Arcam FMJ A49 mega amp now available

When a company as renown as Arcam calls their latest integrated amplifier a “Mega-Amp” you know you’re in for a treat. The new Arcam FMJ A49 is now available in the UK.

Arcam has unleashed their new A49 Glass-G integrated stereo amplifier on this fair isle.

The UK designed and engineered FMJ A49 dishes out 200 Watt per channel which makes this the most powerful stereo amplifier the company has ever produced.

Don’t be mistaken though, this isn’t a muscle car, even though it is built in the United States, as the A49 features Class G power amplifiers which allows the A49 to run in full class A for the first 100 watts and then switches into class AB for anything more you need – all the way up to 400 watts into 8 ohms.

The A49 is a refined powerhouse which offers the lowest distortion ever from an Arcam amplifier. No matter what the speakers, now matter how large the room the A49 has a huge power reservoir capable of delivering a continuous 200 watts per channel (wpc) into 8 ohms rising to 400 wpc into 4 ohms.

We considered having a volume control that went up to 11 – it really goes THAT loud!”

So says Peter Kuell – Senior Engineer, Arcam

The FMJ A49 packs a toroidal-based power supply which, I am informed, has a very large inductor coil. This improves the ability of the power supply to resist fluctuations in output. A stable power supply output means the amp can maintain it’s rated output power under heavy load conditions. Hurrah for the learning!

Talking about power supplies – I like the neat touch of being loaded with an onboard PSU (power supply unit) for Arcam’s rSeries of wired and wireless DACs.

As well as that the unit has an acoustically damped chassis and parallel transistor output stages. You also get dual mono volume controls and a balanced signal path all the way through the product.

The Arcam FMJ A49 mega amp is available now in the UK for £3750 inc VAT and Arcam challenges you to try a piece of music you think you know and then put it through the A49 to hear it how it should be heard. Not only that – they also say it will go toe-to-toe with the competition in the £5k+ range.

Fighting talk? Definitely. Punching above its weight? I’ll let you know when I get to take one for a test drive. All I know is that the Musical Fidelity M6si has already started to work out a bit more recently…

I hope to meet this beast on Friday when I’ll be at Sound and Vision 2015 in Bristol. Let me know if you’re around and I’ll get you a pint!

Tech Specs

Continuous power output, per channel, 8 ohms

- Both channels driven, 8 ohms,20Hz-20kHz, 0.2% THD - 200W

- Single, 4 ohms, at 1kHz - 400W

Inputs - Phono (MM) cartridge

- Input sensitivity at 1kHz - 5mV

- Input impedance - 47k ohms +100pF

- Frequency response (ref. RIAA curve) - 20Hz-20kHz +/- 1dB

- Signal/noise ratio (Awtd) 50W, ref. 5mV input - 80dB

- Overload margin, 5mV at 1kHz - 20dB

Inputs

- Nominal sensitivity - 1V (RCA), 2V (XLR)

- Input impedance - 10k ohms

- Maximum input - 8V (RCA), 15V (XLR)

- Frequency response 20Hz-20kHz +/- 0.05dB

- Signal/noise ratio (Awtd) 50W, ref 1V/2V input - 105dB

Preamplifier output

- Nominal output level - 1.15V (RCA), 2.3V (XLR)

- Output impedance - 47 ohms (RCA), 200 ohms (XLR)

Headphones output

- Maximum output level into 600 ohms - 4Vrms

- Output impedance - 1 ohm

- Load range - 16 ohms-2k ohms

General

- Power consumption (standby) - <0.5W

Dimensions & Weights

- W x D (inc. speaker terminals) x H (inc. feet) - 433 x 425 x 171mm

- Weight (net) - 19.7kg