Accustic Arts AMP V STEREO AMPLIFIER

The $50,000, 176lb Accustic Arts AMP V (pronounced Amp Five) is the heaviest, tall-est, most powerful, most expensive stereo amp to enter my audio system. With rated power of 900Wpc into 8 ohms, 1360Wpc into 4 ohms, and 1500Wpc into 2 ohms, the AMP V, which stands proud at the top of the Accustic Arts amplifier line, surpasses my reference D’Agostino Progression M550’s rated power into 4 ohms by 260Wpc.1

- JASON VICTOR SERINUS

What, if anything, might those extra 260Wpc—and those extra pounds of transformer and heat-dissipating metal—mean sonically in my moderately sized listening room? I was determined to find out.

Rock the joint

“I listen mainly to rock and a few classical tracks—for example, The Planets,” AMP V designer Sebastian Ruland told me during a WhatsApp chat that also included Hans-Joachim “Jochen” Voss, the owner of Accustic Arts. “This is the main thing I was thinking about musically when I was designing.”

“We wanted sound that’s authentic and natural,” Voss added. “Some electronics sound overly analytical. We have tried to make the AMP V sound as natural as live music, from the bass to the heights, without overdoing the bass. Our goal is to produce really solid, good-sounding music that works with all good loudspeakers. For example, we’ve been at AXPONA with Magico and Van den Hul.”

The AMP V is the successor of the AMP III,2 but almost everything about the AMP V is new. “The AMP III, which was in production from 2011 to 2016, was taller and looked more like a cube. It also lacked sufficient space inside,” Ruland said. With no concern for designing to a price point, Accustic Arts “did what we needed to do [as we] created our biggest stereo amp, with a 30% price increase from the AMP III.”