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Reviews For: ACOM 2000a

Category: Amplifiers: RF Power - HF & HF+6M

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Review Summary For : ACOM 2000a
Reviews: 105MSRP: 6850 USD
Description:
ON4UN demonstrates the ACOM 2000A Automatic HF Linear Amplifier
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.acom-bg.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
251054.9
ZL1WN Rating: 2015-08-12
Fantastic amplifier Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been using my Acom 2000A for a couple of days, with my Flexradio 6700 and DDUTIL.
The amp works perfectly, and is so quiet I have to check the powermeter to see if it is transmitting.
Acom-bg are wonderful at replying to emails and they went out of their way to send the ACOM200A before their summer holidays.
I have found the automatic tuning to be very good, much better than the Alpha87A which will now be retired.
N6GY Rating: 2015-08-03
NICE AMP! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've never owned a top of the line amp before. (I did have an OLD Yaesu FL2000B). So perhaps as a "newbie" my comments should be taken with a grain of salt? I AM SIMPLY OVERWHELMED!!!! It makes the perfect match to my 3 element STEPPIR and Kenwood TS-2000. AUDIO IS EXCEPTIONAL at full power out, just like my Kenwood is at 100 watts. I bought it from ARRAY SOLUTIONS, and it DID NOT WORK. The owner Jay talked to me for over TWO HOURS, until we discovered the tubes had been jarred loose by UPS Gorillas. After correct tube re-attachment the unit has been exceptional. Full power out on most bands with only 40 - 50 watts input from the radio. MY ONLY COMPLAINT would be "why do they have to attach the case with 29 little screws"? Yes, I got to be real good removing them and re-installing them. Next time I'll just put a heavy book on top to de-activate the "crowbar" safety switch :-). Only tip I'd offer is pay the $50 to get the unit pre-checked like I did. That way you KNOW it was good when it left Array Solutions. I don't believe HRO has on-site technicians?
W8DX Rating: 2015-07-24
Spruced Up after 13 Years! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It was inevitable that this very dependable amp would get a bit cranky after 13 years of continuous service. I feel fortunate that Array Solutions enthusiastically upgraded my rock solid companion, even providing a new matched pair of tubes and testing my older ones. Turned around in five days! Thanks to Jay, Billy and all at Array Solutions, it will remain in operation for years to come.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W8DX on 2007-09-03

In the past three years, I have given my 2000a quite a workout. It's great. Highly recommended.
KG9SF Rating: 2015-07-24
Nice Amp, with a weak point Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Acom 2000A is a fine product. The build quality is excellent and I have had no malfunctions in my two years of ownership. I'm going to bring up my one and only disappointment:

The automatic antenna matching circuit is disappointing to me. For an amplifier with this big a price tag I had expected much, much more. For example, on my tori and yagi which is cut for phone, I generally see as much as 50 watts reflected power on 20M phone, depending on the exact frequency. On CW, of course, it's worse yet, since the antenna is cut for phone.

I have not tried the manual tuning feature. I guess I I figure that since I paid a small fortune for an amp with full automatic antenna matching ..............that's what I'd get.

The design philosophy for the automatic antenna matching section appears to be "just match it fairly close........sorta".

Otherwise, the amp performs well. I get a full 1400 watts with ease on all bands. I've gotten 2000 watts into a dummy load with no complaints from the amp.

The RCU is wonderful. Just great. It's one of the finest features of this product.

The amp runs cool as a cucumber even under hard use.

The fan is absolutely unnoticeable. Some comparable amps sound like a vacuum cleaner when you turn them on. The Acom 2000A is blissfully silent.

I bought a pair of new GU74Bs(4CX800As) from Russia for $350 total. A friend with electronics expertise and lab grade test equipment tested the tubes for me and found that both were fine. Not a bad price to retube the amp.

In summary, I like the Acom 2000A with the exception of the auto antenna tuner. The protection circuitry is spectacular.

All of my signal reports have been very complimentary. As with all tetrode amps, it's important to not over-drive the tubes. Stay within the published limits and your signal will be clean as a whistle.

I bought my 2000A from Jay at Array Solutions. He has been easy to reach and has provided answers to all my questions.
KC1MR Rating: 2015-04-23
Fantastic !!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had nothing but GREAT resualts with this FANTASTIC RIG. I QSY all the time with NO issues .
Also their support with VAL on their email address was the best.
Just a HINT -- the back up battery is only used anytime the front panel is turned powed off.

5/5 amp 5/5 support
NN4SS Rating: 2015-02-13
FANTASTIC Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I had an ALPHA 87A for 22 years & an ALPHA 9500 for 10 months. This ACOM is better than the 87A and much better than the 9500. Everyone has said how quiet the ACOM is, but you have to hear it to believe how quiet it is. You can barely hear the blower and you can not hear the QSK relay at all. It is just as quiet as my 87A that used pin diodes for switching. In order to get the amp to go to a frequency segment, you lower your power & send a dot or a syllable and the amp jumps to the correct segment faster than the 9500. You can use the default tuning settings or better yet, let it auto tune to your antenna & it automatically saves that setting. To set it for your antenna, go to the center of each segment, apply 15 watts, it auto tunes & saves the setting. That's it, you never have to tune it again unless your antenna changes. Now all you have to do is go to a frequency, hit the PTT, and crank up the power until you get the power output you want. You can buy a cable that will allow the Amp to follow most transceivers. Also, you have the option of moving the amp out of the way & just using the remote on the operating table. All I can say is the Amp works exactly like it should. The only drawback is that it is so simple to operate, you don't get to play with it like the older amps with all the knobs, buttons, and meters. I have an Elecraft 500 watt solid state amp and the ACOM behaves just like a 1500 watt solid state amp.
KA4SFD Rating: 2015-02-06
You get what you pay for. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
My Elmer K4XS hosted me at his station about a year ago. It was my first exposure to the 2000A and I was hooked. I looked at many other, less expensive, amps but I knew I would never be happy with anything less. So I spent the money and never looked back. I am a contester and place high demands on my equipment. The amp has been flawless in it's performance. No more than 50 Watts input is always full legal limit out. Tuning is instantaneous. The remote control head is packed with information and a small foot print on my desk. It runs cool and quiet. Yes, this is a big investment but you get what you pay for and the Acom 2000A has proven worthy of the cost. I bought mine from Array Solutions and highly recommend them as they have provided excellent customer service.

KA4SFD
NV2A Rating: 2014-12-26
TreMeNdOUs! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Whoever told me "money can't buy you happiness" is a damn liar!!

I'm getting on in years and wanted to treat myself to a station my wife could get at least 30 cents on the dollar when I kick. I recently parked an Acom 2000a on the left side of my Yaesu FLDX5000 and am tickled all to hell. The worst thing I can say about the 2000a is that I had to call one DX station twice before I got through. (later found out the Yaesu mic was on ragchew settings and not DX Pileup Busting Parameters.)

If you're getting long in the tooth then treat yourself to your dream setup, your estate can deal with it when your gone.....or....leave the money to someone else and let them buy one or maybe a pool for their backyard.

If I have any problems I'll be sure and come back with the problem. 73's all and remember, DX don't sleep and life is too short for QRP.
GM6TVR Rating: 2014-08-11
Words can't explain Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Ran my original 2000 for thirteen and a half years without a hitch, decided to sell it recently and purchase the 1500 to cover 6mtrs.
The 2000 was sent off to a well known engineer who checked it out and gave it a 100% clean bill of health before passing it on to it's new owner who bought it from me, posted directly from the test bed.
I took charge of my new 1500 which is superb, but missing the 2000 so much I bought a brand new one with the new style RCU, absolutely brilliant.
Both of these amps are incredible, you will not be disappointed.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by GM6TVR on 2013-03-22

Have owned this piece of kit for over 12 years now, bought from Ron Stone of Vine Antennas Ltd in December 2000, delivered in January 2001.
This same unit has been to the Middle East and back with me,, (A92HB) it was transported each way in the capable hands of DHL, it is still running and looking as brand new.
I would never have ever dared to imagine that such a complex piece of equipment would achieve this level of service.
RTTY in the Middle East was something to behold, all credit to the Acom team for producing kit of this standard and quality, and it continues to give me faultless service in my base in Scotland.
No need to say anymore.

73's,

John - gm6tvr / gm0fqv
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Earlier 5-star review posted by GM6TVR on 2012-01-07

Have now owned this piece of kit for 11 years, bought from Ron Stone of Vine Antennas Ltd in December 2000, delivered in January 2001.
Been to the Middle East and back with me also, (A92HB) it was transported each way in the capable hands of DHL, still running and looking as brand new.
I would never have ever dared to imagine that such a complex piece of equipment would achieve this level of service.
RTTY in the Middle East was something to behold.
Still going strong back in my base in Scotland.
No need to say anymore.

73's,

John - gm6tvr / gm0fqv
K2LS Rating: 2014-03-16
Still impressed Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After 6 years of constant use my amp lost a tube.

The service @ Array solutions was TERRIFIC!

My amp now works like new.

Thanks Bob, Jay etc.

73, Larry