Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
MF AMS 35I is 35WPC in genuine class A... It's going to get hot!
Top 5 Integrated Amps
- Thread starter backtovinyl
- Start date
Chris81
pfm Member
No wonder, idle is about 580 watt.
mindlagoon
pfm Member
Thanks for that, appreciated. I’ll give you a shout if/when I get some hot/tweezers (likely as part of a new soldering station, I’m still working with an old-school yellow Antex 25 Watt conventional iron, which I like a lot!).
It’s this kind of SMD can-cap I want to learn to deal with at some point. They have a nasty habit of leaking and I’d like to be able to deal with them pre-emptively the way I can with standard through-hole. I know you can ping them off using two standard irons like my Antex, but I’d prefer to grab the proper tool rather than risk doing damage.
Easiest way to remove those caps is to cut into them with side cutters, if accessible. By the time the top half comes away the internal connections to the pins has let go and the thing falls to bits. Then you can de-solder what's left of the pins individually without damaging or lifting the pads. A bit brutal but worked a treat for me when replacing caps that were fitted the wrong way round on a small batch.
Sparrow
Member
I believe Exposure 2510 integrated is also passive.
Gervais Cote
Predator
I'd like to know as well !
Tony L
Administrator
One would hope so, but the early Arcam stuff (Alpha etc) was definitely a step backwards to my ears, but it was a budget product. To this day I’ve never heard anything more upmarket, though the Arcam CD players were always good. There is something very right about the A60 IMO, it is a really rounded and coherent product.
timpy
Speaker Abuser
Believe the Densen DM10 & BEAT B100 had a passive pre section.
timpy
Speaker Abuser
Was always a bit warm though, wasn't it? A bit cloying?
Useful for speakers of the time, even A&R Cambridges' own Delta. Useful for the Heybrook's and JPW's many of them probably ended up partnered with. I've only heard old A60s though, so they may not have been so much like that when new.
Tony L
Administrator
I didn’t find that, and I had one in a second system under 20 years ago. I felt it gave the Nait 1 & 2 a good run and sounded great through the Heybrook HB2s I had in system two, and also through the Harbeth Compact 7s in the main system at that time. It is a seriously good amp IMO, I liked it a lot. I actively avoid overly bright and ‘attention-seeking’ hi-fi though, my ‘correct’ balance is Quad, BBC, Tannoy etc, and even when I was right into the Linn/Naim thing I always managed to get a far warmer and to my ears more natural balance than most people seem to achieve with that kit.
timpy
Speaker Abuser
It sounds as though we're probably hearing the same things but just listening from different viewpoints with slightly different tastes. Perhaps I'll have to catch up with one again for a longer term listen for the fun of it.
Miss Ariel
pfm Member
Slightly off topic as this is an amp thread but the A@R T21 FM tuner is superb.Always puts a smile on my face with weekend Radio 3.
Top 5 of the ones I've owned
Audiomat Arpege Reference
Nait 1
AudioZone Amp-1
Belles Aria
Unison Research SR1
Special mention - Croft Phono - owned Croft separates and phono section was pretty special...line level seriously lets down the side though.
A couple I'm pretty certain would check all the boxes for me
Jadis Orchestra Reference - Have yet to hear a Jadis which didnt have me considering selling a kidney.
Audion - bunch of different models.
Pathos Inpol
Exposure XV - missed a mint one awhile back that still agitates me as they don't show up real often.
Line Magnetic L5181A - Have an acquaintance who has owned pretty much everything and swears it is best amp he has ever heard.
Audiomat Arpege Reference
Nait 1
AudioZone Amp-1
Belles Aria
Unison Research SR1
Special mention - Croft Phono - owned Croft separates and phono section was pretty special...line level seriously lets down the side though.
A couple I'm pretty certain would check all the boxes for me
Jadis Orchestra Reference - Have yet to hear a Jadis which didnt have me considering selling a kidney.
Audion - bunch of different models.
Pathos Inpol
Exposure XV - missed a mint one awhile back that still agitates me as they don't show up real often.
Line Magnetic L5181A - Have an acquaintance who has owned pretty much everything and swears it is best amp he has ever heard.
Gervais Cote
Predator
Those wooden cigar boxes sounded good indeed. Is it nostalgia or is it more that back then, the designers had no other measurement devices/software than their ears ?
jamesd
pfm Member
I do too
Fen dancer
Amiable Oaf
Me too, lovely thing.
PhilDick
pfm Member
Yes, he designed my a49, best amp he ever made he said, even signed the circuit board.
G.smith310
pfm Member
Of those that I’ve owned
1. Denon pma1600ne (smooth, well equipped)
2. Sony 720es (smooth, fun)
3. Naim Nait XS (fun)
4. Yamaha as501 (well equipped, value)
5. Naim Nait 5i-2 (fun)
(others I have owned : Cambridge cxa60, rega brio r, denon 710ae, nad 3020d, loxjie a10)
1. Denon pma1600ne (smooth, well equipped)
2. Sony 720es (smooth, fun)
3. Naim Nait XS (fun)
4. Yamaha as501 (well equipped, value)
5. Naim Nait 5i-2 (fun)
(others I have owned : Cambridge cxa60, rega brio r, denon 710ae, nad 3020d, loxjie a10)
S-Man
StrivingON
That's what he said to me as well (over dinner, in Munich, during the high end show).
I would be interested to hear what you think to it versus other amps you've heard/owned.
PhilDick
pfm Member
I can only compare to my outgoing Nam gear which was a vintage bolt down nap250 (serviced). A Nac82 with two Avondaled tpr4 chrome bumper hicaps (serviced). Prior to that, for many years, I was just moving up the Naim chain.
The sound basically came alive with the Arcam. There was much more detail and punch to every thing. I was surprised how much drums came pounding out. Also the sound stage the improved vastly. I never really noticed it before.