Neutral, detailed and balanced. Powerful enough for most domestic use. Very well built and has no worked faultlessly for over the past 15 years.. Speaker protection circuitry bulit in. Tone defeat switch. Easy to build a good system around as the sound is neutral, it doesnt add its own colouration.

Havent found one yet...even after the 8 years I have owned. Just remeber it wont compensate a poor source, make badly engineered Cds sound good or add its own colourations to the speakers. My friend sold it too me as he upgrqaded to audiolabs separate power and pre amps. That should say an awdful lot about this brand. It amplifies.. nothing more nothing less...which is what you want when building up a system as you can then chose your preffered sound from either the speakers or source.

I have had this amp for over 8 years having upgraded from my previous Sansui. The amp currently is sourced from a marantz CD60 through Dynaudio floorstand speakers. The amp has worked faultlessly throughout. The sound is very balanced. The bass is deep and powerful, the midrange clear and the treble tonally balanced so listening never become fatiguing.
The amp does exactly what an amplifier is supposed to. It amplifies the source. Badly engineered CDs sound badly enginered. Quality Cds where the sound engineer has spent time getting the sound right sound wonderful. If the source is musical then the sound is musical, if the source is dull then the amp doesnt compensate for this weakness. Its very neatral. Detail is amazing. As such the amp allows the user to tailor sound to suit by selecting speakers which produce the sort of sound the listener likes. so those that complain of weak bass etc should perhaps look at the speakers or the source.
I listen to all music from rock to reggae, to garage to classical. Even some heavy metal. This amp just gets on and delivers.
Even though the amp is limited in power it is sufficiently loud to fill my lounge with music, rock and reggae can really pulse and I can feel the music as much as just hear it.

Remember listening to music is about listening to music. Sound is very personal. Partnered with a good source and speakers that produce sound to ones taste then this amplier will not disappoint.

Amplier design has changed much over the last 25years. Digital technology has. I now intend to upgrade my CD player. I have full confidence this amplifier will just allow the new player to improve my system. Its that good. Highly recommended.

Customer Service

Never had to contact audiolab. the amp has never failed.

Similar Products Used:

Sansui 3900z reciever, nytech amp, rotel reciever....all going back over a 25 year period.

Features, neutrality

Lack of "peps", no remote control

It is a review of the 8000A-mkIII model. Very well build. Low, elegant profile. Many, many nice features. But the sound is disappointing : neutral but not very detailed, compared to NAD 214, with NHT SuperOne speakers. The value rating is for the price I paid for a used, but in perfect condition Audiolab.

Similar Products Used:

Denon PMA-560, Adcom, NAD

pre-out mm & mc selection solid build

non at this moment of time

bought this amp, 8000A, afew yrs back. still can't get enought of it. the sound is very neutral & clean. sound tends to get better when this amp got heated up. even though this amp looks slim but it is very powerful & heavy. the tone controller has little impact on the sound reproduction. this amp is very rigid & does not give me any problem for the pass five yrs of usage. Clarity is the keyword for this amp. a very relaible & gd amp.

Neutral Versatile - tone controls also allow use as a boombox for parties Low-noise mc preamp Reliable Still very good value for money. Still holds its own when playing back digital media Superb when playing back vinyl.

Difficult to think of any, but here are some nitpickings: Mc preamp is as good as you'll get in an integrated amp at this price, but isn't the most transparent. If I were buying new, I would use a dedicated mc phono preamp, but of course a mc preamp plus a modern integrated amplifier of similar neutral characteristics would cost much more than an 8000A. Doesn't like 4 ohm loads - the power-trannie protection circuit cuts in at quite low levels (volume control at 12 o'clock) when driving 4 ohm speakers with a large reactance. Some combinations of this amp and particularly clinical, analytic CD players can sound unmusical. Take the amp with you when auditioning CD players and other digital sources. If you want an amp that sound loud, the 8000A is not for you. If the weather is hot and the sun is falling on the amp, the protection circuit cuts in at quite low levels

I bought this shortly after it came out, in the mid-80s I think. I liked the neutral sound, mc preamp (I would never go back to mm!) and tone controls - defeat them for audiophile listening, enable them and feed a subwoofer for parties. In the last week, after some 15 - 20 years, the amp has developed its first fault. A power trannie has gone. I thought that the sensible thing was to buy something new with remote control, but I didn't hear anything I liked at an affordable price, so I'm going to fix it. Does anyone have a circuit diagram to help me make sure I fix the right fault? :o) This is an amp which does most things pretty well. A £ 1000 combination of a dedicated MC preamp and an integrated amplifier does sound noticeably better. But at the price, there's nothing IMHO to touch it. Even at double the price, there's nothing to touch it - and £ 1000 is three times the price

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I use this with an Audio Technica AT-31E in a Thorens TD166 MkIII. I bought all three at the same time - they make a nice combination, sounding a lot better than more expensive combinations.

Liability, strong enough, and even if they say the sound is boring, you don`t get bored of it in the long terms.

The look could be better

I bought my Audiolab8000A in january 99. I still have it and I`m still satisfied with this amplifier. It have been said about this amplifier that it is boring and with no good or bad sides. In othe word, as I see it, it is neutral. in many ways this is good. By changing source for sound and speakers, you can get the sound you want via an neutral amplifier. A tip for you who have one of this amplifiers who`s about to be rear: change the power cord. I made my own cord from a solidcore earth cable. 2,5 square mm x3. this made it sound more power full. I altso have a x condensator who`s made to stand 250volts atached in a contact for the wall. This works as a kind of noise filter. it does not improve the sound, but take away noise.

Clarity and strength of full range sound.

Sometimes shows up poor quality recordings and ruins some of my fav. cd''s

Crisp clear and very neutral. Good range of configurations with bi-amping (which I personally use) and classic styling.

accuracy, speaker load tolerance, power, firm control

dry, clinical sound, lack of detail in the highs, simple unengaging.

this amp sounds more powerful than it is. it has firm control over the music, even with very difficult speaker loads.
the tonal balance is very flat and accurate.
however this is not all good news - the sound is so dry and clinical it`s boring to listen to. also the highs are not detailed.
after listening to this amp i could hardly find any faults, nor qualities - I simply had nothing to comment about it!
compared to marantz KI or (better) AA puccini, the audiolab is very 'right', but very boring. it makes the music sound dry and lifeless.
try comparing to AA puccini/marantz KI and you will be amazed.

Similar Products Used:

marantz pk66-KI signature, audio analogue puccini

transparent sound powerful and articulate sound fully engaging good separation for an intregrated

clinical sounding a bit cold at times

i recently bought the audiolab 8000a for myself as an entry into hi-fi and was astounded this do not sound entry at all they sound very good high end . played cai qin on it and it astounded me with its clarity it is able to drive any speakers with apomp and flair... that is characteristc of high end amps....


the downside is that it is clinical and will tell you that a component or a cd is not of good quality awfully revealing ... since now that audiolab as been taken over the audiolab 8000a is a limited amp...

very happy with my choice of the amp the reviews say it all they are really a fine set of amp for anyone considering to buy it dont wait head down to look for a pair of second hand 8000a might get it cheap and i would call it a steal.

The only downside is that it may sound a bit clinical and cold at times especially at night.

for the awesome value and quality i would give it a 5 stars!! well done audiolab

Similar Products Used:

krell 300i musical fidelity nuvista bose bel canto design

Clean, detailed, uncoloured. You get out what you put in!!!

None at current second hand prices. Matching equipment essential.

I was looking for a reasonably priced integrated amp to drive my Monitor Audio Silver 8i's. My dealer happened to have a pristine used 8000A which a customer had traded in. I remembered the excellent reviews this amp received in the mid 90's so I decided to give it a try against a selection of the latest amps from various manufacturers. My source is a lowly Yamaha CDX 493 (for now!), so to give the rest of the equipment a fair chance, I hooked up the Arcam xxx and the Marantz CD Ki Sig also. Overall, this old classic does the business for me. True, it's neutral uncoloured sound clearly shows up bad recordings and equipment, but if you like clinical and accurate sound reproduction as I do, then this is the one. As I paid half the price of the other new amps for the 8000A, I will put this towards my next CD player. Ha! Ha! Ha!

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Arcam A75 Diva, Roksan Kandy KA1, Musical Fidelity XA-A2

Neat Looks, Good MC Phono Stage

Non Existent Harmonic Resolution, No real treble detail, Mushy Bass

I was very anxious to listen to this Amp that so many people were raving about, so i borrowed one for a week from a friend.
I had great expectations but i was very disappointed.
The Bass was Mushy almost Unidentified, and big Kettle Drums lacked the impact and the characteristic sound of the vibrating skin that ALL other Amps conveyed with ease (Even the 2x25w Cyrus I)
Real treble resolution beyond around 12KHz was missing, and Cymbals completely lacked the decay after they had been struck.
Listening to Vocals and Piano Music, also makes you aware of 8000A's biggest weekness, which is almost non existent Harmonic Resolution (This is why most people find it too Dry). The Fundamental notes are there but the richness and timbre of Classical instruments and Vocals are Missing.

Another worrying thing was that the protective circuit of the amp tripped several times when listening at medium-high listening levels, even though the speakers 8ohm, 90db/1m(Rogers LS8a) are an easy load.
All other amps used drove the speakers with ease, while at the same time sounding light years better.

Similar Products Used:

Mission Cyrus I, Mission Cyrus II, Onyx OA-30, Onyx OA-31