Acurus A200x3 Nice 3 Channel Amp with 200wpc@8ohms or 300wpc@4ohms

megasat16

I bought this amp like 9 months ago and only put approximately 30 hours on it in my HT room. I am 3rd owner of it according to the seller who claims he is the 2nd owner. But anyway, it doesn't matter and I can't confirm it with the 1st owner so take it with a grain of salt on this.

Nonetheless, the amp listed here is in superb condition cosmetically and operationally with hardly any a nick or a scratch. Look closely at the pictures and feel free to ask questions. If I need to rate it to the Audiogon scale, I believe it's a 9 out of 10 scale for age and a very tiny (hardly noticeable) pin head size nick at the bottom of the front panel. I could overlook this one thing and no one could probably notice it unless looking very hard for it.

PRICE is $500 FIRM plus $35 for double boxing with plenty of bubble-wraps and Insured Ground Shipping with FedEx. I just looked at the invoices for what I paid and it's a lot more than $500 for this one. My loss for 30 hours of use and keeping it for 9 months before selling it back!!! :eek:

PayPal is OK but requires PayPal Confirmed Address for shipping. Money Order, Cashier's Check, Personal Check (needs to clear before shipping) are all welcome and accepted.

Specification From Acurus A200x3 Owner's Information (I'll include a copy of it)

Rated Power
200 Watts per channel continuous, all channels driven into 8 ohms
20Hz to 20,000Hz at no more than 0.06% THD

300 Watts per channel continuous, all channels driven into 4 ohms
20Hz to 20,000Hz

Input Impedance
20K ohms

Signal to Noise Ratio: 110dB A Weighted

Edit : Sorry I forgot to say but I have 200+ 100% perfect feedback on eBay. If you want to see my user ID, just PM me. THANKS!

NotaSuv

Fantastic price for a very nice amp.....would take care of the front 3 on a HT system very very nicely.......good luck with the sale...this should go fast...

megasat16

Thanks NotaSuv! It is a very nice amp. The wife is constantly bugging me for keeping 20 plus power amps in another room. So, unless I sell something first, I can't buy another one. LOL


Again, I forgot to say that I'll make sure the amp is 100% operational and use a proper VARIAC procedure to ensure the electrolytic caps are refresh to it's optimal power capacity.

I'll also test the unit for 4 hours a day for 2 days before shipping.

One last thing - LOCAL pickup is warmly welcome in Los Angeles area. Please PM me for details

madmax

I'll take it.
madmax

megasat16

Wow! It's quicker than I thought! Thanks MadMax!

SALES PENDING to MadMax!

I'll run the amp through Variac this evening and test it for 2 days before shipping.

I see a new toy in my Future too!

Thanks again MadMax!

blakeh

Nice grab madmax! I have an Acurus DIA100 integrated amp and I don't think I'd ever sell it because it sounds so good.

WastelandWand'r

See this kind of posting is why I don't like having to work. I come home after 14 hours and see that this amp was posted and sold while I grow older at work.

madmax

WastelandWand'r wrote: »

See this kind of posting is why I don't like having to work. I come home after 14 hours and see that this amp was posted and sold while I grow older at work.

See, this is why I like being at work. I can find great deals when taking a break.
madmax

TG Meat

What is a Variac?

megasat16

Variac is a Variable AC transformer to reduce (step down) or increase (step up) AC line voltage coming from the wall outlet.

Generally, any amplifier that hasn't been in use for more than a couple of weeks or so should not be immediately power up. It's not much of a problem for newer amplifier which is less than 10 years old but it could be damaging for the electrolytic capacitors in amplifiers older than 10 years.

Variac procedure is a general way to prevent the electrolytic capacitors used in the amplifiers not to get damaged by the sudden inrush current from 120V outlets flow through it (by initially applying lower voltage to the amp for a certain amount of time in multiple steps before you adjusted the power to the full voltage). There is no guarantee that it'll always prevent the failing caps but it's a good way to make sure the failing caps or the good caps does not get worse.

WilliamM2

I've heard of using a Variac on equipment that hasn't been powered up in years, but never from just a couple of weeks. I have 20 year old amp in my system right now, never had an issue, although I am thinking of replacing all the big caps out of paranoa, even though they test fine. Hmmm.

Congrats on the sale, nice amp.

TG Meat

That's the reason I like it here, I learn something most everyday.

WastelandWand'r

Madmax,
Good for you lucky dog.

My work frowns on 'extracurricular' internet usage and saves everything to multiple back ups in remote, non connected remote geographical locations to use in hearings later on when they want to run you through the ringer.

I sneak a peek every now and then and then sweat it out waiting for the guys in black suits to kick the door in and swipe my drives for 'examination'.:D

Glad you got the amp, I was looking for something like that to push the front three in HT.

You saved me the bill so all is good.
Happy trails,
Nathan

madmax

Hi Nathan,
If the amp is something you really wanted I would let you get it. I was looking for an amp to power some fairly low quality signals (a keyboard setup) and happened across this one for the same price as the poor sounding "pro-audio" amp I was looking at. For my application it really doesn't matter.
madmax

WastelandWand'r

PM Sent.

madmax

Gave WW the oportunity to snatch it, he decided to wait for something else so I'll still be taking it.
madmax

megasat16

Thanks MadMax for waiting an update for the amp!

Also, thanks to WatelandWand'r and others for the interest in the amp!

Some good news is that I happened to have two units which are bought about the same time and used for only 30 hours but kept them for 9 months. Initially, I bought them to use in my HT setup but I've changed my mind and went with several different amps for my HT room.

I kept them coz I thought I might need them one day for my other home in the future. I am selling them now coz I have an opportunity to purchase a pair of nice monoblocks and the wife wanted me to clean out some of my amps before buying them.

That's why I put one in FM and Max pulled the trigger withing hours.

I will be putting up another one in the Flea Market also if any of you still have interest in getting one.

Update for Max,

I've ran the amp (the top one in the pictures) through Variac (starts at 60V, 5V increment at every 30 minutes till the line voltage to the amp reaches to 115V) and then turn the amp off and remove the variac and plug to the normal wall outlet.

After that, the amps were tested for 2 day with 4 hours session on all 3 channels. The speakers are LSi25 as seen in the pictures and I did not hear any buzz and hum from the speakers when the amp is hooked up but at idle.

And most importantly, the amp sounds good and I think the amps will be up to the task. I will be packaging the amps this evening and post some more pictures here too.

madmax

I didn't realize that price included speakers. Awesome!
madmax

megasat16

madmax wrote: »

I didn't realize that price included speakers. Awesome!
madmax

The wife hated them anyway!

danz1906

Very Nice System.

megasat16

Thanks Dan for the complement.


MadMax, I forgot to tell you that the DC offset are 4.9mV, 8.9mV, and -3.7mV for all 3 channels. I think it's still pretty good. I am packaging the amp tonight!

madmax

megasat16 wrote: »

MadMax, I forgot to tell you that the DC offset are 4.9mV, 8.9mV, and -3.7mV for all 3 channels. I think it's still pretty good. I am packaging the amp tonight!

What does that do?
madmax

megasat16

Just the curious and measuring type of guy I am, I measured it for you without costing extra.

DC offset values does nothing when it's within range which is usually under 30mV. When it's out of acceptable range (something like 50mV or higher), it does the damage to the amp.

The DC offset with less than 10mV is pretty good for an old amp and will stay with you for a long time with proper care!

madmax

So how do you keep it from rising?

megasat16

I measured DC offset coz I wanted to make sure the amp is working as well as it should. I believe there are some people who can explain better than I do. If you have time to read,

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5634

But you usually don't adjust the DC offset unless you definitely need to. You don't need to worry a thing about keeping it from rising or changing coz it won't likely rise in a very long time and you need to know what you are doing.

But as with any electronics equipment or component, it fails when it fails. It's hard to keep it that way and the failure usually occurs in the unsuspected moment.

It's more on the preventive side but you can't keep the DC offset from changing (rising or lowering) as it goes. It'll not likely to change in years and I haven't need to adjust the DC offset of my 20+ years old amp.

But with the aging and thermal runaway, all electronics components such as resistors and capacitors and transistors or even diodes have small variations in their value and it will effect the DC offset somehow but it usually is very small for the owner to worry or consider.

I think I can safely say most amplifier failures are due to heat related or user abuse with over driving them into clipping. By allowing plenty of air ventilation around the power amp, not cranking it up to the full output power, and using the Variac on older amps (if unused for a couple of weeks or more) will generally makes sure the amp to be in good working condition. But everything changes with time and it'll be time when you need to get the amp serviced. But I can say that it's not going to happen soon.

madmax

Oh, I see. Somehow I was thinking of inputs and couldn't imagine having any dc offset voltage there, especially with 10 to 50K input impedence. My bad.
madmax

megasat16

Thanks Chuck! Now for the worse, I found something that needs to be presented to you when I was about to pack the amp last night.

The nick I mentioned is only small size pen head from the front but it's actually is bigger from the bottom view. I didn't notice it till I flipped the amp to roll in the bubblewarps and look close up. I was quite surprised by this myself. May be my eyesight is not as good as it used to be but it's not visible from the front at all.

Anyhow, I took pictures of it close up to make sure you I can represent the amp in the best I could and wait for your decision. I am open to anything if you want to discuss about it including leaving it. I apologies but I was caught in the hideous flaw too.

madmax

HOLY ****, I didn't know it fell out of an airplane! :eek:

When are you ready to ship the thing.
madmax

megasat16

Hehe....Sorry! I should shut my mouth and put my hands into real use instead of sticking it on the keyboard.

Well, it's done and here are the pictures. It's ready to ship tomorrow.

By the way, I couldn't double box it since the smaller inner box was ripped during an attempt to stuff the amp into it. But the amp was packed with layers upon layers of the large bubble-wraps so I believe it should be OK if it feel out of an airplane.

The box size was 24"x24"x12".

I'll ship FedEx Ground Insured as mentioned.

Please PM me your PayPal email address so I can send you a PayPal invoice.

megasat16

MadMax,

PayPal Payment received! Thank you! I've shipped with FedEx today.

You got PM with tracking info.

Thanks,
James

madmax

Thanks!
madmax