Taperssection.com
Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: Nick's Picks on December 20, 2009, 09:48:34 AM
-
http://nickspicks.com/?cat=5
Still under construction, but my initial blog notes are up.
-
Nice. I have the 840A integrated amplifier and love it. I use it to drive my B&W CDM1SE speakers which, while bookshelf speakers, are very power-hungry. The 120 watts per channel that the 840A outputs drive them nicely; I don't see myself upgrading for quite a while.
-
everything i"ve heard from the Cambridge line (a few integrated, one set of seperates)...was absolutely pleasing to me, no matter what speakers were in front of them. Most of the demo's I've heard were through Paradigm towers or ML Vista/Vantage.
-
i cant believe you think it sounds better than the t00bs. must be the difference in wattage.
-
the stingray didn't suck..., but this is just a completely different presentation. I'm enamoured by its newness
-
Thanks for the review Nick! I've got the 540R and like it quite a bit. And I learned something from your review about the analog direct option.
I used to own the CA 540A integrated amp and liked that quite a bit too. Also had a CA CD player, 500CD maybe? CA is definitely my go-to company for audio electronics. Not to say by any means that you can't do better, but CA always makes quality audio gear from my experience.
-
Nice review, I'm looking at one of these. Here in the U.K best price is £349.00, can be found here...
http://www.richersounds.com/showclearanceproduct/CAMB-640R-BLK/Cambridge+640r+Blk.html
I'm currently using a Azur 640A V2 hooked up to my P.C/Tape deck(Aiwa AD-S950)/Tuner(denon TU1800)/CD player(Azur 640C)/Turntable9Marantz TT-42/Cambridge Audio 540P Pre Amp all played through TDL bookshelf speakers and although there are certainly better set ups available you really can't beat this for value especially the Amplifier.
-
My local hifi dealer and friend carries Cambridge. I happened to be over at his place and saw a bunch of Cambridge boxes arrive. One was the little AR30 receiver & iPod dock. I thought it would be fun to listen to, so I borrowed it and dropped it in my work office rig (which is an almarro A205A amp and almarro M1A speakers fed by an iPod and a h/k TU-912 tuner)... I was pretty impressed with it! I must say, the little thing did some REALLY nice stuff. The tuner locked on difficult signals and had a more full sound than my generally decently-well-regarded h/k. The iPod dock was great to navigate with a remote, and sounded better than direct in via a mini-to-rca plug. And the amp section was fun--vocals and guitar had great texture and popped out of the mix well, the soundstage was wide if not terribly deep, and music flowed well and was enjoyable.
It was very sensitive to power quality, and really liked having an Audience AR1p in front of it.
But to say I was impressed was an understatement. I'd consider their stuff elsewhere. I would like to try their 840 pre/amp separates someday, as one reviewer specifically stated they were a good match for my speakers (Cremona M). They're not wildly overpriced, to boot.
I would love to hear this receiver in my HT.
-
I'm still impressed by it..., nearly 2mo later.
It stains when I crank it to 11, but its absurdly loud at that point. I can bring my living room to 120+db w/o issue though, and it rocks the house nicely.
the analog direct signal path for my TT sounds exceptionally good to me. The DAC in there doesn't suck either, though I have no direct A/B experience w/a different outboard DAC. I can say it sounds better than the analog outputs of my Oppo universal player.