Acurus - What happened and why?

Nelgan · « **on:** 20 Nov 2003, 03:59 am »

After years on the hifi merry-go-round, I have had one hell of an education. You simply do NOT always get what you pay for. In an effort to make myself feel better about all of the money I've wasted over the years, I started to work my way back down through the chain, listening to less expensive equipment with each change.

In my searches, I found one brand in particular that was a seemingly ridiculous value -Acurus. While not terribly sexy to look at, Acurus equipment employed solid circuit topology. In stock form, their pieces were competetive or better than Adcom, Rotel, Parasound pieces at similar price points.

The real revelation, however, came after simple modifications to Acurus pieces. The RL-11, once modified, is free of what I feel was its main weakness: a slight touch of treble grain that held it back from truly stellar performance.

The DIA series of integrated amps were actually quite polite, but lacked that last bit of inner detail. A series of modifications opened them up to the extent that they could go head-to-head with big money separates.

The Acurus amplifiers could actually sound downright bright in some systems, but again, once modified, these (specifically the A100 and A200) were better than many of the big name amps that I have owned.

So it's obvious that these were well designed and reliable products, held back only by cheap parts (a necessary evil at their price points).

So why was the plug pulled? I have listened to numerous Aragon pieces. They are better than stock Acurus items, but fall short of modified Acurus amps and preamps. Was there ever any explanation for the discontinuation of the Acurus line?

Please note that I have owned Rowland, Krell, Threshold, Sonic Frontiers, etc. I'm not comparing performance to Arcam or Musical Fidelity.

Any thoughts?

wongstein · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Nov 2003, 05:42 am »

That's a great suggestion, Nelgan. I think that most, if not all of us can relate to your dissappointment with the merry-go-round and it accounts for a lot of the scepticism that we have of new technology and all the latest products. Certainly it's enough to drive a man to DIY. Just kidding, DIY is FUN and rewarding.

I for one, as a wannabe DIYer would love to hear more about these Acurus mods in as much detail as I can find. I agree that stock, they certainly do offer a lot of good sound. I've had an Acurus DIA-150 in my house side-by-side to a Plinius 8200 which also offers great value at its price point, particularily if you find one used. The stock Acurus does fail to satisfy if you've just gotten home from your favorite dealer 's expensive demo, but you can hear its potential. For what it's worth, I will concur that the list of its easily apparent shortcomings bear an uncanny resemblance to the list of benefits that modders usually claim to bring with quality parts. Are you talking about the Stan Warren mods that I've heard about?

I'd like to add that the Acuri [sick][sic]

... are so cheap on the used market these days, that the value you're talking about would go through the roof and beyond if an easy DIY modding guide was made public.

As for why Klipsch or Aragon would pull the plug, I can only guess. Maybe it's a phenomenon of business and marketing that your own feet are the first ones you shoot when you sink money into R&D and then give the fruit away in your budget line. Or maybe it's all a big conspiracy to keep high-end audio expensive. Did I just get myself barred from the CES?

Mad DOg · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Nov 2003, 06:27 am »

some of the acurus line was integrated into the new expanded aragon line...

viggen · « **Reply #3 on:** 20 Nov 2003, 06:39 am »

I would think it is a smart business decision to can Acurus. Originally, Aragon and Acurus were probably designed to serve different market segments much like Toyota and Lexus. They probably ended up with more cannabolized sales instead. So, the more profitable line stayed. This also cuts down on marketing and production costs immensely.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #4 on:** 20 Nov 2003, 07:09 am »

Quote from: viggen

I would think it is a smart business decision to can Acurus. Originally, Aragon and Acurus were probably designed to serve different market segments much like Toyota and Lexus. They probably ended up with more cannibolized sales instead. So, the more profitable line stayed. This also cuts down on marketing and production costs immensely.

agreed...

Hantra · « **Reply #5 on:** 20 Nov 2003, 02:35 pm »

Heck badman has been using an Acurus amp ever since I have known him, and that's been over two years. Must be some good stuff, but I haven't had the chance to hear much.

Nelgan · « **Reply #6 on:** 20 Nov 2003, 03:11 pm »

viggen wrote:
I would think it is a smart business decision to can Acurus. Originally, Aragon and Acurus were probably designed to serve different market segments much like Toyota and Lexus. They probably ended up with more cannibolized sales instead. So, the more profitable line stayed. This also cuts down on marketing and production costs immensely.

Actually, I have a hard time buying that argument. If that were true, one would have to suggest that NAD should drop all 2 channel models except the Silver Series products. That doesn't seem right!

JackStraw · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 Nov 2003, 04:14 pm »

Quote from: wongstein

I'd like to add that the Acuri [sick][sic] ... are so cheap on the used market these days, that the value you're talking about would go through the roof and beyond if an easy DIY modding guide was made public.

I have a DIA-100 MkII that I was considering selling, but if anyone has info on DIY mods please give me a holler...

Nelgan · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Nov 2003, 01:41 am »

It may be easier to get Acurus owners in one place for exchange of information. So here goes....

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acurusowners/

Enjoy!

Sedona Sky Sound · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Nov 2003, 07:07 am »

Nelgan,
You definitely get the award for most cross-posts of the same message (two on AA an then here

). As for Acurus, I think the combination of newer competition and their sonic reputation made it too hard for them to effectively compete. Back in the early/mid 90's, the basic Acurus selling message was that the amps were built like a tank but were still affordable. Dealers were told to audition the amps with the top off so that the customer could see "the superior construction".

While the sound was much better than with any available receiver at the time, it still did not have the purity or neutrality of most of the more expensive amps. Mix an Acurus amp with the wrong speaker and you are in for an ear-bleeding experience. However, the amps still sold reasonably well since there really wasn't a great deal of competition at their price level (and those at their price level were not nearly as solidly built).

The problem now is that the <$1500 "entry" level is somewhat saturated with amps that actually sound extremely good, use good components, and do not have some of the glaring drawbacks of the Acurus. If Acurus were to put in the better caps, resistors, etc that allowed them to compete sonically with this newer generation of amps, then they would likely have to charge significantly more than the competition (hard for a US made product to compete on price with amps from Thailand and China). This in-turn means they would be competing with their own Aragon line as well as put them squarely against even stiffer sonic competition.

I still have a couple of Acurus amps somewhere around my house. I would love to know exactly which components (and values) you swapped out to get the sonic transformation. It might be a good side project (and would give me a couple of extra loaner amps for when folks want to audition my speakers but currently only have a reciever).

Julian
www.sedonaskysound.com

Nelgan · « **Reply #10 on:** 22 Nov 2003, 04:40 am »

I'll end up posting info at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acurusowners/

These pieces should have their own forum, rather than have mod info spread out over numerous boards.

Tbadder1 · « **Reply #11 on:** 22 Nov 2003, 03:11 pm »

Okay my local hi-fi dealer told me they dropped Acurus because half of it came back and customers were really frustrated. He predicted they'd be outta business in no time. Now, I don't know if that was a true story or a whiny dealer.

elektratig · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Nov 2003, 01:15 pm »

The first piece of non-mid-fi equipment I bought was an Acurus 250W stereo amp, sometime in the very early 90's I think. Boy, it was a revelation. I thought the problem was the speakers, but that experience demonstrated to me how important the amp is in the musical chain.

I still have and use the amp, in a bedroom system. After 10+ years, it still works flawlessly.

Sorry to hear they've shut the brand down.

Nelgan · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Nov 2003, 01:45 pm »

Julian,

Thus far, you have probably given the best possible explanation for the demise of Acurus.

Tbadder1 - you are the first person I've heard who has mentioned reliability issues. I think your dealer may have been exaggerating

Tbadder1 · « **Reply #14 on:** 23 Nov 2003, 04:56 pm »

You could be right, but this guy just went on and on for a good five minutes. But who knows, he could've had a host of problems, profit margin, availability, I took it with a grain of salt.

Nelgan · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Nov 2003, 02:23 am »

It is rather amazing how dealers will rationalize losing a line