Arcam Diva A65 plus

How time has moved on: many modern integrated amps now have sections for MP3 players, yet the improvement with sound quality is aguably slower. When I bought my Arcam A65 Plus back in 2005, I was thrilled to bits and still take joy from a relatively old (in hi-fi terms) amp. Sure it doesn't have the bottom end grip of a Roksan Kandy, but a sublime midrange and a sweet, detailed treble is a joy to behold.

In addition, the shed-load of features and inputs means it caters for everyone's taste and budget. It's rather well designed and build quality is superb for the money. That said, it can be beaten on pure sonic terms...just.

For a 'Jack of all trades'amp, you could do much worse than the A65 Plus, as long as you allow for the fairly low wattage (speakers of 89db or more will suffice)then you should have years of pleasure from a fairly underrated amplifier.

I bought the Arcam Diva A65 plus amp 3 years ago and it can really belt out the sound when it has been playing for about 30 minutes. I also bought the corresponding CD player and some B & W speakers but I find myself playing vinyl more often than CD's. (I am getting on a bit). Good quality interconnects make a big difference but that is just routine Hi-Fi advice. I have recently added a second hand Nakamichi cassette deck which also plays well through this amp. All in all a very good British made budget priced amp.

I really like this Arcam Diva A65 amp. Arcam seem to have the budget end of 'proper hi-fi' sewn up. At the price i found it had the sound and looks that i was after. The sound is weighty, yet precise, allowing the whole spectrum of music to be heard evenly.One minor niggle is the volume 'detent' is hard to see, leading to nasty surprises when turning it on after a heavy session! (sorry neighbours!). It's 'only' rated at 40wpc, but i've yet to turn it past the '11 o'clock' point. (my room is approx 5m x 4m. Larger rooms may need more welly). With a set of 5 inputs plus a tape loop, and with pre-outs for a power amp, it's an amp i can upgrade in the future with no worries. Not that i'm planning to just yet, I'm more than happy with it. (Used in conjunction with Arcam Diva CD72T compact disc player and B&W DM602 S3 loudspeakers)