Dear all,
First post on this forum for me ! I am a happy owner of the 3e A7 amplifier since yesterday (got it from Audiophonics, delivered in 3 days), and I wanted to share my first thoughts with you on this thread, since I found the discussions here very helpful in taking the decision to pull the trigger.
I use the A7 in my main system, it is fed by a Minidsp Flex as the preamp and powers a pair of Triangle Antal EZ.
What I like about the amp:
- superb channel separation compared to the Arcam SA20 it is replacing
- damping factor seems consistently high over the whole frequency range, and this little beast grips the speakers with authority
- a lot of power available without strain
- stability with low impedance speakers such as the Antal
- the footprint of the thing is incredibly compact
What I like less:
- auto-off sensitivity. This has been discussed at length in the thread, and I can only confirm it is a bit annoying. Using it with the volume bypass, I cannot reach the low levels I wish for late night listening without the amp going off after 5 min... Using the Minidsp volume control, I need to keep it above roughly -35dB in order to keep the amp alive, while I'd like to listen with Minidsp volume down to -45dB...
- workaround is to indeed use the volume control of the A7 and set the pot at 12 o'clock, then I obtain the listening dynamics I want, including on the low side !
Anyway, the performances of this amp are impressive, and the subjective quality of the low level listening using the above trick to prevent auto-off is superb. If on top of this, as I hope, the amp is reliable over the next years of use, I'd say I've stabilized my audio setup for a while now !
Cheers