If I would be in London I will lend my favorite audio equipment to Kelvin, just to hear his opinion about it and help him do more videos like these. Thank you, Kelvin!

Best show on the tube, keep up the good work

The best review channel is kelvins. Speaks in layman’s terms and 100% honest. What more can you ask for. A bit gushy. Love it

Really like how you describe sound. This is how I hear it too, not as they describe it in the shallow magazine

Accuphase c280, with phono, is simply fantastic. Its just like you described, but includes great phono. Also built like a tank with dual mono configuration (two power transformers). Best preamp i owned (and still owning).

I love this review: “It alters everything that goes through it….” As you describe it, the Music seems to be dipped in the champaign coloured front!

Hi Kelvin, I saw your review on sunday. On monday i saw an accuphase c-202 here in my home town for sale. I bought it yesterday, on tuesday. You are so right with your description of it's sound. This is a really good machine and your reviews a better than the machine itself ;-). Keep on going this way. Your are great. Greetings from Cologne, Guido

inky black back ground kevin lol i love my accuphase kit never wanted to change it. great down to earth description mate

Kelvin, I enjoy your descriptions and analogies. This was very entertaining. Keep up bringing the content. Tin Pan Alley is one of my favorites!

You're becoming one of my favorite reviewers. The way you describe audio does give the sense of what's important when it comes to listening to music. So many of these modern audiophile companies are resorting to IC chips and surface mount components and just putting it in a nice machined box. These parts are absolutely sonically inferior but also cheap and unreliable and when they go you're pretty much SOL. When I buy audio gear I make sure to see a guts shot. We should all know what are the good types of components so that we can recognize value but also serviceability in the future.

Accuphase is a top notch company I had way back the Tuner from then building quality the best I ever see on a Audio equipment. As I moved around the world because working in Hotel biz I sold it. It was sold within a day that speaks for it self about this brand name.

'poetic analogies' along with 'controlled', love that combination, which may sound weird if you haven't heard it. It matches my experience with Accuphase. Happy that you have the same opinion like so very often.

Hi kelvin, love your reviews they're so entertaining and you've got a bit of a comic touch as well which makes me chuckle!

Nice review, Kelvin! I own the Accuphase E-202- the integrated amp that they had at the same time as your C-202. A spectacular piece of electronics. Sadly, the phono stage is no longer working properly, as well as a couple other things. According to the Accuphase repair facility, having it refurbished is not cost effective and the new ones are out of my price range. Bummer.

I bought a tube preamp in the same price range and haven't regretted it

Kelvin, I love your honest opinion of the audio gear out in the world, this video as well as the others are really a lot of fun to watch. Thanks!

beautiful machine

Thanks for a great review Kelvin, I've watched a few of your reviews now but up until this point none have cost me money... until now. Having always wanted to try an Accuphase amp and being in the market for a preamp right now, off the back of your review I've just gone and bought one of the European sourced C-202s currently listed on eBay. It's due to arrive in a couple of weeks so very much looking forward to confirming your findings. I'll be combining it with my Audiolab 8000CDM transport via a Denafrips Pontus II DAC into some 90's KEF Reference Model Three speakers. Can't wait.

"Goddamn great" is a great analysis! HiFi engine has brochures for that piece. Lovely!

Love this Kelvin. This is right up my street. I listen primarily via CD and have started looking at older kit (thanks to your reviews). Bought a second hand Classé CDP-202 a few weeks ago. Only 15 years old so you might think it's a bit of a youngster. It was interesting what you were saying about bass through the Accuphase as the CDP-202 has my modern transport and dac beat for bass, scale, detail and agility but ultimately just doesn't have the same 'foottapability' as my modern combo. I like them both equally but for those different reasons. Hi-fi is a funny old game. I now want that pre-amp!

One of my favourite channels! Love the reviews keep it up!

After this video, i have purchased this pre. Your comments are extremely accurate. Really romantic sound with P-7000 and FS Ktema when using cd input. Really black background. For some type of songs she is better than a C-2420.

90's is modern to me too! Great 👍 review again Kelvin, thanks. Cheers !!

Great review Kelvin. I recently added a phono stage in front of my Sansui AU217 MkII, even though it has one built in. I spent a lot of time and money on this amp, exchanging electrolytic and poly caps, resistors, connectors and wiring for really well regarded alternatives. It sounds brilliant for an amp that cost £200 in 1980 but there was more background noise on the phono stage than I was happy with. So, enter the ifi Zen Phono for £150 and the difference if night and day. Hiss is gone, detail retrieval and dynamics dramatically improved. I never considered going for a separate phono stage, when amps of a certain age had them built in, until I noticed that all the vinyl loving reviewers on here seemed to insist on them. So glad I took the plunge.

As always, a very accurate review! Thanks Kelvin.Keep it up!

It is a beautiful looking bit of gear for sure! I will try to find one to listen to.

Outstanding as always. Keep up the great work.

I owned an Accuphase C200 and P250 in the very late 70's, speakers were Gale GS401A and a Technics SL110/ SME 3009 S2 fixed shell with the Shure V15 III. The C200 had a very nice phonostage. Sounded great but was much improved when the Gales were replaced by B&W DM6. Kensonic Accuphase gear is still at the top end with their beautifully made gear.

Great stuff and very informative, keep em coming!

Great watch, with your honest perspective on things. I think I might just have to take the plunge.

The C-202 was the 'entry level' model in late 1980s, above it was C-200L, C-270, and C-280L. But it would be around US$2,000 in 1988, crazy money. Accuphase is about high component quality and engineering standard, (some) people are willing to pay for it.

I just sold an earlier C-222 preamp and P-11 power amp. Fantastic sounding solid state amplifiers. What made me sell, I bought a Muzishare X-5 tube amp. Jazz through the tube amp running in triode mode to me sounded more intimate than the Accuphase combo. Hooked on tubes now. Another little gem I have is a China made EL84 4w single ended amp powering a pair of Klipsch R-51 speakers with a 93dB efficiency. Sweet sounding combo.

I owned the Acccuphase amps E-205, E303X and E-405 and agree with you. It's so nice to listen to. But even the small E-205 had a lot of power and control. I used it with Spendor and later T&A. Just mindblowing. Accuphase CD players were also state of the art. But man, really expensive.

Yes you should! Another great review . Cheers

Enjoyed this review for the description of the sound characteristics of this Accuphase unit. They are what I have been striving for with CD for years. I finally found it with the combination of the Audiolab CD transport and MDAC Plus. As described by Kelvin here: no digital artifacts, smooth, silky, liquid analogue like sound reminiscent of a good turntable.

This is a sensual and luxurius video!

there is one for sale for over a 1000 on eBay at the moment. There are a few pictures of the inside of one of these on the web too. Looks like a work of art in there. Certainly really well made.

Great review, I really enjoyed it.

Good stuff.. Thanx Kelvin ur reviews are very enjoyable. keep going please

iI confirms the image of the brand.👍👌

Hi kelvin considering it’s age would you think it should be recapped , which of course would add to the cost but in reality it may still represent good value for money compared to trying to achieve the same results from a peace of modern hifi equipment . Best wishes and kind regards 😀👍👍👍

Nice to see you floating

Hi Kelvin. Mate, if you like it that much and you can afford it then buy it. Great Japanese high end company with awesome kit, to boot. Life is short so don't deny yourself. As the saying goes, "can't take the money with you when you're gone"! The Egyptians tried it with their expensive trinkets back in the day and now most of them have ended up in museums: go figure! Great channel, great content and context as usual. All the best.

I would have known there was a 'secret' push panel because I had a Pioneer pre-amp that looked almost exactly like this one.

Oh now I want one! Try a class A amp from Accuphase... like the A-45. Thanks for the interesting review!

Great review Kelvin..thx. Do you have any Rotel gear from the mid eighties to mid nineties..really think they produced some of the sounding budget or midfi hifi in this period. Looking foward to your next review!

Another great review. Greetings from Italy.

I have a Sony Pre-Amp from the same time. It also have Rca and a balanced Cd line in. The Cd line in is the less good of all line inputs.

Accuphase never made an 'affordable' range - but Luxman used to! The L-113A and L-114A integrated amps in my collection have many of the qualities you describe (plus a phono stage) and these models can usually be picked up for less than £200. The earlier L-1 and L-2 are worth a look, too.

Class is permanent. £3500-4500 (at least) worth of sound quality at today's inflated prices. Grab it have it serviced and keep.

Love your passion

Great review! Would love to know how it sounds with a good vinyl source via a decent phono preamp.

Im picking up an old set of JVC speakers today... going to replace the mids and tweeters with Vifa's that Ive had for 20 years. Curious how the result will sound. :) The Vifa mids are large dome mids like a huge tweeter in appearance.

Hey Kelvin Good 2 c u back mate! Totally agree with comment below😊 If u c this as it’s @ a wk old could you do some on cartridges? I imagine you have a few. Also mayb as an xtension on that, stylus profiles. I’ve read that if a record has groove wear from an elliptical stylus wthr sound can b restored when played with a Shibata type. Do u know anything about this? 🌞

Nice review.

I LOVE components that add luxury. What's that square speaker driver in the back on the left?

Hey, love your review. I just wondered what happened when you put an external phono stage through one of it’s inputs?

What do you mean when you say "it alters everything that goes through it"(13:04)?

Try C-240 sometime later pls to compare.

Interesting Kevin. 3 years ago I inserted a Accuphase mid 80 F15 active crossover into my All Linn JBL system. It also took me 5 minutes to remove it from the signal path. Accuphase really coated a layer of golden butter to everything. A lot of emotions and leading edges were missing. I lost a lot of transparencies. . Also the Linn preamp you are using was not one of Linn’s better offer. Apple to appleLinn Kairn of same period might be better comparison.

What baffles me is that they left the non-CD circuitry in place. Why on earth, if you develop a much better sounding signal path, leave a less good in the box?? I mean, take a proper real to reel machine, and it probably benefits even more from the CD signal path than a CD player… But in this design the RTR has to go through the inferior signal path?

Kelvin. Now you know your next task. Find a pre amp sub £600 that you can honestly say has the same qualities as the Accuphase. Then we can all go out and buy one 🤔😉

I have always yearned for an accuphase amp, they exude quality. I want an integrated amp though. Although pricey and heavy to ship…Why not just add an external phono amp?

Thanks for another interesting review. Do you have any plans to look at Croft Acoustics hybrid amps? I'm considering his integrated r amp.

Love your channel. I have a question, When I grow u in Brooklyn NY as a DJ the Phase Liner 400, and 700 power amps were very popular. We knew that Crown amps were better, but we couldn't afford those. I would like to get a Phase 400 again. Do you think they held their rep, or should I look at something else.

what cd player did you use

Cheapest on HifiShark is over a thousand pounds. You'll have to sell some stuff Kelvin.

Never disgrace on accuphase :)

Best nice youtuber better than high darko

Another great way to let off some steam ! Iron your top 🙈👍😂😂😂

sounds good if you want to sell it let me know Does it have phono inputs did you try?

I've never been a fan of Linn or Naim amplification. To me it sound is too brittle and sterile. YMMV. Whatever suits your ears and taste.

Heureusement que cela marche, vu le prix astronomique des produits accuphase !!!

Blimey Kelvin, get a room for goodness sake

That’s what I don’t get : why having a hobby for 40 plus years …and still refrain to buy a good preamp for only 700 quid ?! I mean, don’t you want to finally get the sound quality many people are looking for by searching the „holy grail“ ? Nw, you personally checked it out, love it …and hesitate because of 700 quid ? Are you looking for your dream preamp for only 400 quid, or what?! I mean everyone knows how much HighEnd stuff is (and was back then)…700 quid…I guess almost every of your viewers here would buy it at an instant!! …I don’t get it! 🤷🏻

I'm glad you don't accept free gear. So many reviewers get free gear an pretend it doesn't influence their opinion. They're like politicians

All this old shit does not deliver. I have had different high-end Luxman pre amps, and Sony 9000 ES, they certainly does not sound good.

Ah The Kenwood big brother.