This unit is a very musical preamplifier with class A output stage, and been using it for a long time as a standalone stereo pre to great affect, and love the full and lush soundstage. It has two subwoofer outputs, when you mate with propper amplification this can be great higher end unit.

Nothing really. It's a little bit forward presentation to my liking.

This was one of my splurges a few months ago. It was purchased used off ebay for $90 without a remote. Not a great investment. The audio technician I took it to said it needed $200 worth of service and parts to get rid of the buzzing. Then I went to another technician for a second opinion. He told me to just sell it and by a Pioneer receiver. The cost of repair is just not worth it. Research my friends and DON'T BUY OLD ACURUS EQUIPMENT!!

I made a trade for the Act 3 so it didnt cost me much. It works ok but like the other reviews i found it noisy and limited in function. Its also a bit clumsy for a hi end piece of equipment. There are a number of older mid-fi consumer electronic receivers that can best the Act 3. It does look very sexy though!

I've been buying Acurus equipment for some time now. Some products are good, but most of the line is complete garbage like the 3 channel amps. The Act-3 falls into the garbage category. It has limited connectivity, lacks modern surround formats, and sounds pretty mediocre. It's not what I call hi-fi. This is most apparent when used as a stereo preamplifier. So why would I purchase this surround processor?

The chassis is amazingly well built and looks incredible. It's roomy and great for diy work for dorks like me. There are also a lot of well made passive Japanese parts and useful IC's that can be cannibalized for other projects. Surprisingly the cheaper and smaller Act-1 is a slightly better electrically and sonically if used as a stereo preamp. As donor boxes the Act-3 is quite a steal and the same goes for all the Acurus line. I probably wouldn't tear apart an Acurus amp for parts. The 2 channel amps are quite good if unreliable, but most amps don't last 20 years without some type of service. Used prices are around $150 for the Act-3 which is much cheaper than buying a new high quality chassis. I regularly pick these up for around $100 but anything under $150 is a fair price. 1 star for an awesome chassis at a great price.

Great sound stage, clarity, and the right amount of options

The clunk sound when swithing between channels, My Girlfriend hates it.

I have owned an ACT3 for just over a year now and for the money I have not heard a better sounding pre-amp for music or movies. To be honest I did experience some issues with the stereo mode channel when switching back and forth. I also had a hum noise coming from my lef rear speaker when the unit is turned off. I was told that it was an Acurus power amp problem. This lead me to send in my unit to get it checked out. I don't know if they repaired it or replaced it. But once I got it back it was performing without a flaw. I will keep this unit until I can't use it any more. Because this unit sounded so good I would have kept it even with the problems.

Simple and nice looking

D/A Conventer does not work like what I expect. Hiss sound is always anoying me.

The product is very attractive, however...
The sound reproduction is....not better than Yamaha 995. I think that This AC-3 will be better since it is separated component and just work as pre-amp, but after I change my Yamaha 995, I did not get any better sound from AC-3. Now, I plan to change to Aragon SoundStage which is better even compared to Proceed AVP. I believe that if ACT-3 for US$1999 is worsen compared to Aragon SoundStage for US4000 relatively (Value point a view)

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 995 (I use as pre-amp)

Perhaps I can straighten out a few things, and end this continuous rumor mill that has turned this from areview site to a discussion group. Normally, I would avoid postings such as this, but after viewing all this
misinformation, I felt obligated to respond. I will conduct this as both a review, and give clarification, as I
understand what transpired by conversations with my dealer and Engineers, and the owners of Mondial
Designs. I have owned the ACT 3 now for about 4 months now (Got one of the first pieces shipped, in May).
The piece that I have was the piece that
was originally sent as the Dealer Demo piece. He was told that he shouldn't sell the piece, as it was a Demo
piece, and for in store use only. I convinced him that, since I had waited so long for it, that I should be able
to take it home, knowing full well, that it may be necessary to have the piece upgraded at a later date and
telling the dealer that I did not mind.
Being a "REVIEW" I will comment on my associated equipment (something that many of these other
"REVIEWS" have failed to do.) I replaced an Angstrom 200 with the ACT-3 as the heart of the system. The
Angstrom was an excellent piece that faired well in my system for many years, however it was time to move
on to the 5.1 surround.
For speakers, Alon V MKII's for the main fronts, Alon C2 center, and Alon II for the rears with two Velodyne
ULD-12 subs.
All cabling is Audioquest.
Aragon 8008BB for the mains, and the 8008X3 to power the center and the rears.
Panasonic A-310 DVD player
RCA 5451 Dolby Digital DSS receiver.
Pioneer Elite LD player. (No AC-3 out)
Runco IDP-850 front projector.
The room is 32' long X 25 ' wide.
Sonically, the ACT-3 is a fantastic piece. Using it as a two channel DAC, preamp, for stereo listening, coming
out of the A-310 digital is simply stunning. Very open soundstage, very smooth, very dynamic with clean
tight bass response. My wife and I find ourselves listening to music more and more since we
Have installed the ACT-3, and she even commented on the difference in quality of sound for music over
the previous system.(granted, she's no audiophile, but I guess that's the point!)
For Dolby Digital, again performance is outstanding. Channel separation is excellent, and, again, very
smooth, and dynamic, with great bass response. The Diva scene on The Fifth Element was top notch. For
those of you with DSS, I highly recommend investing in the RCA Dolby Digital DSS box, or the soon to be
released Sony DSS Dolby Digital box, as it is quite an experience. Apocalypse Now in letterbox, 5.1 was
astounding. Plus, the digital output also gives you a PCM 2 channel signal for non AC-3 encoded channels.
The ACT-3 autodetection automatically switches between Pro-Logic, and Dolby Digital depending on what
channel you have selected. Nice, and easy to use. (Great for the wife!!) Pro-Logic decoding for standard
television programs exceeded the performance of any other pro-logic (analog or digital decoding) piece I
have had. The DSS movie channels all sound excellent (although some better than others) Not DVD quality,
but good enough considering it's HBO.
Not having any DTS DVD's yet, it is tough to make a DTS/AC-3 comparison, and the selection of DTS CD's is
poor at best. It's surround sound music at this point, so it's tough to make any comparison of that. The couple
of DTS laserdiscs that I have (The Game, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction) all sound great. Again, autodetection
works flawlessly, so I don't have to worry about changing modes. However, it's still not DVD. Hopefully by
the end of the year we will be able to make a better comparison, but for now…..it works.

I haven't played with the DSP modes very much.(not a DSP kinda guy) so I cannot comment on them. There
are five DSP modes, each creating a "larger" room sense, and then a Party mode with a mono signal to each
channel.

All in all I have found that the ACT-3 is easy to use, and produces exceptional sound quality, not even taking
into account it's $1800 price tag ($1499 for mine, as I had a deposit on it for some time) I have never
experienced any problems with the ACT-3 regarding hiss, or hum (even before the upgrade boards were
installed) I did have trouble using the coaxial digital interconnect with the piece initially. Using the Toslink
input eliminated the problem. Since I have received the upgrade boards, the coaxial cable from the A-310 to
the ACT-3 has worked without a hitch. The other problem I had with the compatibility of the A-310 to the
ACT-3 was the popping noise that the DVD player made when skipping tracks, or when a standard CD was
placed in the drawer. I'm still a little bitter about having to wait 7 months to receive the ACT-3, but after
living with it for a while it was WELL WORTH THE WAIT. I would have liked to see more S Video switching, as
I don't know what I'll need in the future, but for now 2 is OK for my DVD, and DSS. Before purchasing it, I
was hesitant about it, because it did not have a Re-Equalization built in but I have found it to be extremely
smooth even on the brightest soundtracks. (Batman + Robin, Titanic, etc.) My best suggestion is for people to
GO LISTEN TO IT FOR YOURSELF. Don't take my word for it. Don't take anyone's word for it. The Internet is full
of rumors, and misinformation, and the only way to know what the truth is, is to find out you.

I have been living with my Act-3 for almost 2 months now and have been exceedingly pleased with its performance. My main consideration in purchasing this unit was to have a pre-amp that excelled in stereo reproduction but was also versatile enough to perform double-duty as a full-function home theatre control center, since my budget did not allow for dedicated separate audio and home theater systems. The sonics in 2-channel reproduction are stunning, in my opinion. I'm hearing things from my B&W 303's that I never heard before. The unit has also performed flawlessly in its home theater role. I have heard absolutely no hiss, hum, clicks or pops. I have had the Act-3 plugged in to a Panamax 1500 since the first day I brought it home, so perhaps that has eliminated some of the problems others have heard. I think Mondial Designs created a major PR gaff with their premature announcement of the product and interminable wait to actually get it into the hands of consumers. I wouldn't blame anyone from turning away from the product for that reason alone. If, however, one is still inclined to consider the Act-3, I think you owe it to yourself to give it a serious audition.

Great build quality and performance for the money

Took some work to get bass management correct and unit sometimes resets

I have used the Act-3 for several years now and have been extremely pleased. I have never heard any hums or hisses from it and got my unit fairly early on off the waiting list. I use the Act-3 with the Acurus A100x3 and Acurus A80 amplifiers, the Sony S900ES SACD/DVD player and Thiel CS2 speakers. Sonically, the Act-3 delivers clean, pure sound with no audible degradation in stereo and for home theater. The auto sensing does fine with Dolby Digital or DTS sources and the remote works every piece of equipment I have. When I had trouble initially getting the output up, Mondial helped me with the bass management settings and fixed the issue. Therefore, after more than three years, I have had flawless sound and great A/V switching, so I have been very pleased with Acurus and the Act-3.

Sound and looks

Found nothing I did not like

When I was deciding to buy this, I came here to read the reviews. Seemed alot of people were not happy. This is one of the best sounding processors that I have ever heard. The remote is great also. I mention this because it is easily programable. Now we only have to look for one, instead of five. I use the ACT3 with Bohlender Graebener 420's, 220 center, Citation rear and a Citation amp for the center and front and the Acurus 125x5 for the rear's. I probably will stay with the ACT-3 for a long time because of the sound and quality.

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi CA-1