Cambridge 540a or 640a with PSB speakers?

I was thinking of pairing up the cambridge with PSB 2b speakers. I like to listen to rock /pop, jazz, electronica and classical + ambient music. Will the cambridge deliver for the electronica and rock music??
Also,I was thinking of getting either the 540a or the 640a , from what I understsand the 640 a has more wattage. Is this the only thing though? Is there really a major difference between thse two models?

Have you considered the Rotel RA 01? It's around the same money and I would lean toward them http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=2374

what's wrong with the cambridge?

nothing wrong with the Cambridge units but they seem to sound less powerful than their ratings conversely Rotel seems to have more -- it may be an issue related to gain...You should not that I've not tried them with PSB.

It's difficult because a lot of these amps are in the same general ballpark so it's not a real big deal -- though personally I would use the money and buy used...you might be able to pick up a used Audio Refinement Complete or something from Sugden for what you're paying new...amps are pretyt safe used buys and for the money Sugden and Audio Refinement will add a touch of class to the resulting sound.

Rotel is typically built better than most of the stuff in its price class and the RA01 sounded quite good with some high end speakers without draing attention to it's flaws -- something that say NAD isn't able to do.

Ideally you want to try them out at home with the speakers to see which is best.

yah well basically i rounded out my choices to the cambridge 540a azur , rotel ra-01 and the jolida 1301. Any opinions on the jolida? I have yet to test it out for myself but I've heard a lot of good things.
If my speakers are 6ohms nominal will i be able to drive them with these amps that are rated at 8ohms??

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If my speakers are 6ohms nominal will i be able to drive them with these amps that are rated at 8ohms??

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Yes. The CA is rated at 80wpc into 4 ohms and the Rotel & Jolida should have no problem either.

My 540a runs 4 ohm nominal speakers (can't remember the min.) for 8-10 hours/day and doesn't even get warm. The Azur has plenty of current and trust me, the wattage rating are for real. As Nick mentioned tho, the others shouldn't have any problems either. Your speakers are very easy to drive.

I haven't heard the Jolida, but I can say the differences between the CA and Rotel are minimul at best, certainly not worth the extra coin you pay to get a Rotel with a remote (It's a $100 remote! No joke.) This could easily come down to which one you think looks best for the money as the sound quality is so close.

Hope this helps.

so matching my 6 ohm speakers with a 8 ohm rotel or jolida can be done? I'm hearing mixed information some people say that you should have the same ohm matching and some say that its not necessary, im confused now.

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Originally Posted by ninetynine

so matching my 6 ohm speakers with a 8 ohm rotel or jolida can be done? I'm hearing mixed information some people say that you should have the same ohm matching and some say that its not necessary, im confused now.

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Tube amps are usually the only ones that will provide separate taps for 8 ohm or 4 ohm. Your speakers are an easy load so you shouldn't have any problem driving them with any competent amp, including all of the ones you've inquired about. When a manufacturer states a wattage rating at 8 ohms, that's all they are doing: stating a power rating. It doesn't mean it won't be stable into lower loads. Generally, the more current an amp has, the better it will be able to handle difficult speaker loads. Look for the wattage rating to roughly double as the ohms are halved (i.e. 100 watts into 8 ohms, 200 watts into 4 ohms, etc.). That said, with your speakers most any amp shouldn't have a problem. Compare your speakers efficiency versus say a Martin Logan whereas it will be 4 ohm nominal with a 1.2 ohm dip! THAT'S tough!

Hope this helps.

Agree a speaker rated as a niominal 6 ohms with a minimum of 4ohms and 90+db basically can be run with a 5 watt amp into 8ohms. All speakers have different impedences that change at different frequency -- usually impedence drops at the extremes (deeper bass and treble on electrostats especially. When the impedence drops in half it is requesting twice the power from the amplifier. If the amplifier is robust it will be able to supply what the spekaer is asking...kind of like a bucket asking for more water from a well.

My old B&W 302 speakers were rated 8ohm nominal(which is basically an average) but a minimum of 3 ohms(which means at certain frequencies the speaker would demand more power to be driven properly.

My speakers are 6ohms nominal minimum 5ohms and hover a lot of the time around 12ohms making them an extremely easy speaker to drive.

Your PSBs look to be easy to drive based off the spec sheet - the cheaper Azur WILL drive the speaker no problems --- there is more to an amplifier than it's ability to drive a speaker however. Lot's of cheaper amps will drive my speakers - lots of more expensive amps with 20 times the power and better frequency response results can drive my speakers - the issue is which one drives them best in real world listening. You have to try the amps in question for yourself.

thanks for the info, thats exactly what I thought by looking at the measurements done at soundstage

http://www.soundstagemagazine.com/me...s/psb_image2b/

i even emailed the person from the magazine and he explained how this psb acts like a8ohm speaker if you look at chart 4