whole design philosophy of class D is like the old analog AM and FM radio. It take the signal, modulate by some form of either frequency/pulse width or some other format that is a lot more efficient to producing more power, then demodulate back to the original signal. Signal quality got to be degraded during the process no matter how people perfect the process. That's the reason people are doing away with analog radio and going into digital broadcast. You can modulate digital signal and demodulate and restore digital signal with absolutely no degradation, not the analog.

Main thing about class D is you can make a $300 class D amp sound as good as a $1000 class AB amp, but you cannot make a $1500 class D amp sound as good as a top class A or high bias class AB amp.

I can understand why class D is so popular for professional audio like PA system or DJ. They move equipment around, weight is of utmost concern. You don't want to lug a 150lbs piece of rock ( class AB amp) if you can help it. True fidelity is not so important for PA or DJ, portability is.

I am not knocking class D amp, it has it's place on the market. People benefit from a lot cheaper amp that they cannot afford for same quality traditional amp.

 

[krn]

Thread is a few months old, but I own one of those, and can't recommend it enough! Hopefully you are still thinking about what to buy, or someone else reading this is wondering wether or not to give the Aries a try.

I bought it to drive a set of B&W CM10 S2's which are quite heavy speakers - Zensor 7 should be no match for the Aries, and it's clarity is just mindblowing! The amplifier toys with the CM10's as if they are small bookshelf speakers. After buying the CM10's i also tried NAD's biggest digital amplifier, and wow - the Aries runs in circles around what NAD can make - and I'm a NAD fan from earlier years.

If you still can - give the Aries a try. There is no bass knob to turn to full, but if the music was meant to shake your house, it will. Acurus Aries is no party-amp, but feed it good music on a good pair of speakers, and it will grab your ears and say "Now, listen here..." like no amp I've ever afforded to own. Feed it Bjørk, Joe Cocker, London Grammar or Bjöern Torwellen and it will force your speaker to play every note, shaking every nail in your walls where the musician wants to do just that. Feed it bubble-gum pop mastered to play on earbuds, and it will disappoint you unless you put an equalizer in front of it. It's painfully honest!

 

[krn]

This is only my opinion:

I don't think Class D can ever match the best of Class A or high bias class AB. The whole design philosophy of class D is like the old analog AM and FM radio. It take the signal, modulate by some form of either frequency/pulse width or some other format that is a lot more efficient to producing more power, then demodulate back to the original signal. Signal quality got to be degraded during the process no matter how people perfect the process. That's the reason people are doing away with analog radio and going into digital broadcast. You can modulate digital signal and demodulate and restore digital signal with absolutely no degradation, not the analog.

Main thing about class D is you can make a $300 class D amp sound as good as a $1000 class AB amp, but you cannot make a $1500 class D amp sound as good as a top class A or high bias class AB amp.

I can understand why class D is so popular for professional audio like PA system or DJ. They move equipment around, weight is of utmost concern. You don't want to lug a 150lbs piece of rock ( class AB amp) if you can help it. True fidelity is not so important for PA or DJ, portability is.

I am not knocking class D amp, it has it's place on the market. People benefit from a lot cheaper amp that they cannot afford for same quality traditional amp.

Alan, I've got to agree with you to a certain point. There is a lot of cheap and bad Class D on the market. But - the world moves on. Large manufacturers are spending tons of money trying to solve the traditional problem: How to make good sound without generating hundreds of watts of unneccesary heat and driving your power-bills up. They are going in the right direction - and top-of-the-shelf products are closing in on the old heroes of the past. In my opinion - and related to this thread - Class D has reached a level where you can get a very good amplifier that outperforms classic amplifiers at the same price. Ok, there may be better classics amps, but compare apples and apples! Yes, there might be a very good $10.000 classic amp that is better than the Aries or any Class D amp, but if you're on a $2.000 budget going for a modern Class D product is well worth trying out.

 

[esprits4s]

Thread is a few months old, but I own one of those, and can't recommend it enough! Hopefully you are still thinking about what to buy, or someone else reading this is wondering wether or not to give the Aries a try.

I bought it to drive a set of B&W CM10 S2's which are quite heavy speakers - Zensor 7 should be no match for the Aries, and it's clarity is just mindblowing! The amplifier toys with the CM10's as if they are small bookshelf speakers. After buying the CM10's i also tried NAD's biggest digital amplifier, and wow - the Aries runs in circles around what NAD can make - and I'm a NAD fan from earlier years.

If you still can - give the Aries a try. There is no bass knob to turn to full, but if the music was meant to shake your house, it will. Acurus Aries is no party-amp, but feed it good music on a good pair of speakers, and it will grab your ears and say "Now, listen here..." like no amp I've ever afforded to own. Feed it Bjørk, Joe Cocker, London Grammar or Bjöern Torwellen and it will force your speaker to play every note, shaking every nail in your walls where the musician wants to do just that. Feed it bubble-gum pop mastered to play on earbuds, and it will disappoint you unless you put an equalizer in front of it. It's painfully honest!

Thank you for this review!

 

[Alan0354]

Alan, I've got to agree with you to a certain point. There is a lot of cheap and bad Class D on the market. But - the world moves on. Large manufacturers are spending tons of money trying to solve the traditional problem: How to make good sound without generating hundreds of watts of unneccesary heat and driving your power-bills up. They are going in the right direction - and top-of-the-shelf products are closing in on the old heroes of the past. In my opinion - and related to this thread - Class D has reached a level where you can get a very good amplifier that outperforms classic amplifiers at the same price. Ok, there may be better classics amps, but compare apples and apples! Yes, there might be a very good $10.000 classic amp that is better than the Aries or any Class D amp, but if you're on a $2.000 budget going for a modern Class D product is well worth trying out.

That's what I've saying, for moderate price power amp, Class D shines. I am sure you can get the quality of a $2000 traditional amp with a class D that is cheaper. I am only talking about the high end stuffs, high end like Krell, Mark Levingston, Pass Lab and many other high end but not well known unless you are really into audiophile. Biggest draw of Class D is getting good enough quality in a cheaper price.

My bet is still on Class H amp, but I don't think that are cheap. It's really 3 amp in one. The two rails are driven by class D amp to follow the signal. The center amp is a real class A amp. The two class D rail amps keep the rail voltages to the center amp low to lower heat even when the middle amp is running class A. Then when signal comes in, the two class D amp increase the rail voltage according to the amplitude of the signal to keep the middle amp running.

But this don't come cheap as it's 3 amp in one and make use of two class D amp to work in an environment that does not require low THD and top sound quality. Then leaving the true class A amp in the middle to produce the best sound quality.

This sounds good in theory, I am skeptical how stable is the class H amp in real world, the three amps will crosstalk to each other, interact with each other and might cause instability. Nothing is easy. People having problem keeping a simple traditional amp stable.