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Creek 4240 Special Edition integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements

Unless otherwise noted, all of the measurements on the Creek 4240 were taken from the CD line-level input to the loudspeaker outputs, with the volume control at maximum.

The Creek 4240 was hot following its one-hour, 1/3-power preconditioning test, but continued to function normally. The Creek's input impedance into its CD input measured 46.9k ohms, with insignificant variations at lower settings of the volume control. Maximum voltage gain into 8 ohms measured a high 35.7dB, and left/right volume control tracking was good, remaining within 0.1dB at all…

Creek 4240 Special Edition integrated amplifier

In this, my first equipment review for Stereophile, I'll begin by explaining my philosophy regarding reviewing inexpensive components. In my quest for products by designers who strive to establish new benchmarks for reproducing sonic realism at lower prices, I'll be looking for "value" components (a more appropriate term than "budget") whose designers logically fall into two camps:

"Price point" designers (Arcam, Audible Illusions, Audio Alchemy, Creek, Grado) who have built their reputations by placing all of their designs under very stringent cost constraints. The presumption is that…

Creek Evolution 50A integrated amplifier

It seems I'm always reviewing an integrated amplifier from Creek Audio. It started in the late 1980s, when I fell in love with the capabilities of inexpensive, well-designed audio equipment, sparked by the spectacular sound of a pair of Celestion 5 bookshelf speakers at a Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. I was reading an issue of Hi Fi Heretic (now defunct), for which my friend Art Dudley wrote, and it included a survey of various inexpensive British integrated amplifiers, some of them made by Creek. I was already familiar with the company, but hadn't listened to affordable British…

Epos and Creek

Roy Hall, the master of the "wee dram" (of single-malt Scotch) was demonstrating all this Creek wonderfulness with the Epos K3, three-way, floorstanding loudspeakers ($2395/pair) which, like the Creek gear that he distributes in the US, showcased beauty, charm, fine detail, and of course: a wee bit of drunken revelry.

Creek introduced a new CD player! Yes, a new CD player. This makes me extremely happy because I have been waiting for a new CD player to review—so I can discuss some of the important issues surrounding collecting and archiving music.

The $1995 Creek 100A DAC/CD…

Creek Evolution 50A integrated amplifier Page 2

With percussion recordings, the Evolution 50A demonstrated its ability to unravel dense, complex clusters of high-frequency textures. In George Crumb's Spanish Songbook 1: The Ghosts of Alhambra, from The Complete Crumb Edition Vol. 15 (CD, Bridge 9335), percussionist Daniel Druckman plays a wide range of mallet instruments, bells, chimes, and cymbals; the 50A was able to easily unravel the extended, crystalline, subtle details of these instruments' sounds. The Creek's ability to unravel transients without a sense of dulling or artificial sharpness also made percussion recordings sound more…

Creek Evolution 100A integrated amplifier Page 2

Through the new (made in Oxfordshire, UK) Falcon LS3/5A speakers (review to appear in August 2015), I was playing, fairly loudly, "Back in the U.S.S.R.," from the mono vinyl reissue of The Beatles. The woman with tattooed legs was singing along with "Those Ukraine girls really knock me out . . ." The girl with the suspenders raised her voice: "Did you buy this record when it first came out?"

Embarrassed to admit my age, I said, "Yes—but this is a reissue."

Her boyfriend grinned widely. "This sounds amazing! I'm gonna buy the whole set."

I asked if he had a turntable.…

Creek 5350SE integrated amplifier Page 4

What about the competition?
I thought two comparisons would be interesting: first, to compare the 5350SE with an older Creek—my affordable reference, the 4240SE; and, second, to compare the 5350SE with a currently available and similarly priced and powered unit from a competitor—the Arcam Alpha 10 integrated (100Wpc, $1599, reviewed by Wes Phillips in Vol.21 No.12).

The comparison with the older Creek was informative. Although the 4240SE exhibited a rich, coherent portrayal of the music, there was much less detail, less articulate highs with a bit more tension, as well as less…

Creek Evolution 100A integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I measured the Creek Evolution 100A using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com, and the January 2008 "As We See It"). Like many modern integrated amplifiers, the Evolution 100A covers all the bases in terms of sources and purposes, with USB, S/PDIF, and Bluetooth digital, FM, analog line-level, and analog phono inputs, as well as speaker, headphone, and line-level preamplifier outputs. To minimize strain on the amplifier's output stage, I measured the performance of the optional phono and D/A modules at the preamplifier outputs with the speaker…

Creek 4240 Special Edition integrated amplifier Page 2

Is the sound special enough?
When I cranked up the Creek, I didn't expect much improvement in sound quality vs the stock 4240. I was in for two big surprises. First, the Special Edition Creek transformed the performance of the system to a much higher level of sonic realism than would be indicated by the $200 price differential. But, ironically, the character of the amp remained essentially the same as the stock 4240. When I switched to the Special Edition, the sound change was akin to that of making a significant upgrade elsewhere in the system while leaving the original 4240 intact.

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Creek Evolution 50A integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I measured the Creek Evolution 50A using Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com). Before performing any measurements on an amplifier, I run it for an hour with both channels driven at 1/3 its rated power into 8 ohms; this is the level at which the maximum amount of power is dissipated in the output devices with a class-A/B topology. However, when I tried this with the Creek Evolution 50A, the amplifier turned itself off after 20 minutes, its front-panel display showing the…