Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier – More power

The new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier is the successor to the Accuphase P-4500 Stereo Power Amplifier. Once again, the Japanese High-end HiFi manufacturer Accuphase Laboratory Inc. is presenting a particularly exciting stereo power amplifier, which is once again set to be a class leader.

The special feature of the latest generation is that it now has more power, and significantly more power. While its predecessor delivered two 90-watt outputs to speaker systems with an impedance of 8 ohms, the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier now provides two 150-watt outputs.

Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier with more power

As with its predecessor, the developers of the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier also rely on MCS+ (Multiple Circuit Summing) and a so-called triple Darlington circuit, albeit no longer with a quadruple parallel complementary push-pull architecture; the powerful bipolar transistors of the amplifier circuit in Class A/B are designed as a six-fold parallel push-pull arrangement.

The aim is not only to achieve an output power that is always linear, but also more than just power.

As we have already mentioned, the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier now provides two outputs of 150 watts for speaker systems with an impedance of 8 ohms, while speaker systems with an impedance of just 4 ohms provide 300 watts, and with an impedance of just 2 ohms, the power potential increases to 450 watts per channel.

Incidentally, the damping factor has also been improved; whereas it was 700 in the last generation, the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier lists it as 800 in the data sheet.

But that’s not all, the signal-to-noise ratio has also been improved once again and is now 125 dB according to the manufacturer.

The decisive factor here is once again the special principle of an instrumentation amplifier, which Accuphase Laboratory Inc. also uses in the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier.

Foto © Accuphase Laboratory Inc. | Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier

Foto © Accuphase Laboratory Inc. | Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier

Powerful power supply

It goes without saying that the power supply of the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier is once again designed to offer corresponding power reserves. The large, highly efficient toroidal transformer, which forms the basis of the power supply, is supported by high-capacity filter capacitors with as much as 50.000 μF.

It should be mentioned that the Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier naturally has a protection circuit with short-circuit detection, robust, solidly designed screw terminals for the speakers and supports bi-wiring as well as a bridge mode.

The front is adorned with generously dimensioned VU meters for displaying the power as well as small rotary encoders, including a gain selector switch (-12 dB, -6 dB, -3 dB and Max), and an input selector switch that can be used to choose between the unbalanced pair of RCA sockets and a pair of XLRs as balanced inputs.

The brushed aluminium housing measures 465 x 190 x 427 mm and weighs an impressive 30 kg. It rests on special cast iron feet, which are designed to guarantee optimum decoupling through high damping.

Foto © Accuphase Laboratory Inc. | Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier

Foto © Accuphase Laboratory Inc. | Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier

Prices and availability

According to the manufacturer, the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier will be available immediately from specialist retailers. The recommended retail price is listed at € 8.590,-.

Getting to the point

According to Accuphase Laboratory Inc., the new Accuphase P-4600 Stereo Power Amplifier is the ideal partner for the Accuphase C-2300 Precision Stereo Control Centre preamplifier. Compared to its predecessor, the new stereo power amplifier offers significantly higher performance, and other key technical features have also been refined once again, such as the signal-to-noise ratio and the damping factor.