Arcam A18

By Brent Burmester

June 2009

Arcam A18 integrated amplifier. $1899

From the Alpha series of the nineties, to the more recent FMJ badged machines, Arcam amplifiers have acquired an enviable reputation for high integrity musical reproduction. True, every now and again a component from the British company might fail to excite the passions, unless ‘distracted’ is a passion, but their hit-to-miss rate is very impressive.

The subject

Reviewed on this occasion is the junior model in the current FMJ line of amplifiers, the A18. With 50W per channel, this represents Arcam’s idea of an entry-level machine, but ,in terms of pricing, and indeed performance, the A18 is very much a lower mid-market contender.

Visually, the A18 is tidy, but the FMJ look is no longer as fresh as it once was. A green dot matrix display, a fascia over-populated by little plastic buttons, and a biggish volume knob just about sums it up. Wait, I should also mention the headphone socket (well done, Arcam), and 3.5mm socket for your iPud, or what have you. Around at the business end, there are decent binding posts, the usual RCA inputs, two tape loops, a pre-out, and, I’m pleased to report, a proper earthing post for your vinyl cartridge. Sure enough, inside the Arcam there’s a moving magnet phono preamp. There are also tone and balance controls, which are unobtrusive in terms of signal degradation.

Volume is controlled digitally, which means the control knob rotates clockwise from zero to 60, the maximum level, and then back to zero without pause. This is fine, although I prefer a real potentiometer with physical limits on its rotation, particularly as I caught the amp napping once. I selected a mid-range volume setting and pressed ‘Play’, whereupon the CD fired up at max volume, and no amount of urgent knob spinning made a difference. However, as I was about to reach for the mains plug, the amplifier noticed its mistake and settled back down. The fault hasn’t recurred in the two weeks since that episode. Perhaps this odd behaviour is limited to my review sample, which, in any case, seems to have learned its lesson.

The object

The mettle of an amplifier is best tested by speakers with no sense of humour. My Magnat All Ribbon 10Ps – big, German, three-way standmounts with 10 inch bass drivers – were ready to oblige. Not content with puny propulsion, they violate with voltage and volume (that’s one for you Bad News fans). Naturally, the Magnat’s presented something of a challenge to an integrated amp rated at less than half their maximum continuous input power.

While the numbers didn’t quite add up, the A18 took the Magnats firmly by the inductors and gave little sign of loosening their grip. Compared to my more muscular Plinius integrated, it was clear it couldn’t get things moving quite as quickly, the lower registers were a morsel softer in character, and attainable volume levels were less voluminous. But the fact that these were the only apparent relative shortcomings, given the benchmark, was quite an achievement.

Where the Arcam made its biggest impression was in terms of quality, not quantity. Its sound was characteristically even-tempered and pragmatic, free of colouration. It scored well in terms of pacing and it kept everything together at both high and very low volumes. I was also impressed by how the amp conveyed reverberation and echo so as to convey a strong sense of performance space. After many hours of listening I couldn’t detect intolerable departures from the norm in any part of the frequency range, and imaging was very good from left to right.

So accomplished is the A18 that it cons the reviewer into expecting more than would be fair at the price. I was reminded of the amp’s relatively humble nature only in those moments we all look forward to in certain tracks, the sudden stillness before the drums thunder and the guitars - or brass section, depending on your proclivities – try to raise the dead. Here a measure of explosiveness was lacking, one that more costly amps, even of this wattage, would be expected to deliver.

The verdict

In summary, this is a lot of amp for the money, a definite front runner in its price class, and an excellent way to get into high fidelity stereo. It’s flexible, plays well, even at its limits, it’s not shy of difficult speaker loads, and, most importantly, it remains true to the music.