Imaging, insight, soundstaging, speed, accuracy, rythym, detailed bass, clear treble.

Can be slightly grey and cold, but ok on most recordings, fussy on components used with it. Needs a mains filter used with it to get the best.

I purchased this amp from Ebay after looking for one for some time.From what I'd heard and read, it offered what I was after, incredible insight and soundstaging.I found an excellent example on Ebay and purchased for £125 ukp. Some told me this was perhaps over the odds but it was an excellent example. A common problem is duff capacitors which produces the hum. Fear not as its cheap and easy to replace them. Best left to those qualified though, albeit easy. The amp has no remote, no tone or other gadgets. I was not prepared for how good this amp was, based on expectations and its original price. Detail is amazing, vocals are easily presented, lyrics clear, the soundstage is wide and full and images are holographic. No exaggeration. Speed and power are in abundance. I have tried several amps up to 500 ukp, NONE match this. I heard it was tweaked based on results from golden ears type fold in UK and Japan, so its no fluke its so good. Technically it uses some discreet switching and avoids runs of cables where remote swiches can be used. How much detail this unit provides is staggering. Absolute masterpiece. However it did not like my 4 ohm Dynaudio speakers, so I used some cheap KEF's which it responded too. Odd yes, but this amp has a reputation for being fussy. Cheap sources it will not tollerate. I use a tweaked Marantz CD6000OSE. There was a Tom Evans tweaked version of the A400 (A400 GTE) and it was much more expensive, but apparently incredible in its use. The A400X is the later version of my A400 and ommits the headphone socket. Headphone and phono stage on the A400 are good in my opinion, compared to other integrateds.

Similar Products Used:

NAD C350, Sony TA-FB940, Rotel RA-971mk2, Marantz OSE, other integrateds up to £500. Beats them all in one manner or another. Seriously !

Superb value for money without compromising genuine Hi Fi performance

Had to get a new volume control fitted. A slight hiss and a hum has developed. If you have a service manual please email me on pcsg@lineone.net

Pioneer A400 has something of a cult status. It is a no frills ‘audiophile’ amplifier that set the ‘cat among the pigeons’ when it was introduced in 1990. Hi-Fi magazines greeted it with a chorus of praise. Comparisons with amplifiers costing up to £1,000 made the A400 a ‘giant killer’. It won the coveted Product of the Year by the What Hi-Fi magazine – an accolade that had never before gone to a Japanese company. 25,000 units were sold in the first 18 months, securing an extraordinary 12.8% of the total amplifier market. A400X model was introduced later but the demand was still for the A400 and the production continued till 1996. "There is something ineffably right about the Pioneer A400." Andrew Gold, What Hi Fi "It loves music, the A400". "It loves it with a vengeance" Mark Payton, High Fidelity Magazine "Even if your budget extends to £1000, it could be exactly what your after" Jimmy Hughes, Audiophile "Best Amplifier” "Best Buy Overall" “Product of the Year” What Hi-fi "Best Amplifier" Hi Fi Choice Useful Links: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dougr/a400.htm Hi-Fi Buying Guide Part 2 at http://www.tnt-audio.com/guide/amps_e.html Hi-Fi Buying Guide Part 4 at http://www.tnt-audio.com/guide/building_e.html

Sounds like a super high end amp... Worth a triple the cost, to this day!

None as far as sound goes. Not produced any more. Not made in a 120v version.

I owned this amp back in London (now in SF). What an amazing amp at any price! I just aquired a Creek 4330R and I must say that my first impresion is that I wish the A400 was available in a 120v version! (although my speakers are not up to the ones I used the A400 with, and I suspect neither is my front end) System used in: Pioneer stable platter used as transport. Cambridge DAC. Cable talk Speaker cable + Unknown interconnects. Pioneer A400 (original version). B&W P4 (another giant killer) Incredible imaging and detail, pinpoint accuracy and speed, powerful and delicate at the same time. As others have said needs careful matching, can be a little shock after cheap electronics, may initially seem bright but that soon turns into a huge smile :) How did Pioneer produce such an amazing amp???? Why no more???

Similar Products Used:

Creek 4330R Harman Kardan HK3470 (yuk)

great value for money

After 7 years mine started to hum.

I've had the amp (the original A400) for ten years now and it still sounds great. Sadly it has now developed a hum. I tried different speakers with it: Rogers LS6 were too dry and uninvolving, some B and W speakers were too bright and hence tiring. Now I use Epos ES11 with it and these two together deliver music with a beautiful tone.

Clear, detailed, goog imaging, powerful.

terrible phono stage.

I had before a Cambridge Audio amp and after owning it for some months I replaced if for the Pioneer - and what a difference! You couldnt move the smile from my face for months. I have the A400 X for over five year, and it is always makes me fill like I own a much more expensive amp. It sounds so great, full of power but not too aggresive, very detaild and very good imaging. One of a kind for its price!

Similar Products Used:

Cambride audio A1, NAD, Cirus I

None

Superb little amp what can i say powerful enough to melt the crossover on my TDL RTL3''s

Sounds like you have just smoked a massive reefer!

can be a little foreward and thin sometimes. match carefully.

I have used many amps over the years, both good and bad. Nothing comes remotely close to offering the eyewatering, holographic soundstage this little amp does. To such an extent that I think it is a little over the top sometimes. Its as though you have smoked a huge spliff each time you listen. Midrange is a little foreward consequently, and bass a touch shy. By the way, the cheapest, easiest and best hifi upgrade possible is to smoke a joint 15 min before listening. I am totally serious. It always amases me how few people know this. Alas, I have given up and do not recommend anyone take up drugs of any kind. But the a400x almost takes you there

Similar Products Used:

marajuana

This is quite old model, but I like it very much. It was a difficult task to find appropriate speaker cable for it, but right now it seems like I've found it. I use this $300 amp with :
B&W CDM1 ($950)
CD Musical Fidelity E60 ($400)
Project 6 turntable ($600)
and, the cable I mentioned above, Tara Labs Bi-Wire ($120)

You see, it's the cheapest part of the equipment. But the result is just great. I can't explain it by words, sorry . I just believe this is THE best budget amplifier ever made.

Clarity, Imaging, Mid & Upper Frquencies, Reliability.

Could Do With A Little More Weight At Lower Frequencies.
Will Not Stand Being Connected To Rubbish Componants.

I Bought this amp back in 1990/1, the A400 model based upon a review in Hi Fi Choice that reckoned it was as good as amps costing up to a thousand pounds.
It has never failed to suprise me that no matter how you upgrade the system it is always one step ahead.
I have just bought a pair of the new Whafdale Diamond 8.1 speakers and they are superb with this amp.
A freind of mine has a sytem costing over Ten Thousand pounds and he cannot believe how good this cheap setup is, the imaging is on par with his but the lower frequencies cant match it.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz, Rotel, Others.

Extremely neutral and punchy, for the price

Construction quality (and price, also...) well below par.

I still can't understand the magic under this piece of cheap electronics. How can a sub-300 $ amp sound great, even compared with stuff costing $ 2.000 or more? I own the older A-400 model, but direct comparisons with A-400X persuaded me that it's basically the same stuff, apart from the pack-off-and-go phonostage. The build quality is median or less than that, but that little monster makes great music with just about any loudspeaker in the market- I've even tested it with ESL-63's. I don't know how it works, and I suspect Pioneer also doesn't know- all the later models at that price (or a much higher one) had nothing to do with the A-400 magic. I have to agree with all those guys (and they are a lot of them) who claim that A-400 (X) is the ultimate budget amplifier of all times. And, by the way, in all those five yeras that i use the product, it has not even burnt a single fuse, and I'm not he type of person who treats his hi-fi with a feather glove.

Similar Products Used:

A lot.