E-450 or E-460 owners?

[tom_hankins]

Any owners of the class AB integrated amps from Accuphase? Did you compare them to anything from simaudio, Mcintosh, Krell, Boulder? Going to buy an integrated and would love to hear your opinions on the 450-460 AB amps.
Thanks

[cmalak]

Tom...don't have any feedback for you on your question but just thought it might be useful to also highlight for you that Constellation has come out with their new entry level line, Inspiration, with a preamp ($9K), stereo ($10K) and mono power amps ($20K), which debuted in Munich but later this year they will be coming out with an integrated, along with a DAC and phono stage I believe. But the integrated should be at the same price point as the Boulder 865 and the Simaudio 750. So another candidate for you to consider if Constellation is appealing to you as a brand.

[nvp]

4-5 year ago I have compared rather extensively (i.e. for 3-4 days in the same room driving a pair of Focal Micro Utopia Be speakers) quite a few integrated amplifiers from Accuphase, e.g. E-350, E-408, E-450 and E-550. I have written quite a bit about my experience on Audiogon. (In case you will not be able to find my posts there let me know and I will dig them up and paste them here.)

My preference (when driving my Focal MicroBe speakers) was E-550 >= E-408 >= E-450 = E-350. In the end I have bought the E-550 (because the dealer offered me a great price for it), however, I could have bought either of them. All four integrated were very very nice. I would have chosen the E-408 over the E-450 because of the price difference between the two, i.e. the E-408 (which was a discontinued model) was half the price of the E-450 (which was the current model back then). Later, when the E-560 and E-460 models have been released I have also listen them, and again I did not think it was worthwhile to pay almost double for the newer models.

Beside the Accuphases mentioned above I have listen quite a few other brands back then, e.g. Bryston 4bsst & BP-25, Musical Fidelity A5 integrated and cd player, Lyngdorf TDAI 2200, an Ayre integrated & cd player combo(I can’t remember the models now, probably their cheapest), Mcintosh ma6900(or ma6300 again I can not remember) and a few other which I have also forgotten. With the Focal MicroBe speakers I had then, I have liked the Accuphase E-550 & DP-500 combo the most.

[Masterlu]

E-460 happy owner here; I previously owned an MA6600. The Mac just doesn't compare, nor should it since there is an extreme price difference.

[nvp]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

E-460 happy owner here; I previously owned an MA6600. The Mac just doesn't compare, nor should it since there is an extreme price difference.

In Europe the prices of the Accuphase and Mcintosh integrated amps are comparable, e.g. in 2010 the E-450 was 6800 euros while the ma6600 was 7300 euros.

Tom, regarding my brief comment above about the mcintosh integrated, 2-3 years ago I was interested to buy a pair of Dynaudio Confidence speakers, and as such I went with my E-550 to a dealer. There I have compared my E-550 with a Mcintosh integrated amp (most likely the ma6900) in the same room driving a pair of Dynaudio C2 mk2. In spite of the large difference in power ratings, i.e. 60 vs. 200 watts in 4 ohms, the E-550 had better control over the woofers of C2 and sounded overall more relaxed. (The room of the dealer was not very good, however.)

[Sultankat]

Here also a happy E-460 owner. It replaced my E-350: More control. same magic. There's also a lot of positive feedback about the E-550. That makes me wondering why these amps are offered so often second hand here in the Netherlands.

[imprezap2]

Owned a 550,560 and now E-600, all great amps although the last one is easily the best one. (and I am not saying that because having it now)

If you are set on a class A/B amp, the E-460 will be great.