see above

availability

I bought the unit on ebay years ago during the last month of the upgrade availability and did so. No regrets. One must go through the programming to optimize the settings. A pink noise generator is present for this. Each channel is balanced individually for loudness and milliseconds of delay based on placement. The Sub woofer is balanced for loudness. There is no "hiss" on any channel- only silence when no signal input is present. My components consist of a sony progressive dvd player, sansui tu 717 tuner, acurus act 3 with 7.1 upgrade, carver av 806x amplifier, sequerra met 7 speakers for front and middle channels, met 8 woofer, met 9 tweeters for front channels. My speaker cable consists of either home twisted 12g solid copper wire or double twisted 14 g ultralink cl414 cable. My soundstage is accurate. My bass shakes the floor. My vocals and instruments are natural. I have programmed the TV and DVD player to the acurus remote without difficulty. As with all multiple component systems, the weakest link influences the results. This component is not that link.

Customer Service

upgraded while available

airy soundstage-broad-images great-clean quiet operation- auto dectection flawless-crystal clear sound

Remote does not program to recent equipment Mondial discontinued 7.1 upgrade so it is hard to find one

I purchased an Acurus Act-3 with ABM recently-Mondial has a great rep with Aragon so I took a chance needing a clean preamp This unit is super quiet-not an ounce of the reported hiss-even though it is not super current the DAC's and processing are superb- the soundstage is great-clear highs-lows and mids-and has overall superior sound quality-highly recommeded

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Fine piece for starters looking to build their first HT system at a cheapo price.

Already outdated.

This piece is already obsolete by today's standards and cannot compete with the current modestly priced processors which offer better sound and value. Nevertheless the Act-3 performs admirably well for budget HT systems. However, the S/N ratio is indeed a major drawback as a rather loud audible hissing noise can be heard when the volume is cranked up too considerably high, which........ahem.........proved to be quite annoying. If you're building your first HT, I would strongly suggest against getting this unit UNLESS you can get it dirt cheap, say something like $250-300. Basically you would get waaayy better performance from even standalone receivers like the Denon 3805. Even the 3803 better than the Act-3 in HT duties and virtually trounce it in 2-channel stereo. To sum it up, the Act-3 is not a worthy consideration anymore as the technology is already old and obsolete.

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Denon 3801,3802,3803,3805, Yamaha AZ1, Tag Mclaren AV32R

Great soundstage, Excellent DAC's, Easily programmed, Nice looks. 2 sub outs, 2 center outs.

The remote is nice, but it doesn't operate any modern electronics. There are a few aftermarket remotes that already have the act-3 codes built in. No big deal. Switching is slow, get used to it. It's not a show-stopper.

Let me start by saying that this thing is awesome "for the price". I had been looking for a good quality pre/pro for some time and was getting frustrated because I didn't want to spend a lot of beans until I had better speakers and electronics. I checked out the rotels, B&Ks, Adcoms and some others. I am extremely picky when it comes to audio and I worked home audio long enough to know what works and what doesn't. After reading the reviews on the act3 with ABM I was fairly certain that this would do the trick. Knowing full well that the original version was a hummer and had some other issues. I didn't like the rotel stuff and the B&K didn't give me warm fuzzies either, so I bought this on audiogon from a guy who was upgrading. The only real complaint is that the remote doesn't operate ANYTHING other than the Acurus. Not my yamaha dvd, my cable box, or my Sony TV. The sound, however is very good. I ran a Kimber PBJ from the Yamaha DVD(has burr-brown dacs) and it sounded muted and dull in comparison to the dacs built into the act-3. The dvd is a $700.00 unit so this impressed me. For less than $500.00 bucks it is hard to knock this unit. Between this and the Citation 7.1 amplifier and Spica TC-50 speakers, with an old kappa sub I am in budget audiophile bliss. I will eventually upgrade to a proceed or even the now defunct California audio labs, but for now I am happy. Make sure you are getting the ABM model! Keep in mind that there are better pre/pros out there, but not for this price!

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Adcom, rotel, B&K, Audio research(in a different league)

movies,good remote,detects whatever source I'm useing

2 channel stereo or music through pro logic.The eagles when hell freezes over on DTS has very little bass.

I bought an Acurus ACT3 on ebay and now I wish that I didn't.On dvd movies I'm pleased with it,no problems with the unit switching to what ever source I'm using[Dolby Digital or DTS] and no hum problems.Watching movies sounds good but on 2 channel stereo it sounds terrible.The bass is very very weak,and on music through pro logic sounds worse.I don't know if I have it hooked up wrong or what but this is how I have it,I have an onyko DVD player hook up by toslink digital,I have monster cable for interconnects and speaker wire,I have my tuner hooked up to the act3 analog,also with monster cable,I have my Dish satallite hooked up to analog with monster cable,I have the act3 configuration set at Zero since all my speakers are full range.MY biggest gripe about the act3 is the bass.I have an old Sansui preamp that sounds alot better on music than the act3.Thats with the bass and treble controls set at zero.I know the act3 is supposed to be alot better than the sansui but as of right now it's not.My act3 does not have the advance bass management but the way I understand that is I don't really need it since my speakers are all full range.Has anybody else experience this problem or is there something wrong with my unit or do I have it connected wrong? Any information would be appreciated. And as of now I don't have a subwoofer yet. You can email me at Stevesly007@ aol.com or stevearino37066@ yahoo.com p.s. my unit is supposed to be one and a half years old,and it was a demo at a hifi store.

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this is the first preamp/processor that I have had.

EVERYTHING, built like a tank.

None

I upgraded from a ROTEL RTC965 and can''t tell you how glad I am that I did. As soon as I got it I wondered if I was smoking crack when I bought the ROTEL. The reason I say this is because a friend of mine and I auditioned them next to each other. We thought that the ACURUS was a little better but not enough to justify the $1,000 difference in price. After I hooked it up and couldn''t believe my ears, I went and got him so I could see if I was hearing things. He came over and was so impressed that he returned the ADCOM GFP-750 (which he had purchased 2 weeks earlier) and bought an ACURUS. All I can say is music and movie''s are so much better it''s simply amazing. I would recommend this highly. On the down side, if you want a pre/processor from this company you''ll have to buy an ARAGON, because they have discontinued the ACURUS name. ARAGON is their high end line and is spectacular as well. I have had no trouble with this unit, it''s great!

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ROTEL, ADCOM, ONKYO and YAMAHA

Great sound quality

could have a few more s-video inputs

I've owned the ACT 3 since August '98. Since I run all the channels full range, I decided not to upgrade the bass management chip, even tho that would address the only operational quirk I have with the unit, which is that I usually have to manually select the digital input as the ACT- 3 will default to analog. It's no big deal.
As for the sound quality, it's just terrific. Movies are presented a precise full bodied surround experience. The highs are extended and natural, the bass is clean, deep and powerful. I have no need of a theater EQ circuit.
The auto format detection works perfectly.
Perhaps even more impressive is just how good this proccessor sounds in Stereo , playing music.
An excellent product.

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Man, am I pissed. All along I thought I had a pretty good Home theater system and the local Acurus dealer let me hear the ACT3 compared to the Rotel Pre/pro. Was I ever wrong. Don't get me wrong. Rotel was smooth, balanced, and sounded a lot better than most mainstream brands, but the moment I heard the ACT3, the word "clarity" had a new meaning. What a difference in detail. And in 2 channel mode..."fo-get" about it. It's awesome. I played one of the tracks from Chesky's Ultimate Demo CD and that was all I needed to hear. I looked around at other brands like Parasound, B&K, Marantz, Sherwood Newcastle, and they all seemed too flashy. I liked the fact the Acurus put most of their efforts on the sound quality and not having 15 different surround modes. Imaging was excellent. Great depth. The low end was a little warmer than I'd like, but still sounded very good. You might think I'm a little biased toward Acurus, and you're right. I have Acurus amplifiers as well and the combination was right on.

My system:

Sony DVD Player
Pioneer LD Player
Acurus ACT3
Acurus A100
Acurus A100X3
Tara Labs Digital Cable
Monster I300 Interconnects
Paradigm Monitor 3
Paradigm CC350
Paradigm Atoms (rear)
Definitive Technology PF15TL
Definitive Technology PF15
Adcom Line Conditioner
Tara Lab Speaker Cables
Audioquest Speaker cables

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Rotel RTC-965; Rotel RSP-960AX

Construction, appearance, performance

Quirky

Well, It was very simple to make connections and when I turned it on it was as if someone had pulled some cotton out of my ears, and it was only The History Channel! Very impressive, very. However (uh oh), the format detection relies on the DD or dts signal being present before being switched to that source. For example, if your DVD player is connected to the AV1 input you have to switch out of that (once the disc is playing) and then back for it to correctly detect DD or DTS. How tedious. If there is something anyone knows about this that I do not, please, email me. The remote is awesome! However, I can't get it to open the DVD drawer even though It seems to handle every other function of the oridinal Sony 7700 remote. At the end of the day, the ACT III is an incredibly well built and engineered piece of gear. Very satisfying.

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Sony DA something or other ES DD Receiver

Great 5.1 and Digital Stereo

muckly Analog suround sound, taps into programs automaticly that you may not want, takes 3 to 6 months to use remote control correctly

I bought this unit to go with an Adcom 5503 3 channel 350 watt 4 om Amp going to Martin Logan Logos Center and Martin Logan Scripts rears. After experimenting with Laser Disc with AF, DVD, VSR, CD, and TV, I am very displeased. The older Laser Discs sound great with plain Digital Stereo, but the analog sound stages (Hall, Club, Arena, Party) cuts the sound quality in half. I called the manufacture to ask why this was so, and was advise to lower the rears, but no improvements were notice. 5.1 and Digital Stereo sound great and top class...only listened to 2 or 3 DTS discs and was not impressed (Maybe they were bad discs). Advise saving the analog surrond sound modes for PBS Nova or Nature programs. Unit is too automatic and turns on modes that you dont want, and remote control is rather involved. I just bought the Theta Casa Nova to replace this unit.

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1st true surround processor bought, up-grading to the Theta Coasa Nova