HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Sugden was mentioned in another (wrong) thread.

Do some of you on here, like the sound of their 'class a' offerings?

I quite like their A21a. Not a bad amp, IMO.

S.

I heard the A 21a a few times when I was demoing for speakers. Very musical in my opinion. I really liked it at the time. Didn't do much wrong. It was a long time ago though

Sugden were based in Heckmondwike. Might still be there.
I had their classic T48 tuner. Built like a tank and great sound.

Still based in Heckmondwike.

I briefly had a Sugden integrated amp although can't remember which model. Didn't keep it long as the internals had issues. I think the resevoir caps/output caps (??) had overheated and on opening up the case could see lots of melting bubbling components. It still worked but in the end was scrapped as being an obvious danger. Strangely it sounded ok, bringing the warm class A sound a literal meaning.

Shane, you'll probably think I've been turned too far to the NVA dark side, but many of the integrated Sugdens I heard in recent years seem to be deliberately coloured (by and large) to have a 'sound' that mimics what audiophools think 'Class A' should sound like. Warm, thick textured, soft focus and fuzzy all over was my overwhelming experience of them. One of the dearer integrateds wasn't as bad, but the later A21 was terrible in a kind of 'classic' MF A1 kind of way - ugh!

I owned an old A21 which I bought for £25! It sounded thin and almost harsh, which surprised me, but it may have drifted off over the years and it was used as a loan amp for a long time before I had it for a few weeks. The late 70's A48 looked more up to date, but sounded a bit ripe and lush toned, with some 'grain' up top I remember. the matching tuner pictured above was quite good, but based on an old tuner block I remember in my Dads Dynatron centre (this one had a Lenco GL78 in it) - the Dynatron also having a scale and pointer too for manual tuning..

Put Sugden out of your mind Shane. If you did but know it, you have here an access path to a wonderful range of amps which may not look as 'bling' as a more conventional amp and they need more careful cable choices as 'we' all know (not a bad thing either as the recommended cables work with most things well), but in terms of showing what the musicians were playing in the music mix and almost how they 'felt' while they were playing it, you've got to spend LOADS more to come anywhere close in my experience...

As mentioned elsewhere Michell appear to be demoing with Sugden A21se. Their own discontinued amps were far better and actually one of the best real world priced amps I have heard. The old A21A with the black case from 1990s I'm sure sounded different. Seem to remember it sounding rather incisive rather than warm and 'class A like'. The A21SE did not seem an ideal match for the new Proac DT8 at this years Bristol show.

I had an A21aS2 for about 3 years from new before I switched to NVA.

The Suggy was decent. Generous body and natural tone with vocals, strings, piano.

The thing that did annoy me was that the line inputs were way over-sensitive. Fitted attenuators to get some fine adjustment on the volume control, but found the music lost a bit of life.

The NVA P50sa / A60 MK2 combo at £600 less, had all the things I liked about the Suggy but better in all areas, especially air, clarity, extension and timing. Just a cleaner, wider window...

I've owned a few number of A21a's. (2000's era model) Never did find them overly lush sounding. Quite almost the total opposite. But never harsh. I like them, decent enough sounding amplifiers.

Did once have the A21a S2. Nice enough amp, which has a slightly warmer tone than the elder A21a.

S.

I have just replaced my Sugden A21a, with a pair of A40s last month.

Had the Sugden for around 12 years. Had 2 young kids so did not have much time for hifi. Lately, with kids a little older, found longer sessions with the Sugden fatiguing. Now with the A40s, its feel like the opposite. The A40 has an aireness to the sound and a veil lifted whereas the Sugden's sound felt on the heavy side.