No reason to change (Arcam Alpha 8)

Member Name: kieranmoore

Product:	Arcam Alpha 8
Date:	30/07/02 (1969 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sound, Value

Disadvantages: Construction, Looks

I bought an 8SE as part of a setup that included matching an A10 amplifier and an A8 analogue tuner. These were all to use with my existing Pro-Ac Studio 100 speakers.

Construction, as with all the Alpha range, is traditional simple, rather than elegant. Plastic dominates the proceedings here. While there is the feeling of fragility, nothing has broken in the 3 years I have had one of these. Yes, the front-panel buttons are a bit 'clicky', but they don't get used much, as I favour those on the Philips style remote. The unit as a whole is very lightweight, certainly compared to my previous top-of-the-range Sony dreadnought, which was not an easy lift.

Gold-plates connectors at the back, although they too feel a bit flimsy, but are OK thus far.

As I've added other Arcam Alpha equipment to the setup, I've noticed that the screen-print legends on the front of the CD have faded over a peruod of time, and are not as bright as those on my newer equipment.

Sound-wise, this is a great CD unit. So much so that I see no reason to have it upgraded to Alpha 9 spec. I'm not sure of the benefits of HDCD compatibility, but I have no qualms over the sound at all. Ultimately, that's all that matters.

The only irritation I have is that, if you set the display mode to anything other than the default (ie full-bright), this setting is not remembered at next power-up. This differs from the Alpha 10 amp which retains the setting. As I prefer the dimmed setting (as opposed to full-off), this stands out a bit.

Summary: