Arcam Owners Thread

Good show! I'm a proud owner of an AVR350 (about 2mos. now). Excellent AQ with a noise floor somewhere down around China...

Nice to see an Arcam thread. I have been a happy AVR300 owner until about a month ago when I started having problems with digital audio. It does appear though that help is on the way

Check out the thread below, where John Dawson from Arcam responds:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=862512

Currently I'm waiting for some news on how to get my unit serviced in Japan (unit bought in New York).

SMS1977,

I'm also a very satisfied Arcam owner. Have had an AVR300 and DV78 for some 18 months now and a barely run in CD36 in my stereo area. Still totally happy with the HT kit even though they are base AV models and the CD player is simply amazing. Whilst nothing is certain in life, it would have to take a serious problem to move me away from a future Arcam upgrade. Glad akhter appears to be on track to resolution; I really respect that attitude from a company.

I have the AVP700 and the P1000. I have been very satisfied until a recent issue with the AVP700. Having distortion issues with all inputs. I heard there was a group of units with motherboard problems. I can say my dealer has been very proactive and helpful thus far. He has passed the unit off to Arcam for review.

Assuming my AVR300 gets fixed I plan on adding a Mac 252 for my mains (B&W N804). IMHO arcam makes great pre/pro & source components but their amps seem a little underpowered, by Mac standards . I wish they would make a big iron 300+wpc amp

My Sister (Brother-in Law) has na Arcam AVP-700 and it just started having "dropout problems with any input that is DD 5.1. If I change to DD 2 channel or Mono mode it is great, but the sound simply breaks up when passing a true 5.1 signal.

This happens with both coax and Toslink inputs (DVD and Cable Box, respectively).

I thought it was a bad cable box cable until I tried the DVD.

Will get with the local dealer about this.

While Arcam may not have the latest & greatest features with its associated incompatibilities & headaches, its the absolute sound quality & analog stage that matters. People so often go for the latest features without realizing how important the analog stage can be in a receiver or prepro because ultimately everything audio has to be converted to analog. Just my 2 cents from a happy AVR300 owner.

Great to see a dedicated Arcam thread! I've had the AVR300 for 1.5 yrs and am extremely happy with it. I thought I would do more HT with it but I keep coming back to 2-channel sound (my Gallo Ref. 3.1 mains might have something to do with that ). Looking to upgrade my source next.

For speaker cable, I use Kimber Kable 8TC. http://www.kimber.com/Products/LoudS...s/8TC/8TC.aspx

I would be greatly interested in hearing about what sources others have paired with their Arcam receivers/amplifiers.

Thanks to all.

I previously owned an AVR300, which was a fantastic piece. I'm strongly considering picking up a processor/amp combo from them once they release something that supports the new audio formats on Blu-Ray.

I use the Arcam CD73 (kimber hero interconnect) with my AVR300 to B&W N804 mains. I biamp mine (using the 6+7 channel option) with kimber 4tc/8tc combo (wbt terminated).

The Arcam could pass the current codecs that are available if it captured the audio from the HDMI input...right now that input is for video switching only.

When I bought an HD-DVD player and BR player...I sold my old Lex and bought Yamaha 5990 to handle the audio via HDMI. I loved it....but I was underwhelmed by my rear soundstage.

I tried different speakers vs my Paradigm 470's, I tried some difussion panels and nothing seemed to help. I read the review of the 350 in WSR and contacted a dealer.

My plan was to use the analog outs from the Toshiba and panny units for the new codecs and apply the matrix processing for 7.1 set up. To my dismay, you couldn't apply processing when using the analog inputs. I was ready to throw in the towel. On a whim I hooked up the Toshiba via digital coax and put in the Region 2 HD-DVD of the Harry Potter movie...jumped to the dragon battle/competition scene. I was BLOWN AWAY with how involving the DLPIIx processing was with the Arcam. My rears and side speakers opened up to new levels that I had never heard before.

I have become a true Arcam customer. I will wait until they come out with a processor that can extract the audio from the HDMI signal...until then I am content.

Akhter,

Very nice setup!! Having the AVR300, I've been interested in demoing an Arcam CD player. Did you listen to other players before deciding on the CD73? If so, may I ask which ones and what drove your decision to go with the Arcam unit.


A couple of other CD players I'm interested in are:

Rega Apollo
Music Fidelity A5 (probably out of my price range though )

SMS1977,

I don't recall exactly how much I paid. I bought two 8-ft runs for my mains and I'm pretty sure the total was in the $200-250 range. I've seen quotes on the internet for Kimber 8tc cable at $15 per foot.

Help!
I'm going crazy trying to get my D2 to play the DD sountrack of any DVD played on my Arcam DV29 connected via HDMI. I get either channels out of place, or a very loud high-pitched squeal.
-- The Arcam is set to bitstream/ 6-channel, and the d2 is set to receive audio via HDMI.

Does anyone have an idea as to what is going on?

Check and make sure that the DV29 passes both video and audio through HDMI. I recall reading somewhere that the DV29 outputs only video through HDMI.

Edit: checked the brochure and I'm wrong...the DV29 should pass HDMI audio. I'm not familiar with your reciever. Sorry to be of no help.

Its wasn't crazy...I am not sure we are allowed to talk actual prices of non-sponsored cables, but i recall spending around 600-800 for all my kimber cables. My general rule is to spend no more than 10% of a system cost on cables etc.

I auditioned the low end Naim CD Player (forget which model, but it was about $1200) and the Linn Genki ($1800) and the $800 rotel CD player. In the end I really couldn't tell them apart (except they all sounded better than my Denon 2910 universal player). I went with the CD73 because:

1) I matched my AVR300 in looks
2) I could use my AV300 remote (CR80)
3) I could upgrade the CD73 to a CD192 for close to the difference in cost between the two units.

Arcam owner here, running CD23 and AV8 with a Bryston 4B-SST for stereo and Rotel 1075 for multichannel.

I assume you are talking about HD-DVD and Blu Ray?

They talked in general terms in a recent interview that they were going to wait on th sidelines until a format has been decided on ....at least that is my talk on what they said.

Ron

An Arcam FMJ CD33 player is included in my current audio gear.

It is a great machine, but in all honesty I'm still wondering if the DIVA CD192 could have been a more sensible choice.

Speaker wire should be matched to the speaker, not the amp/receiver. In my case, an all Vandersteen 5.1 system, AudioQuest is a great match. I have also tried Cardas, KimberKable, but always return to the AudioQuest