Hot Stuff! Advance Paris A12 & A10 Classic Integrated Amplifier Review!
By Steve Huff
There are brands who have been around for decades still creating great audio gear. There are new brands who came out and impressed with their first offerings. There are some long standing brands who have faded out further this year as well. One thing is for certain…it seems there is a never ending supply of audio gear as more and more dip their toes into the world of audio, or creating audio products.
One brand that has popped up into my radar this year is Advance Paris. I started to see some of their gear when I was perusing the Dedicated Audio website earlier in the year. The styling caught my eye as well as the pricing as these seemed to be mid tier in price which could be a great or not such a great thing (if the amp was made cheaply then not so good, but luckily these are built very well). I am always on the lookout for gear that performs to a much higher standard than the price would dictate and when I find such pieces of audio gear I want to try them, and share my thoughts with you.
Just recently Dan from Dedicated Audio became a site sponsor here and he asked if I would like to review an integrated amp from this new to me brand, Advance Paris. Dan is a great guy, a great dealer and I have bought from him for 20+ years. I used to visit his shop in Scottsdale AZ when I lived in the state. He was always so nice, knowledgable and always offered some of the most drool worthy of brands and gear. I am happy to have him and his shop sponsoring this site so be sure to check them out if you like, right here.
It didn’t take long for the Advance Paris A10 and A12 classic to arrive at my doorstep (3 days) and it took me even less time to unbox them and set them up within my system. That was fast as recently (three months ago) I agreed to do a review for a set of pretty interesting speakers. It is just this week that they arrived. Sometimes things ship fast, sometimes not so fast. Both of these units, the A10 and A12 arrived brand new, in sealed boxes, so they were fresh rather than a used up review unit.
Just recently I proclaimed the Electrcompaniet ECI 6DXII as my fave all in one integrated amp, but this was before I heard anything from Advance Paris, who I will now refer to as “AP” going forward. Now I am not saying the $3800 A12 bested my now reference $7500 integrated amp, the ECI 6DXII, but I will tell you how it compares in features and sound within this review.
When I unboxed the A12 classic I was truly surprised at the level of detail that went into this product at a price point that comes in at almost exactly half of what the ECI 6DX II sells for. It was no less well put together, was taller and even had true VU meters that were invisible when off, but glowed with a nice electric blue light when on. I can not lie, I think this amp is more attractive than what McIntosh is doing these days but this is my personal opinion, yours may vary. I find the AP amp has a more modern flair, and a cooler color for the meters. I’ve owned a f ew McIntosh integrated amps and as I have spoken about in the past, one of them that cost me $10k had one of the plastic knobs fall off. Also, that big 100lb McIntosh wasn’t the most refined or special in the sound quality dept. That was years ago though and time moves on, things get improved and today I am sure the latest McIntosh integrated amps sound lovely but they cost a fortune for the higher tiered models ($10k and up).
With this flagship integrated from Advance Paris, the A12, there was that old school big volume dial that I always love to see and two more dials, for input selections. One to choose your analog sources and one for digital sources as this integrated has an internal DAC as well as a MM and MC (high and low output) phono stage with variable loading. On the back it also has two subwoofer outputs that also have configurable crossover settings of 75 and 150hz. This amp also has many digital inputs as well as analog inputs, RCA and XLR. It’s loaded but at the same time having these included does NOT hurt the sound quality. Finally there is a preamp out and this can also be used as a power amp. See the video above for all of the details on this amp.
The remote is nicely detailed with a sleek body and silver trim and black face. I like this remote much better than what Electrocompaniet offers with their amps. This A12 Classic has all one needs besides the source, which would be a streamer or a turntable. One can add a cheap but very good Wiim Ultra or step up to a Rose 130 or even the Electrcocompaniet ECM 1 MKII. The ECM 1 has a reference level DAC that is absolutely superb and sounds glorious. It’s my fave DAC right now and while I enjoy a few DACs this one is special.
This $3700 piece looks more like a $6 to $8k piece and has EVERYTHING that an all in one should. It’s a great place to start your hifi journey or can even be an amazing upgrade to what you have, depending on what that is.
I will be the first to admit that I love a nice looking amplifier, and I am one who enjoys VU meters. Not all do, but me? Heck yea, I love seeing those dancing meters in the dark. They could be dimmed and shut off but I prefer to see them as they also show me how much power is being used by the amp. Pretty cool. I love seeing that I am using only a watt or two when I am listening at mid volume in my space. Shows that I will never use the power that this amp has on tap, which is 190 WPC into 8 ohms and a whopping 280 WPC into 4 ohms. It also has dual mono amps and transformers. The A10 for example has only one and yes, you can hear the difference between these two amps, quite easily. Both sounded fantastic but the A12 was more refined, a touch smoother and sweeter and the bass seemed to have more depth. Even so, at $2500 the A10 was rocking with its own effortless flow.
Before I turned on the A12 I knew it was brand new, fresh out of the box and even though I have never heard any audio product over the years change in any kind of dramatic way with burn in, I do let pieces run in for a week or so before I do any critical listening, just in case I am wrong about this topic. I did listen the first hour it was powered on though and I did have worries before this, due to the price. Usually, pieces under $4k can be very musical and pretty awesome but they have never really reached the heights of the greats that unfortunately cost much more. These days we have integrated amps from Luxman, McIntosh, Aavik and a slew of others that are all well over $10k in price. Those are usually the most refined sounding and have the least noise. I wondered if the under $4k A12 classic could match the looks with its sound.
As I sat in my seat and had the amp connected to my Electrocomnpaniet ECM 1 MKII Streamer and DAC which went to the amp and then the Triangle 40th Duetto Magellan speakers I was excited to hear what this amp could do. I mean, it has more power than my reference integrated and at 200 WPC I knew it would drive my speakers with an effortless ease. It did. But what about the sound?
See the video above for my thoughts on everything, including the sound character and what I thought of it vs my reference! Bottom line? These are great bang for the buck amplifiers that will cost you less than competing brands. They have everything one needs besides the source (streamer or turntable) and sound fantastic with the edge in SQ going to the A12 Classic. The A10 is the smaller version of the A12, and also cost $1300 less. While not as refined in sound, nor as powerful, at this price point it looks fantastic and sounds wonderful. The A10 is highly competitive with other pieces in this price bracket and dare I say, a step above!
I agree about the styling versus McIntosh. I think I first saw McIntosh gear in the 70s or 80s, and it looked OK for the time, but time marches on. Now it looks “old”. The AP amp looks more “modern”. It sort of looks like a futuristic kitchen appliance you’d see in a French sci-fi movie from the 50s or 60s.
I’m not a huge fan of McIntosh glass front panels. It’s not too hard to break them, especially when you consider how much weight there usually is in Mc gear. The AP amp has a plastic front panel that probably can’t easily be broken, but can be scratched. I think it’s a lot easier to live with a scratched panel than a broken panel. I know, for hundreds of $ you can buy replacement panels for Mc gear…
I have an A12 on order, waiting very impatiently for delivery.