ARCAM SA30 STEREO AMPLIFIER

Arcam’s reputation was built on amplifiers, and particularly this breed of high-quality midrange integrated amplifier. Indeed products from Arcam remain instantly recognisable, so that while this new range has had a pleasing spruce-up updating the aesthetics, someone transported from the 1990s and familiar with the company’s then-‘alpha’ range of products would have no trouble spotting the evolutionary path that has led to the latest SA models, which are part of Arcam’s HDA range.

But alongside this continuity there has been significant change. The new range is Arcam’s first under the ownership of Harman, itself only recently acquired by Samsung. Talking with US-based Harman staff, they seem delighted with the acquisition, seeing Arcam as not only providing Harman with a useful midrange electronics brand below the relative heights of Lexicon and Mark Levinson, but also bringing access to