Not fixing something that ain't broke smacks of laconic Yorkshire pragmatism. No surprise, then, that laconic Yorkshire-based hi-fi manufacturer Sugden has managed to avoid fixing its classic A21 class A amp for the best part of 30 years. Sure, it's evolved a little - more power and refinement and slim new boxes being the most obvious changes - but the basic circuit design is pretty much the same. It's a good 'un.
And, as ever, it generates the heat of a miniature Aga. All amps that operate in pure class A do this because, in an bid to optimise linearity and minimise distortion, the transistors are run flat out all the time irrespective of the output power requirement. It works, too. The downside to such a design is that it's current hungry but very inefficient at converting what it draws from the mains into output for driving speakers. The result is wasted energy dissipated as heat.
That said, the latest A21 is more than twice as powerful as the original, posting 25 Watts per channel compared with 10. The improvement has been achieved by giving the power stage a thorough working over and fitting the latest low resistance/high speed output devices. What it means in practice is that the amp has far bigger real world muscles. Headroom, load tolerance and bandwidth are all now what would be expected of a modern solid state amp. Desperately inefficient speakers should be avoided, but little else should present problems.
Aesthetics are somewhat racier, too. The casing of the original A21 was essentially a wooden box - cuddly in a Morris Minor Traveller kind of way. The new look is hardly avant grade but the front panels of the A21a and matching CD21 CD player do have the good fortune of being in a titanium-style finish which is hugely fashionable right now.
There are four line level inputs and a switchable MM/MC phono stage. Titanium finish notwithstanding, the look of the fascia is rather old fashioned with three large knobs to take care of source selection, channel balance and volume. Sitting between the source and balance knobs are two plastic buttons for mono and tape monitoring. The CD player is a development of the earlier Audition series, the main areas of improvement being the implementation of a more sophisticated zero feedback class A output stage and a much modified digital output. The CD21 uses Philips' CDM 12.1 short loader mechanism, modified in house by Sugden, and an 18-bit, hybrid DAC which is claimed to serve up a wide dynamic range and high degree of linearity across the audio spectrum. |
"Complicated tunes are delivered without fluster or muddle, simple ones with pace and conviction."
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Sound Quality
Simple statement. The Sugden A21a/CD21 is the best sounding combination of the group. Not the most muscular, not the most exciting but, by a surprisingly breezy margin, the most consistently musical and enjoyable. Maybe this isn't news to the people who advocate class A circuitry's sonic superiority. Certainly, it isn't the sort of news Sugden's rivals want to hear.
Both components are class acts. Together they're even better. The system sound is characterised by an extraordinary lightness of touch and a lovely delicate treble, which is almost entirely free from grain and fatiguing effects. In its lucid, undemonstrative, and wonderfully easy-breathing delivery, the Sugdens sound more valve-like than the Coplands. They share a good valve design's beguiling presentation of detail, too; an outstanding amount of information is present in the signal but it is integrated and weighted so well that you're barely aware of it. The music is allowed to communicate without tripping over the mechanics of reproduction.
The result is a seductive warmth and weight that's impossible to resist. Complicated tunes are delivered without fluster or muddle, simple ones with pace and conviction. In fact, there's not much the Sugden duo can't do.
Conclusions
Oldies, it seems, really can be goodies - at least when it comes to making sweet music. The Sugden combo draws its strength from a classic amp design. One which, for sheer musicality, showed a clean pair of heels to every other amp in the group. The CD player's no slouch, either.
Together they work beautifully and look rather smart. A revelation and clear Best Buy. |
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