In Feb. I contacted Arcam support and received, at least for me, an interesting reply which I would like to share with others - hope it helps both to take decision between SA20 vs. SA30 and to better match intended speakers with SA30 :-).
My qeustion to Arcam first:
“Local dealer wasn’t able to specify at which loudness level on Arcam HDA SA20 this amplifier turns out from Class A to Class AB?
He just explained the Class A should be involved from 0 up to 20 Watts, which doesn’t need to correspond to the value “20” on displayed loudness scale (from 0 to 99max).
Q1/ Please, what is the number on the scale between 0-99 where Arcam SA20 turns out from amplifying Class A?
Q2/ Where is this number on the higher Arcam SA30?
Many thanks in advance for your qualified reply.:
Arcam’s reply:
“Hello,
Thank you for contacting Arcam support, I hope you are keeping well.
Yes the Arcam SA20 uses our proprietary Class G amplification, Class A is the first 12w of power then Class AB their after. The SA30 has 15w of class A.
There is no dedicated volume db number that the Classes switch.
Kind Regards,
Tom
Field Support Engineer,
Harman Luxury Audio,
Arcam, JBL Synthesis, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel”
I also started using ATC SCM11. Simply lovely. Lower efficiency, but the SA30 has no problems with that. Quite neutral speaker in itself. Dirac manages to let the ATC’s reveal even more detail more easily.
I am pairing the SA30 with KEF LS50 Meta and the sound is pretty good. I am not a judge of sound of course but had two friends(which are much more advanced) come and check the system. Both of them really liked the sound(I have a BK P12-300 sub).
I’ve seen a number of YT videos where these were paired at some kind of an audio show so I am pretty confident that it is a good match.
So I just ordered a pair of paradigm founder 80f floorstander speakers for my arcam 30. I heard them at the store playing through an arcam sa20 and I was amazed at the sound. Now I know what people mean when they say the speaker boxes disappeared.
They said they will arrive in about 3 weeks. I’m really psyched.
I also bought my SA30 with a pair of SCM11s but quickly changed to SCM19. I was curious what those would sound like since the 11s were so good. 19s are even better, more meaty bass, hard to describe… but not much better.
Hello, does anyone use SA30 with Monitor Audio Gold 200, Sonus Faber Sonetto V or KEF R7? Or maybe someone had a chance to listen to the SA30 with one from my short list? I prefer jazz and rock (but rather soft, e.g., Dire Straits, Sting, Peter Gabriel). I like detailed sound with a deep sound stage.
Hi everyone will have personal choices but I have used Focal Aria 926 Floor stand and 906 Bookshelf through the SA30 - using KEF R3 at the moment but think the Focal sounded better.
I use SA30 with Gold 100. I know local distributor has been showcasing SA30 with Gold 200 during local audio shows.
It seems like a good match, although by default not that detailed. Gold 5G series are different than older MA’s. Top end is very good quality, but a little bit… attenuated.
Fortunately this can be fixed with Dirac Live. Enough to add a bit of the top end, and details are back, keeping same very good quality.
Sound stage with Gold 100 is very good in all directions. Especially depth is nice, it’s definitely not flat, where everything is in the same line as speakers.
After comparing Sonus Faber Sonetto III and V with the Paradigm Founders 80f, I bought the Paradigm 80f’s to replace my very old Driade D90’s.
Sonus Faber is excellent for jazz, classic and guitar music but lacks speed and bass when playing electronic music like Yello. The Paradigm does that much better without sacrificing detail when playing jazz. I am still breaking them in, but I am already impressed by the sound they produce with the SA30.
Congratulations rko! I listened to the sonus faber lumina 5’s and the paradigm 700f. I wanted to demo more speakers, but there wasn’t a lot available for demo in my area. I am really happy that the dealer suggested the 80f’s. I wouldn’t have thought to listen to them.
After the demo, I couldn’t stop thinking about them and then finally ordered them.
I was really happy to read your post. I hope you’re enjoying the 80f’s. They are amazing speakers.
I auditioned several speakers above and below this price range but the Focal 926 stood out massively for me. Add in Dirac and my sub and they are something special. Over a year in and on a daily basis I’m still in awe of how open they sound.
add a decent sub for below 40 or 45, … and then correct with Dirac for below what?
I’m still unclear on how best to use Dirac, with conflicting opinions from “run it full range top to bottom” or “run it below 500hz” all the way to “run it below 45hz”
I also have some of those lovely old Epi 100 speakers, updated with Human Speakers caps/crossovers, tweeters, and woofers. The tweeters were already great though, but the woofers and the new x-overs are now truly superb. I frequently wonder if the Epi are actually better than the Heresy IV, or if they’re just different, and frankly the Epi seem as good or better than pretty much anything I’ve ever heard, up to around $7000 prices, for general household listening: rich, clear, detailed yet non-fatiguing, sound great with any kind of music. AND, the Epi are not picky about placement…
I don’t own the SA30 quite yet, but I’m thinking it might be a good one for either one of those speakers.
BTW… as for ASR, um hey measurements are a starting point but not an end point. There are plenty of products of all types that “measure” perfectly but are ho-hum in the real world. This is especially true about speakers. I had a bunch of ASR buffs practically demand that I admit that I cannot enjoy the Heresy IV because amir’s measurements showed “flaws”… LOL: Hogwash central.
I also tested Audio Physic Classic 15 with my Arcam SA30 and I can confirm - great loudspeakers. In the end, I decided to buy Dynaudio Evoke 30, but Audio Physic was my second choice.
Hi guys I am thinking of replacing my Dali Oberon 5 with either a pair os Sonus Faber Sonetto III or ProAc Response DT8 floor standing speakers.
Anyone have any experience with either.
I love the look of the SF and I am hoping that they are a good match for the SA30 and my room. But I also like the look of the DT8 and also some of the B&W 700 S3 series (though mighty expensive)
Any thoughts are highly appreciated. I am hoping to get an in store demo soon at a local hifi store
Thanks @robibar for that feedback.
I ended up testing out quite a few speakers over a whole day with a provided Arcam SA30 and ordered a pair of Spendor D7.2
Way over my original budget but OMG how good they sounded.
I should hopefully be collecting them tomorrow and looking forward to my future years of listening
I have to say the guys at Audio T in Cardiff were an absolute pleasure to work with and even got an Arcam in as well as speakers I wanted to test.
Some time ago i have replaced my MA Gold 100 5G with Focal Aria 926, and am happy with them. They sound really good. Of course some things were better with Gold’s, but some are better in Aria’s. Overall i prefer Focal house sound, thus i prefer Aria’s
Would be nice to go one step higher, but price difference in case of Focal is just too big for me (or my wife to be exact :D).
For those in EU - homecinesolutions.fr sometimes have really great deals for Focal speakers. For example now they have Aria’s 926 in glossy black i think, for 545€. It’s even cheaper when i got them…
