Copland CSA-14 Integrated Amplifiers

Copland CSA-14 Integrated Amplifiers 

DESCRIPTION

60 watts

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 17  
[Nov 19, 2006]
stevebatt
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Clarity, Tonal balance, value for money and pure listening pleasure.

Weakness:

no MC input

System: Townshend Elite Rock, Modified RB250 and Goldring 4200.
Marantz CD63se II KI sig. Castle Howards.

I replaced a mission Cyrus 2 / PSX with this amp and have never looked back - Soundstage widened, huge improvement in clarity and dynamic range. Partnered with the Howards the bass is tight and well controlled, admittedly these are quite an easy load, but I have stuck with this setup for nearly 10 years now because it would cost so much to realise such a large leap in performance.

Female vocalists may as well be in the room ! Awesome.

Similar Products Used:

Audiolab 8000a
Mission Cyrus 2 plus PSX

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 03, 2004]
Paul Mestrom
AudioPhile

Strength:

Very good, emotional sound!

Weakness:

None; the only thing is that I miss the remote control!

Only a few words: what a sound!! I used this amp after a Marantz PM80SE, an Audiolab 8000a; and a Marantz SR 7200 (a pityful sidestep to surround!!)What a good feeling to be back at "normal" stereo. As a professional conductor I was alway looking at devices that gave me the musical expression and emotion that is included (hopefully) in every performance. Whit this amplifier I can hear that emotion and judge a performance after its musical parameters without being bother to listen to electronics!

Similar Products Used:

Audiolab 8000a

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 16, 2002]
Art Burt
AudioPhile

Strength:

Very good bass and mid range. Imaging is amazing and very accurate.

Weakness:

none

I have had this integrated for over 3 years now and it is still in my system while everything else has changed. I have had 1500 dollars of upgrades done to this Copland and it sounds incredible. It is rated at 67 watts per channel but like others have said, that is underrated. I recently purchased a pair of Focus Audio FR78''s which are a very good speaker but hard to drive. The Copland drives them nicely. After the upgrade I took the Copland directly from the technician''s shop to Audio Two in Windsor. Glen had a Pre Power Chord playing for several weeks and it sounded terrific. We then put the Copland in and it sounded even better. All who were there at the time agreed that the Copland not only sounded as good but better and it needed some run time to break in the upgrades. The rest of my system is a Meridian 508-24 cd player,Cardas Golden Reference interconnects and Cardas Neutral Reference bi-wired speaker cables.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston,Sim Audio,YBA,Classe'',Antique Sound Labs,Conrad Johnson,many many others.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 09, 2002]
David Nutkins
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great sounding can rock but better with acoustic music natural vocals with stunning clarity and bags of detail

Weakness:

Can lack a bit of weight but generaly sounds great

Great sounding can rock but better with acoustic music natural vocals with stunning clarity and bags of detail used with sonus faber speakers a great match and very musical makes you enjoy the music not the equipment.

Similar Products Used:

Densen Beat Lentek and Audio LAB mission

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 29, 1999]
Jon Leonardsson
Audiophile

Strength:

Deep clean bass, detailed.

Weakness:

Nothing

This is the best amp i have heard to date, I had it up against the primare 30.1, but the Copland was the better one. With a deep clean bass, a lot of details it can be nothing but a winner.
It only says 2x60W, but it does not sound like that, it sounds like a lot more.
This is a serious product for the serious listener.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 17, 2001]
Marcus Schuerstedt
Audiophile

Strength:

good soundstage, enough power

Weakness:

no remote

I wanted to use the Copland as an interim solution, but know I am really impressed. Just bought a used Martin Logan CLS II. Did not believe the Copland can handle them - but it can!!! And very good. The ML needs lot of power and goes below 2 Ohm. But the Copland just do it. It plays very well. Never expected such a good sound from such a "cheap" solution (I bought the CSA 14 for only $350). It even has a protection circuit - once I did a very loud testdrive of a very deep sound. The Copland just made a click - I thought now I crashed my amplifier - but after a few second it came back to life again. I am listining to vocal jazz and some classic - I can only recommend this amlifier. If one can get a used one for such a special price I did - go for it!

PS: I will exchange the tubes - you can bid for E88CC on ebay.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 12, 1997]

copland csa14

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
[Jan 05, 2000]
Sanghoon Kim
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Very high built Quality, Effortless drive

Weakness:

Problematic with high capacitance cable.

It is no doubt taht the quality side of built and finish of any product from Copland is top notch and CSA-14 isn't an exception. I like its cotrolled sound even at high volume and it is capable of delivering more power than its claimed 60w per channel. But, I found one thing particulary annoying to me. If I connect a cable TV to this amp via VCR or even directly from TV, it creates loud hum. This is very nasty thing to me since I have Dolby processor and surround speakers and can not enjoy surround sound because of this problem.
I wonder anyone exprencing this problem by conencting a Cable TV souce to this amp, otherwise I would recommend this amp to anyone seeking into true hi-fi experience.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[May 03, 1997]
Steve Graham
an Audio Enthusiast

I demoed the CSA-14 in a system comprising a Micromega Leader CD player, and Sonus Faber Concertino speakers using Transparent Reference cabling. The system played classical music very well, in particular Faure's Requiem was rendered most authentically. The system sounded a touch overblown with Rock however and my impression was that this amp is not great at really controlling speakers, something the Sonus Fabers need. With the correct speakers (PROAC reference 1's maybe) though I think it could really sing.
For me however there are better amplifiers (Naim for one) available for the price.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
[Dec 20, 1997]
Ferenc Temerini
an Audio Enthusiast

I had a previously owned Copland CSA-14 amp. It impressed mewith its bold, dynamic sound, but after a few weeks I learned
its drawbacks: flat, two-dimensional, sometimes dull.
Since I don't know nothing about the operating time of the tubes,
I thought that a tube replacement would be useful. I sent a fax
to Xena Audio Sweden, the producer of Coplands, asking some
question about it.

They don't answer my questions. They don't answer anything at all.
I repeated my fax four or five times, but nothing.

I sold my amp.

Sound: 2 stars
Guys at Xena: 0

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
Showing 1-10 of 17  

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