Pioneer A-8600X

Commentary

This is a stereo pre-main amplifier that inherits the design philosophy of the A-8800X and uses a direct power supply system that goes one step further.

In the direct power supply system, a dedicated power supply is incorporated into each of the small-signal circuit board and the large-signal circuit board to achieve significantly low impedance. In the A-8600X, the power supply for the small-signal circuit board is independent on the left and right sides to further reduce mutual interference.
In addition, the chassis layout that separates the small signal circuit and large signal circuit with a T-shaped Skype fin in between further eliminates the mutual interference between amplifier units.

A soft push type is used for switching functions, etc., and a rotary type is used for tone control and other functions that require continuous confirmation of changes in sound quality.

The A-8600X employs the Super Linear RET, a group transistor with superior high-frequency switching characteristics and linearity. The adoption of this RET greatly improves high-frequency characteristics. In addition, the T-shaped Skype Fin, which dramatically increases heat radiation, provides stable high power.
As a coupling capacitor for the signal system, which directly affects sound quality, we have adopted a specially developed capacitor for the coupling of amplifiers. Compared with conventional capacitors of the same capacitance, the capacitor is 1.6 times larger in diameter and more than twice as high in height. It has a low-distortion and low-noise design, and distortion is reduced to 1/1000 compared with conventional capacitors. We also use oxygen-free copper for lead wires to achieve low impedance.
A 5-core ribbon cable is used for signal wiring. This cable has a high shielding effect and is resistant to external induction. This cable has high shielding effect and is resistant to external induction. Therefore, separation characteristics and crosstalk characteristics are improved. In addition, the core wire has a high-wrap structure with many thin wires, and is designed to reduce impedance by increasing the ground area.

Brass is used for the power supply Chemi-Con terminal and output terminal, and copper is used for the lead wire of the emitter resistor of the power section. All parts where a large current flows are made non-magnetic, and the generation of non-linear strain is suppressed.
In addition, we emphasize sound quality by using a metalized ドマイラー capacitor in parallel with the power capacitor.

Equipped with MC position to which MC cartridge can be directly connected, MM/MC can be switched by switching the front panel switch.

The equalizer amplifier section is composed of ICL type FET differential input cascade connection and current mirror load, and the flat amplifier is composed of two differential stages by low-noise dual FET.
A DC amplifier is used for the flat amplifier and power amplifier, so that there is no phase shift in the middle and low range caused by the condenser, no degradation of damping, and no transient intermodulation distortion, and sound quality is improved.

It is equipped with a tone ON/OFF switch which can obtain flat characteristics by passing through the tone circuit.
It is also equipped with a loudness contour and subsonic filter.

Equipped with a protection circuit that performs overload detection and DC detection simultaneously.

There was a wood cabinet sold separately.

Model Rating

Type	Stereo pre-main amplifier
Effective output (both channels driven, 20 Hz to 20 kHz)	65W + 65W (8 Ω)
Harmonic distortion factor (8 Ω)	0.03% (at effective output) 0.02% at 32.5W output 0.02% (at 1W output)
Intermodulation distortion factor (50 Hz : 7 kHz = 4 : 1, 8 Ω)	0.03% (at effective output) 0.02% at 32.5W output 0.02% (at 1W output)
Output Bandwidth (both channel drive, THD 0.05%)	5 Hz to 50 kHz
Output terminal	Speaker, Headset, Tape rec1, 2 (150 mv)
Damping factor	40 (15 Hz ~ 20 kHz, 8 Ω)
Input Sensitivity / Impedance	Phono MM : 2.5mV/50k Ω Phono MC : 250 μ V/100 Ω Tuner, Aux, Tape play1, 2 : 150mV/50k Ω
Phono maximum allowable input (1 kHz, 0.02% THD)	MM:200mV MC:20mV
Frequency characteristic	Phono MM : 20 Hz to 20 kHz ± 0.2 dB Tuner, Aux, Tape play1, 2 : 5 Hz to 100 kHz + 0 -2dB
Signal-to-noise ratio (IHF, A-network, short circuit)	Phono MM:89dB Phono MC:72dB Tuner, Aux, Tape play : 110 dB
Tone control	Bass : ± 10 dB (100 Hz) Treble : ± 10 dB (10 kHz)
Filter	Low : 15 Hz, 6dB/oct.
Loudness contour (at Volume -40dB)	Low:+6dB(100Hz) High:+3dB(10kHz)
Power supply voltage	100 VAC, 50Hz/60Hz
Power consumption	150W (Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law)
External dimensions	Width 420x Height 150x Depth 369 mm
Weight	9.4kg
Sold Separately	Wood Cabinet JA-C80 (¥ 5,500)