Arcam AV860?

[minorc]

Hey all,

Why is it that most major brands( i.e: Denon, Emotiva, Anthem, Marantz) you can find a hundred reviews but you look up something like Arcam, Lexicon, Audio Control and can't find much at all? Is it price point?

I have the opportunity to get an Arcam AV860 for 1/3 of the retail price, barely used but am hesitant to pull the trigger due to no reviews. From what I gather, Arcam is a very good sounding AV/Pre Pro with occasional bugs... thats really it, can't see much else about them.

My plan is to swap out my Pioneer Elite LX701 and use this Arcam as a proper pre, mated with Rotel power amps.
95% HT use 5% music

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

AVP‘s are very complex machines. I wouldn’t worry about sound quality. Only thing I would worry about is reliability in general.

As long as it works perfectly and not defective, should be all good. I wouldn’t worry about lack of reviews.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd stick with the larger players (Denon/Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo/Pioneer maybe even Sony) rather than the boutique brands you mention. 1/3 price could be interesting as the boutique brands tend to be fairly expensive. That they're much smaller players is probably why there aren't so many reviews. Altho here's a similar 850 model reviewed at audiosciencereview you might want to check out. Sound quality differences are mostly in different dsp/room eq goes IMO and I certainly wouldn't rely on a subjective review for such, I'd pick one for connectivity/features/amp power desired. If just used as a pre seems the Denons are doing pretty well with latest models. Availability these days is becoming an issue, tho....