Welcome back as we take a look at one of my favourite pieces of high-end hi-fi equipment, the incredible Accuphase C-280V preamplifier.

I also delve into my long relationship with Accuphase as a brand and, oh yeah, this stunning end-game preamplifier, MY Accuphase C-280V, is also for sale, details later!

UPDATE: Four purchase offers received within 12 hours, thank you to all interested parties. Sold, thank you, George!

For those wondering why I might be selling an endgame Accuphase preamplifier that I’ve only owned for 18 months, the answer is predictably simple: This Accuphase C-280V improved my system so much that I decided to purchase an Accuphase C-290 preamplifier, a newer and even better-sounding model that matches other pieces in my system. If I could keep both, I would but it’s simply not sensible. 18 months is a reasonable amount of time to live with a piece of hi-fi gear too I might add!

My Accuphase Story

I have a bit of a history with Accuphase. Readers will know I work on a lot of legacy (slightly older) Accuphase equipment, as an independent Accuphase repairer. I currently own four pieces of Accuphase equipment, three of them legacy pieces, one three years old, and I adore them all. My connection to Accuphase goes back much further though, to my early teens, as a starry-eyed hi-fi nerd-child!

I’ve told my friend and Australian Accuphase importer, Pierre, that I used to ride my bicycle to the Albert’s Hi-Fi store in Victoria Park and drool over the Accuphase equipment and brochures, including the C-280 and C-280L. I collected all the brochures, probably from Pierre at the time funnily enough, and I reckon they are still stashed in my mum’s shed!

Many locals will recall the buzzing Perth hi-fi scene in the 1980s, with Japan Hi-Fi also located in Vic Park and that dude that used to ride around on his bike, naked, screaming at people! Anyway, I dreamt of owning some of this seemingly unobtainable Accuphase equipment one day and, whilst it took me a while, I got there.

My first piece was an Accuphase C-202 class A line-level preamp, acquired in around 2010. That piece was a game changer for me and satisfied me until I serviced and listened to a customer’s Accuphase C-280. Once I heard how good the more advanced preamp sounded, there was no turning back.

I decided to acquire a C-280L or C-280V, and it was a C-280V, this one in fact, purchased in April 2023, that continued my journey along the Accuphase road of audio goodness!

History

I won’t go into crazy detail here and I will refrain from making this a review post until AFTER selling it, but the Accuphase C-280V is the final iteration of the 280 series of preamplifiers from Accuphase. This began with the game-changing Accuphase C-280 back in 1982, evolving into the Accuphase C-280L in 1987 and then the final iteration, the Accuphase C-280V you see here, in 1990.

Over that time, the build went from crazy compared to just about anything else, with the 18kg Accuphase C-280, to almost insane with my C-280V weighing in at a staggering 25kg! That’s more than most serious amplifiers weigh and as much or more than an entire modern plastic hi-fi system including speakers!!! The crazy build quality and performance of Accuphase gear from this era is just one of many reasons I love it.

Peaking with the Accuphase C-280V in 1990, at a cost of a cool 800,000 Yen, these preamplifiers are rarely found here in Australia simply because of their extraordinarily high purchase price. I estimate there might be a dozen of these here, far more of the C-280 and 280L.

Accuphase changed things slightly with the C-290 that followed, the model I’ve just acquired an example of. The Accuphase C-290 has the same ridiculous build, slightly better in the sense that things are simplified a little, but with a separate, optional AD-290 phono preamplifier even better than the one in the C-280V.

All up, the C-290 plus AD-290 phono module cost a staggering 1.1 million Yen back in 1993 or around $12,000 AUD. The current equivalent Accuphase C-3900 costs $50,000 AUD, and then you need to buy the C-47 phono preamplifier for $18,000 AUD. Can you see why I’m so fond of legacy Accuphase equipment..?!

Features

An Accuphase C-280V is completely unlike any modern hi-fi gear that most consider affordable, but why was the 280 series game-changing? Well the C-280, C-280L and C-280V are dual-mono class A preamplifiers, with the most outrageously over-engineered power supplies and circuit modules you’ll ever see, in mainstream gear anyway.

The highest-level 280 series came after the Accuphase 200 series, lovely preamps, but nothing like these monsters! Everything is over-engineered. All circuits are push-pull class A, all housed in gorgeous little shielded modules, each with its own power supply and filter capacitors. Switches and controls are the heaviest and most beautifully machined I’ve seen, besides those in other Accuphase gear.

In the C-280V, the last two modules are separate left and right-channel phono preamp circuits. In the C-290 onwards, these were moved into an optional module. The C-280V has four separate transformers, two of which power these dual-mono phono preamplifier modules. I kid you not: each phono module has dedicated filter capacitors and a transformer.

Only Accuphase designs and builds things this way with such extraordinary engineering attention to detail, and disregard for cost. These pieces are super expensive, for good reason. The power supply contains 120,000uF of capacitance, far more than most power amplifiers, boards are covered in gold, literally, and almost no expense is spared.

Other features include an ultra-premium conductive plastic volume potentiometer, one of the nicest I’ve seen. The preamp is fully balanced end to end and the phono preamp has adjustable gain and loading for just about any cartridge you would wish to use.

For vinyl lovers, the C-280V is a corker, sounding phenomenal, far better than dedicated phono preamps I’ve compared it to, including the $5,000 AUD Manley Chinook and smashing the over-rated Gold Note PH-10 which is a toy by comparison. It kicks butt with line-level sources too.

Accuphase C-280V Specifications

Adapted from the Audio Database

Service

Here are a few pictures of my Accuphase C-280V. This example is in very good, almost perfect condition. She’s received some phono preamp repairs in the previous 30 years, but I’ve made all the necessary service adjustments following the factory service procedure. I’ve also cleaned and lubricated where needed, including that monster potentiometer which can get a little stiff with age, and replaced a couple of capacitors in the phono preamp modules.

I should mention that I have a stock of ultra-premium parts including silver mica and polystyrene capacitors for supercharging the phono preamp and other modules in any of the 280 series preamplifiers including the C-280V, should that work be required. I’ve not made those improvements here but the next owner may choose to have that work done. Let’s go!

Results

There’s a great scene in The Chronicles Of Riddick where Riddick (Vin Diesel) says:

“Look, I’m not with everyone here.”

This for me encapsulates Accuphase as a brand. They do things completely differently, have a unique design language and aesthetic, eschew flavour-of-the-month nonsense tech in favour of ultimate sonic performance and reliability and are a TRUE hi-fi audio company. Accuphase is not with any of the other mainstream audio brands in this sense.

In every way, Accuphase equipment is a cut above almost everything else I’ve ever seen, worked on, owned or listened to, and that’s thousands of pieces of gear, some of them serious high-end stuff, over decades. I’m not messing around here, you guys have seen what I’ve worked on and I’ve been saying this for years.

One piece of domestic hi-fi gear that shares this level of build quality and engineering, at least in part, is my Kenwood L-07DII turntable. Some Kenwood engineers left to start Accuphase way back in the early ’70s. Likely not a coincidence then.

Let me make this easy and tell you that the Accuphase C-280V sounds astonishingly good, even better after this service work. I’ve been blessed to own some lovely sounding preamplifiers and phono pre’s over the years but none of them match the performance of the C-280V, except for my new C-290/AD-290 combo.

Compared to my previous Accuphase C-202, Perreaux SM-2 and Cayin Phono 1, I heard noticeably more bass, more textural details in bass notes and leading edges, a wider, airier soundstage and a smoother, yet better resolved overall presentation.

Accuphase C-280V for Sale!

As mentioned, I love this stunning Accuphase C-280V, but my C-290 is better, as I predicted it would be, based on an analysis of the various design elements. For this reason alone, I am selling this almost pristine piece of equipment.

I can assure any potential new owner that one never regrets a purchase like this. Pieces like this C-280V seriously advance any system capable of revealing the improvements available. I was staggered at how much better this C-280V was than my previous C-202, a great-sounding pre. It brought out the best in all the elements of my system, sources especially. It even made me put away my Fidelity Research XF-1 step-up transformers, that’s how good the all-active phono preamp in the C-280V is.

If you would like to own a piece of audio history and one of the finest preamplifiers made, this gorgeous and almost unmarked Accuphase C-280V can be yours for $6,950, serviced and including a 3-month warranty. Local sales only.

UPDATE: Four purchase offers received within 12 hours, thank you to all interested parties. Sold, thank you, George!

If almost seven grand seems like a lot, consider that replacing this C-280V with something equivalent new from Accuphase, like a C-3900, will set you back $50K AUD, plus more for a phono preamp. That makes older statement pieces like this a bit of a bargain.

Like the other high-end pieces I’ve sold, I suspect this won’t hang around but let’s see (it didn’t!). As always, this is how we do business, no-nonsense, no time-wasting, just straightforward business and exceptional equipment and service for loyal customers who prioritise such things as I do.

Once again, thanks for visiting and it’s been a pleasure sharing another story about classic hi-fi gear with you. If you have an Accuphase C-280, C-280L or C-280V you’d like me to look at, or any other lovely legacy Accuphase equipment, don’t hesitate to let me know.