Quote:
Originally Posted by C4STR0
As someone who can't afford to purchase newer Accuphase but loves the brand, i was hoping for opinions on the C280v as a preamp today and in comparison with my current CX-260.
I do love that the CX-260 has remote volume and it's very smooth. It sounds great to me and looks beautiful with tons of inputs and 2 option board slots to keep up to date with DSD DACs(Currently have AD-10 and DAC-50, and i can try different power cables on it. I just wonder how much better a C280v would sound in comparison seeing as it was the ultimate pre amp of it's time and the CX-260 was likely not built to compete like that.
I use a P-360 power amp and it is from 91 and looks and performs flawless and outperformed my "newer" Mcintosh amps. So that gives me a bit of courage to spend big on older Accuphase preamps.
Thoughts?
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According to Accuphase homepage the C-280V was launched 1990.12. Integrated phono preamp, no DAC, no remote control. Thirty years until today is a long time.
Its successors were C-290 (1993.11) and C-290V (1998.12) considered to be the last analog preamp (Mr. Ishizuka from German importer PIA and cofounder of Accuphase: 'the future is digital').
But the future remained analog with the C-2800 (2002.07), the first preamp featuring the newly developed AAVA analog volume control.
The C-260X (2001.04) is a multichannel home theater preamp. Contrary to the C-280V, the C-260X features current feedback technology, first introduced on C-290V. And in Stereo mode 2x 3 preamp modules work in parallel thus improving sound quality.
In 1991 the C-280V was the flagship model, but development never stopped, and every step was clearly audible.
The P-360 (1991.03) was the unbalanced version of the fully balanced P-800 (1988.07).
I used C-280V / P-800 on B&W Matrix 801 (Series 2 and Series 3) from 1991 til 2011.
My advice: only go as far back as you absolutely need to. And if you buy vintage, you should take the cost of an eventually needed overhaul (e.g. capacitors) into consideration.
Martin