The Arcam Alpha 10 is an outstanding amplifier. The first thing that hits you is its scale and power(100w per channel)the stereo imaging is superb as is the timing,bass in bucket loads,sizzling treble,and incredible amounts of detail,I have yet to hear a sub £2000 amplifier which has all of these traits. The sound of the Alpha 10 never fatigues,matched carefully with good quality cables it is very open and neutral sounding,it gives you exactly what is on the recording,in perfect clarity,it is perfect for all kinds of music. I use Atlas Titan interconnects and Chord Epic speaker cables bi-wired into EPOS m12i speakers with added ribbon supertweeters on top of the speakers as I like the extra detail this brings out in the top end.

Slightly ugly looking but in a darkened room you only see the green led light with the display turned off,but it's all about the sound,who cares what it looks like-there are far uglier amps out there.

Ultimate Control of the sound Bass extension Sweet clear detailed highs Delicate and natural midrange Impressive slam Powerful low sensitivity speakers dont phase it

Does not like crappy recordings Does not like low fi components partnered it will show them up Voulme control takes getting used to as it used the full range rather than just between 0 and the 12 oclock position

Warm nautral sound, great with vocals. Truly shines with rock, electronical and jazz music.

Treble hardens quickly at high volumes.

Having picked this up cheap on Ebay without hearing in the first place, I was worried about the quality of this amp. After reading other reviews and calming my nerves (ha!) I finally received it. It's a fairly heavy amp, weighing around 13kg's. The plastic front isn't to everyone's taste, and this was one of the few things I didn't like about the Alpha 10. When I got it over a year ago I had B&W 601 S3's and I was amazed by the sound coming from such small monitors, they truly sung at all volumes. Recently I upgraded my speakers to Monitor Audio Golf Ref 20's ($3000), followed by Chord speaker cable upgrade ($500) and I can safely say the Arcam really did shine through this set up. I was able to hear things I never heard in songs I had listened to hundreds of times. Overall, it's a fantastic amp, let down by the the plastic front, but this is a small flaw if you want a great sounding amp on on a budget. Recently upgraded to the Vincent SV238 integrated.

warmth, bulletproof consistency and strength

weak looking fascia

Fantastic amp... tested a number of amp's in the same and above categories, from Rotel, Denon, Onkyo, and had it narrowed it down to the Rotel and the Arcam. With the main focus on Audio as opposed to HT and the Arcam won out, with the installation of D.A.V.E. Smooth and realistic reproduction of vocals and instrumentals in classical and Jazz music - warmth is the best description a combination I'm realizing more and more with my ML Ascents. I agree with many other posts that the front fascia could be more substantial, especially considering the price, instead of teh cheap plastic. I have not had any problems with the LED's, but then I keep them turned off at all times. Being rated at 100W per channel, was told that it seems to put out more than that.. closer to 110 as I was told. Currently the system consists of the Alpha 10 DAVE, Arcam MCD, Sony DVD, Rotel 1090 (200wx2), 2xRotel 991, Monster HTS 2500, Martin Logan Ascents, ML Cinema, various Monster and other interconnects. Extremely happy with the amp, when purchased at that time, HT was (as it still is I'm sure) going crazy with the various formats - and decided that a solid base of music reproduction will give more than adequate results in movie reproduction - so decided to stay away from the dedicated HT amp's and receivers - a choice I do not regret in the least bit.

Similar Products Used:

sony, rotel, onkyo

Well built and solid, massive dynamic range, wonderful stereo imaging, huge power.

Plastic facia, I had this item bubble-wrapped and boxed to move it around yet the plastic front cracked, its quite fragile around the edges. One minor gripe, even if you don't have the phono module installed the Aux/Phono input always shows up on the LCD as "Phono", I find this incredibly annoying as its actually by computer that goes through this input, not a turntable! Finally, you may never need to turn your home heating on again! This amp gets so hot I swear you could cook vegetables on it! Arcam claim the thermal cutout cuts in after 45mins at 13w, which worried me, but I've had this baby putting out well over 50 watts for hours without cutting out, did burn to the touch though!

I bought this amp simply on the strength of the Arcam brand name and recommendations from friends, I had never heard it before I bought it, and it didn't dissapoint. The first thing I noticed was its weight, it looks like a very lightweight amp, aluminium chassis etc, not much visible inside, but when you lift it you have to think to yourself "whoa, they make this thing out of lead?!" have another look inside and you realise nearly all of its 10kg (22pound) weight is its huge toroidal transformer, I dread re-wiring my system, it means I have to pick this thing up! The second thing I noticed, even when playing synthesized music is the massive resolution of the amp, every sound in (and probably out) of the audiable range was clear and precise, I was hearing bits of my favourite tracks I had never even noticed before! Then there is its sheer power, driving my Mission M74i speakers I never turn the volume above 3/4 for fear of shaking the house to the ground, the thuds of bass drums are incredible at this volume! I highly recommend this amp, they were discontinued in 2000 so are dirt cheap now but still sound better than brand new amps for 500 to 1000 GPB.

POWERFULL FULLSOME DELIVERY, CLEAN HIGHS

NARROW GAUGE METAL JACKET.

THIS AMPLIFIER IS RATED ONLY 100W PER CH., YET SOUNDS AS POWERFUL IF NOT MORE THAN IT'S HIGHER PRICED NORTHAMERICAN COMPETITORS. THE POWER SUPPLY IS 800VA AS OPPOSED TO 300i WHICH IS 400VA AND CLASSE WHICH HAS A 436VA. MAY BE THIS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH A HIGHER CURRENT DELIVERY?? I AM PUZZLED BY SOME RATINGS COULD SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN

Similar Products Used:

KAV300i, CLASEE CAP150

Clean, crisp, capable, very easy to operate

Unforgiving of poor recordings, pricey, power amps can't be monoblocked

Used with: Marantz 53se CD-player, Energy C6 loudspears, Kemperkable Interconnects and Taralabs speaker cables; Bi-amped with Arcam8 power amp for HF.

A clean and efficient amp, it can be a little too timid when played a low volume. Its full glory comes out when played at high level. Lots of details and very fast, it can be harsh sounding in the high frenquencies when the recording is not of good quality. Will play well anything but will do a fantastic job on well-recorded classical music, especially on small ensembles and jazz where it will be almost life-like (and I do listen to a very wide variety of music). I suspect my speakers and CD-player don't allow my amp to show all its glory, and my review may be, of course, tainted by my other components. My listening room is far from perfect too. Energy C6 speakers are very demanding in power, but rewarding to listen with enough power to push them. Very efficient tweeter may make some synthetized sounds harsher and more agressive than they should be (especially true with older recordings of progressive rock music). Some may object to the looks of the amp (I don't) but seems to be built to last. Warranty and service seem to be quite good.

Sound is seriously improved by bi-amping, even if my second amp is not of the same rated power (50W/channel for arcam 8). Sound is more controled and cleaner. Warning: somewhat sensitive to interferences.

Power, ease of use, overall sound

Tacky exterior, legends hav faded

Good solid performer. Seems to work OK with all types of music.

Now using Bi-Amped with Alpha 10p; Sounds even better!

As I've recently added the 10p, I've noticed that the control legends on the 10 Integrated have faded since I bought it. - Probably doesn't matter if you use the remote, but I may see what Arcam have to say about it...

I see no reason to get another amplifier for some years yet.

Similar Products Used:

Cyrus, Arcam 9's

I've been listening to a borrowed Arcam Alpha 10 integrated amp for the past week in place of my Alpha 9 which I've had for 4 months. My source is an Arcam Alpha 7 CD player going through Mirage OM12 speakers. Obviously I am a fan of Arcam. And for good reason, I've found a distinctive difference in all Arcam products that I've owned or auditioned over similar or somewhat higher priced competition. Otherwise I would never have purchased them- and I am very particular about my music. My Alpha 9 wasn't wired up so I wasn't directly A/B testing it against the 10 and at first didn't think there was a difference. They both have an excellent sound. But after listening to some of my favorite CDs I had come to realize that the 10 had a superior, richer sound. It maintained its overall clarity without noticable distortion even at high volume and precise highs followed by a clear mid and tight low lows. I had been in e-mail contact with the Arcam service manager who informed my that the 10 had a superior preamp over the 9. Besides that you get the obvious increase in power from 70 to 100 watts as well as a DVD and turntable connect and a module spot for other features to upgrade later (the likes of which I don't know). Arcam always looks out for the upgrade without having to buy a completely new component. For instance, some day I plan to upgrade my Alpha 7 CD to a 9 with some simple surgery that takes place in your dealer's shop. Arcam already has an excellent transport so the DAC is changed out. As for the Arcam Alpha 10 integrated amp, this is a quality machine with an excellent sound.

fantastic sound

appearance could be better

i upgraded to the alpha 10 from the 8r which is an excellent amp in its own right but the ten is far superior with truely amazing sound quality and plenty of power its also very sensitive to different inter-connects so do try out different brands befor you buy if you can as you will notice a difference especially with speaker cable i currantly use cambridge audio throughout and found their linea 8.4 bi-wire speaker cable gave excellent results and much improvement on the cabletalk 3.1 i was using i also switched from jamo to accoustic energy loudspeakers (ae209) and the sound is great.

Similar Products Used:

arcam alpha 8r