Found a great little amp

[JewishAMerPrince]

In my quest for an amp for a 2 channel system for my study library to power a pair of recently acquired Chorus II, I happened upon a review of the Cambridge Audio Azure 640A. The review had many nice things to say about this amp including one phrase that intreguied me... "sounds a bit like a SET". I was originally intending to try a tube amp, but was turned off by the lack of features and performance of the lower priced possibilities, and honestly, I have no desire to tweak bias, roll tubes, etc.etc. So, solid state it was to be, and I must have read every review on every under 100wpc SS amp out there before deciding on the Azur. I ordered the 640A and it's companion 640C CD player (also highly rated) last week and they arrived today.

As I speak there are some very sweet sounds eminating from the CIIs. The amp sounds slightly warm with a very robust bottom end which seems to suit the CIIs just fine. It is also very very quiet, which I recently have learned is critical with very high efficiency speakers. None of the midrange harshness that I experienced with two other amps/pre-pro setups I tried with the CIIs, is evident. Also, at 65wpc and 2db headroom the Azure has plenty of punch for great dynamics. Also the remote, which is metal faced,feels and looks like a million bucks.

For $450 delivered it seems to be a steal!

Jerry Rappaport

[3dzapper]

"For $450 delivered it seems to be a steal!"

Great deal on a steal Jerry!

Good looking and has some excellent reviews.

[cjgeraci]

Jerry:

Thanks for sharing your little find with us. Sometimes the most unexpected CD players, preamps, and amps often turn out to have wonderful sound. Ultimately, what matters is not what others are running, but what sounds good to your own ears. In this case the reviews speak favorable about this amp so maybe this was not all that "unexpected."

I had a somewhat of a similar experience recently. After acquiring some really nice tube amps, I also picked up a little NAD amp that was internally bridgeable. Turns out that this solid state NAD was the perfect ticket for running my center Vertical Cornwall. I will still use the tube amps in other parts of my system (Belles, RF-7s), but this little solid state baby surprised me with its sound.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Carl.

[JewishAMerPrince]

Looks even better stacked together with the CD. Been doing a lot of listening, really sounds incredibly like a tube amp. Even has a soft clipping feature. Does very well untill very high average spl where it starts to sound a bit compressed, but this is only at uncomfortably high levels.

JR

[Piranha]

Congratulations on the nice looking amp. Glad you like it. You don't get stray RFI with the power strip on top of the speaker?

[jt1stcav]

I'm very impressed with my latest Cambridge Audio azur 640C disc player...it's extremely well built, and sounds absolutely marvelous IMO. Its performance is flawless with CD-Rs and CD-RWs, and its richness of dynamics literally blow away any other players I've owned!

I need to get an audio rack to replace the nasty old '70s coffee table I'm temporarelly using since Hurricane Jeanne completely ruined my walnut cradenza by partially flooding the room. Note the spectacular concrete floor in liu of the carpet that was once there...charming, isn't it? Our lil' rotten Sammy is way too curious for her own good (if the amp and preamp were on, she wouldn't be standing there sniffing away, not with a scorched nose)!

[Deang]

Cool. That stuff gets good comments no matter where you go.

We need to start compiling a list of good sounding, affordable solid state. I wish we good trade some of this stuff around. Maybe all this tube stuff is over-rated?

Nahhh.

I still want to hear the NAD Silver Series stuff someday.

[edwinr]

I agree, Dean. There are always requests for amp recommendations. The cheaper tube amps that are usually recommended (I've been through three this year), are fraught with reliability problems. I just got sick of mine and got rid of my last cheap tube amp. I've heard good things about Cambridge Audio. These products are popular in Australia due to the big sound, small dollar equation.

[Bill H.]

Jerry,

Thanks for the review. I have been looking at this model, on the fence. I love my little creek amp-but it's getting long in the tooth. Anyway Thanks !

[krustyoldsarge]

Thanks for letting us in on this! I took a look at Cambridge's site and noted the plethora of awards their equipment has received. They didn't talk much about their circuit topology. Is the 640C a digital amp?

[JewishAMerPrince]

Haven't opened the box yet, but based on it's size and weight (quite hefty) and description of the output devices used. I think that it's a conventional amp. Also one of the reveiews mentioned it being class A/B.

I'm still from that old school that judges an amp's quality based in part on it's weight.

JR

[Daddy Dee]

JT1STCAV,

I think the coffee table looks pretty good with your gear on it. It shows off Edmund's amps nicely. And hurricane's are definitely rough on furniture. I'm supposing that was a close call not to lose your gear, too. whew!

Wish I'd had a camera last night after my cat, Muffin, jumped into a basket on top of one of the Khorns.

[lynnm]

I have used the Cambridge Audio D500se CDP for the past couple of years and have been entirely happy with it. I too have seen many good reviews of all the Cambridge gear.

[leok]

Jerry,

Thanks for the review. Chorus-II can be a tough load. I suspect it was designed with low impedance ss amps in mind. I've resorted to using low impedance outputs on no-feedback tube amps to get them to behave. With the pwm amp the Chorus-II is very rich sounding. I would expect excellent results with a ss design that performs well at low power (which gather from your review, the Cambridge Audio does).

Leo

[JewishAMerPrince]

Yes, my quest for an amp had as it's #2 priority that it perform well at low power. An awful lot of the integrateds out there don't. I'm using this setup in my study/library and a good majority of the time it will be playing background music, not blasting. One of the things that attracted me to the CIIs is the fact that they stay real clear and detailed at low volumes, as does the Cambridge at below 1 watt.

So far I'm very happy with the Cambridge and CIIs, a great match. As the amp burns in it is gaining more warmth and 3 demensionality hour by hour. Very much remids me of an old 2 channel 30 watt tube integrated that I had driving some Heresys years ago. I've got a pair of KG 3.5s that I'm going to drag out of storage just to test with the Cambridge also.

JR

[jt1stcav]

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On 12/29/2004 8:59:29 AM Daddy Dee wrote:

JT1STCAV,

I think the coffee table looks pretty good with your gear on it. It shows off Edmund's amps nicely. And hurricane's are definitely rough on furniture. I'm supposing that was a close call not to lose your gear, too. whew!

Wish I'd had a camera last night after my cat, Muffin, jumped into a basket on top of one of the Khorns.

----------------

Thanks, Daddy. My right Cornwall was sitting on a totally soaked carpet and could've sustained much damage to its riser if left there for too long...luckily, it didn't and is as good as new. As for the coffee table, there's obviously no room for everything, which is why my Monster Power line conditioner is on the concrete floor (on a spare piece of MDF shelving). Overall, I'm very fortunant...it could've been alot worse!

JR, I wish you all the best with your new Cambridge Audio amp and CD player. I'm enjoying mine immensely; I don't regret my disc player purchase one bit...It's a very revealing 24/192 player which brings out the best in excellent recordings; it's like listening to all my music again for the very first time.

We did good, eh?

[JewishAMerPrince]

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On 12/30/2004 12:24:34 AM jt1stcav wrote:

We did good, eh?

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Even better than good! I've been a classical music buff for a very long time and haven't really enjoyed listening to an orchestra so much since I moved from 2 channel to multi-channel HT gear in 1990. I've always felt that strings (violins etc) sounded a bit metallic. I have attributed that (erroneously it now seems) to the nature of horn speakers. The Cambridge combo has changed all that. Strings sound natural and you would swear the woodwinds were here in the room with you. I really enjoy the fact that one can sit and listen to music at relatively low volumes and still hear all the minute details. The inner detail and delicacy at low volume is that extraordinary.

Both components are very solidly built an if the exterior attention to detail is indicative of what is inside, then they should be trouble free for a long long time. Don't ya just love how their remote feels in your hand?!!! It gives the impression that it is controlling a very special piece of gear.

The only gripe I have (if you can call it that) is that the output of the 640C may be a bit high for the input of the 640A, and therefore the entire operating range on the volume control is like from 6 oclock to 9 oclock on the knob, one quarter of it's entire range. This makes it difficult to make small adjustments in volume with the remote, I have to get up from my chair and fiddle with the volume control knob....Pickey, very pickey.

JR

[stan krajewski]

I too want to chime in and thank Jerry for the input.

My brother has Choruses (not II) and he loves them. This Cambridge 640a may be just what he needs.

The "Tim Allen" or "Macho" man appraoch to audio will only render you deaf. Turn it down and listen carefully. Forget about impressing others. Music at ear-bleeding levels is annoying to others and frankly they will yell out any compliment over the noise in hopes it will put an end to their agony.