search

Creek 5350SE integrated amplifier

Creek Audio founder/designer/co-owner Michael Creek is a quiet, friendly, unassuming man. Unlike some ego-driven electronics designers who tout their products very loudly from their pulpits, Michael Creek has been quietly designing high-quality, musical, and affordable integrated amps in black-metal boxes for nearly 20 years. His target market is the passionate music-lover who wants something a notch above an entry-level NAD or Rotel receiver, but whose bank manager would frown on splurging on electronic separates.

Creek designs have improved over the years, but in a quiet,…

Creek Evolution 100A integrated amplifier

As an audio scribe, the fiercest demons I wrestle are beliefs—yours and mine; those of my friends, my editors, my fellow reviewers; and those of the engineers and promoters of the products I write about. Sometimes the force of these rabidly held and (mostly) conflicting beliefs paralyzes me with self-doubt: What do I know? What makes me qualified to listen and judge?

At the start of every review, the white noise of these diverse creeds fills my head and prevents me from listening in a relaxed and open state of mind. If the product performs amiably right out of the box, I eventually…

Creek Audio Destiny integrated amplifier

The one thing I've liked about designer Mike Creek of Creek Audio as much as his design talent is his predictability. I've been following his integrated-amplifier designs for nearly 20 years now, having reviewed, in sequence, the CAS4140s2 (for another magazine), the 4240SE (Stereophile, December 1995, Vol.18 No.12), and the 5350SE (March 2001, Vol.24 No.3). In each case, I was sufficiently impressed with the review sample that I bought it and made it my new reference in my second, affordable system. The predictable part comes from Creek's traditional nomenclature: an "s2" or "SE" (Special…

Creek 5350SE integrated amplifier Measurements part 3

On continuous sinewave testing with both channels driven (fig.9), the 5350SE met or exceeded its specified clipping power, delivering 90Wpc into 8 ohms (19.5dBW), and 120Wpc into 4 ohms (17.8dBW) at the standard 1% THD+noise point. And on the 1kHz toneburst test with just one channel driven (fig.10), the Creek gave the lie to its modest size, delivering 199W into 8 ohms (black trace), 201.5W into 4 ohms (red), 299.3W into 2 ohms (blue), and a staggering 378W into 1 ohm (green)!

Fig.9 Creek 5350SE, distortion (%) vs continuous output power into (from bottom to top at 10W): 8 ohms,…

Arcam Alpha 10 integrated amplifier & Alpha 10P power amplifier Robert J. Reina March 2001

Robert J. Reina wrote about the Alpha 10 in March 2001 (Vol.24 No.3):

I thought a comparison between the Creek 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), would be interesting.

The Arcam Alpha 10 impressed, especially with its holographic, almost tubelike tactile reproduction of midrange timbres, particularly vocals. Its sonic perspective was a bit more laid-back and polite when compared with the 5350SE, and the Arcam seemed to resolve less high-…