Accuphase A70

[Pierre!]

Originally Posted by audio bill

Pierre! - Congrats on your new Accuphase gear, they are truly exceptional products! While the C-2120 provides balanced connection via XLR jacks, it does not have fully balanced internal circuitry as their much more expensive C-3800 does. As a result the benefits of using the balanced connections are of less value, so you should feel free to compare the RCA connections and you may actually prefer them to the XLRs. The issue that you asked about regarding the phase of Accuphase's XLR connections has to do with their polarity. They use the Japanese standard instead of the more common XLR polarity used in other parts of the world. It is not an issue if you connect their pre and power amps with XLR cables as the proper polarity will be preserved. However if you connect their pre via XLR to a different brand component that uses the other polarity standard then the resulting absolute polarity would be inverted. Another such connection in the system would invert it back again to correct phase, and so on... It can get a bit complicated to explain, and with RCA connections you would avoid the issue entirely. The RCAs are also a bit of a 'purer' signal path since they add additional circuitry to handle a balanced input or output signal from unbalanced circuitry.

Thanks for a great explanation :-)

[Dave_72]

Originally Posted by Pierre!

I have just ordered my first Accuphase product - A-70 and C-2120.

Thay have not yet arrived, but can anyone tell me what works great wit Accuphase. XLR or RCA? And witch manufactures of cables work with Accuphase.

Is there something about the phase with Accuphase and XLR cables?

Congrats! Well, in your preamp, there should be a pair of RCA Accuphase cables. I would try those first. As far as others, I like Neotech, and Furutech. Siltech as well, if you can afford it..

[Dave_72]

Originally Posted by audio bill

Pierre! - Congrats on your new Accuphase gear, they are truly exceptional products! While the C-2120 provides balanced connection via XLR jacks, it does not have fully balanced internal circuitry as their much more expensive C-3800 does. As a result the benefits of using the balanced connections are of less value, so you should feel free to compare the RCA connections and you may actually prefer them to the XLRs. The issue that you asked about regarding the phase of Accuphase's XLR connections has to do with their polarity. They use the Japanese standard instead of the more common XLR polarity used in other parts of the world. It is not an issue if you connect their pre and power amps with XLR cables as the proper polarity will be preserved. However if you connect their pre via XLR to a different brand component that uses the other polarity standard then the resulting absolute polarity would be inverted. Another such connection in the system would invert it back again to correct phase, and so on... It can get a bit complicated to explain, and with RCA connections you would avoid the issue entirely. The RCAs are also a bit of a 'purer' signal path since they add additional circuitry to handle a balanced input or output signal from unbalanced circuitry.

Thanks for the info!

[bvdiman]

Originally Posted by Pierre!

I have just ordered my first Accuphase product - A-70 and C-2120.

Thay have not yet arrived, but can anyone tell me what works great wit Accuphase. XLR or RCA? And witch manufactures of cables work with Accuphase.

Is there something about the phase with Accuphase and XLR cables?

Welcome and Congrats Pierre..

Cables are pretty subjective thing, I'm very pleased with Siltech/Crystal Cable, while others Wireworld, Audioquest and so on..
You have to try them for yourself at home to hear which fits best for you (sound, budget etc.).

As Audiobill said, Accuphase run their XLR polarity the reverse of norm/most manufacturers (same with FM Acoustics).
However, this should not be a problem as they have 'phase invert switches' at back of all their balanced units for when you use them with other equipments.

[Dave_72]

Originally Posted by bvdiman

Accuphase run their XLR polarity the reverse of norm/most manufacturers (same with FM Acoustics).

Why do Accuphase and FM do that?

[bvdiman]

Originally Posted by Dave_72

Why do Accuphase and FM do that?

So that I can mix them both together nicely..

[Dave_72]

Originally Posted by bvdiman

So that I can mix them both together nicely..

hahaha.

[wizard]

A-70 review

[Dave_72]

Originally Posted by wizard

A-70 review

Nice!