Accuphase Audio Pre-amplifiers
Accuphase Laboratory, Inc. is known in the music industry as the pinnacle of amplifier and sound technology. Although not common inside its home country, USA, they are regarded for their high-quality power amplifiers and pre-amplifiers.
Design
Accuphase pre-amplifiers are always high quality. Typically with high aesthetic appeal, they often come with golden tinted metal front plates, and high gloss natural wood cabinets. All pre-amps succeeding C-2820 are extruded from solid aluminum block, giving each unit rigidity and reliability. Newer models have replaced VU meters with a more attractive LED bar graph meter, giving clearer information than the outdated meters previously used.
The typical dimensions for pre-amps are 18.75" x 6.125" x 16.02" with a weight of 55.1 lbs, making remote control use ideal. Most remote controls for the amps are easy-use, with button input selections, that can be direct or toggle. From the remote, control volume, attenuation, and control the CD/SACD.
Mechanics
Accuphase's flagship integrated pre-amp, the E-600, was released in 2013. A redesigned AAVA (Accuphase Analog Vars-gain Amplifier) volume control system was added into this amp, as well as other recent models. The redesign created better S/N (signal-to-noise) ratio, as well as parallel buffering and low noise power amplifier input. Clearer, better quality audio is produced as a result of this redesign.
The power output for the E-600 is 30W/ch into 8 ohms, which is lower than older versions in the E series, yet still produces the highest quality audio.
Another pre-amp model, the C-3800, has an older version of the AAVA system, but still produces high-quality audio. The older versions of the system still offer low distortion and similar features to the newer versions, including attenuator and left/right balance control. The updated version of this model, the C-3850, was released in 2015 and offers an updated version of AAVA.
