"One of the Best Amplifiers at the Price"
The A18 combines the latest component technologies and Arcam’s refined and careful engineering design approach to produce an incredibly natural sound from any music source. An ideal partner for the Arcam CD17 CD player, the A18 is designed to be a powerful and musical amplifier and is constructed with outstanding build quality for its price. The A18 is the perfect choice if you're looking for an amplifier offering exceptional music reproduction as part of an affordable system.
Hi-fi World magazine calls the A18 "one of the best all-round amplifiers at the price."
An Ideal Introduction to Greatness
The A18 represents an ideal introduction to the greatness that is Arcam's approach to the pleasures of true audiophile hi-fi. It offers 50-watts-per-channel continuous power output at 8 ohms. Its sleek design, flexible connectivity, and powerful amplifier stages deliver a level of reproduction far beyond that of budget separates systems. Using the latest in amplifier technology plus over 30 years of audio design experience, the A18 is an astounding amplifier that is true to Arcam's tradition of affordable excellence.
Using very high quality components and carefully designed multi-layer PCBs, the A18 is designed for performance from the ground up. Connectivity is highly flexible, allowing direct connection of seven line level sources, which is enough to accommodate an entire system. Included is a dedicated 3.5mm front panel jack that accommodates portable music players. And for vinyl lovers, a high quality moving magnet phono input with grounding post brings new life to your favorite recordings. The A18 also provides two tape outputs as well as a preamp output for adding additional power amplifiers or bi-amping.
Simple and Extremely Quiet Operation
Operation of the A18 is simplicity itself. A rotary encoder allows precise control over volume and other functions, such as tone controls and balance. This means delicate audio signals are not forced to travel to and from the front panel or through potentially noisy mechanical potentiometers or switches. Logic controlled input/output switching contributes to the accurate, extremely quiet operation.
Large Power Supply
The A18s large power supply uses a toroidal transformer, which ensures an extremely quiet backdrop to music and superb stability during large bass transients. The high capacity power supply has 'star earthing' for minimal ground noise. The oversize heatsink ensures cool running. The chassis features Arcam's proprietary damped 'Sound Dead Steel' construction, which virtually eliminates mechanical influences on the electronics for the best possible sound quality. | 
