Cambridge Audio Azur 540A VS. NAD C320 BEE

[topspeed]

Thanks for the advice, I bought the CA and will receive it soon.
I very curious how it will sound with my B&W 602 s2's.
Thanks again,
Walker

Congrats Walker,

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new CA. I'd like to recommend a few things:
1) Burn, baby burn! This thing really benefits from a solid burn-in period (50+hrs) before it starts to sing. It sounds pretty thin straight out of the box so don't judge it right away, give it time to open up. The difference is considerable.

2) The sticker on the top is a can either be very easy to take off or a bloody nightmare. Another member that has the 640 had the same situation. "Goo Gone" works like a charm. Home Depot should have it.

3) The binding posts are disappointing in quality and don't accept banana! WTH??? Get some spades or pins while you're waiting for the unit to come in, you're going to need 'em.

Have fun!

[Walker]

Thanks for the tips, I'll let you know how it sounds.
One more question, my cd-player is an NAD C521i, is this a good match for the CA (Ibought it 3 months ago)? It sounds detailed and clean on my HK.
Walker

[topspeed]

Sure, why not? It will probably sound even better through the CA (once burned-in).

[noddin0ff]

Hi Guys,

It would be nice if you posted your reviews to the Reviews part of this site. I put mine up for the 540A a while back. Lots of people use this site. I'd rather not be the only opinion out there. Excellent forum though.

Noddi0ff

[Peter_Klim]

In 3 1/2 hours I am going to get a hearing test done (my ears keep popping and I got tinnitus) and hopefully it will give me some idea of what I want to do. That is, how much I want to spend on an amp/preamp/ or int...or just keep my old 1988 45w/ch Onkyo receiver.

First I was considering about 100 - 200 w/ch at about $1600 for Parasound Halo Pre/amp combo or Rotel's RC 1070 pre and one of their amps ...Then after my ear problems, I started deciding on Jolida's or Antiqu Sound Lab's tube intergated amps @ about 30-50 w/ch.

Then, I started thinking "If I might loose my hearing, why even spend a grand?" So the Rotel intergated came to mind (RA 1062 @ $700). Then I thought that wasn't much better.

Now I am thinking of the NAD C320BEE ($400). And since reading this thread, the CAs too.

This amp will be for my Martin Logan ReQuests.

Walker,
For you, either one (NAD or CA) will be fine. I've been using small Dali (Dali IV) speakers and larger JBL L7 with the ole Onkyo and it has more than enough power to crank them up! (I never tried to crank it up with the ReQuests - only because I am temporarily living in an apt).

Well...reading a more recent post, I just noticed you made your purchase. Let us know how you like it!

Anyone know how well either of these budget amps do at playing music at low to moderately low volume levels, with medium sensitive spks: 90dB/2.83 volts/meter that are Nominal: 4 Ohms; Minimum: 1.2 Ohms? Do they heat up a lot?

[topspeed]

Anyone know how well either of these budget amps do at playing music at low to moderately low volume levels, with medium sensitive spks: 90dB/2.83 volts/meter that are Nominal: 4 Ohms; Minimum: 1.2 Ohms? Do they heat up a lot?

Hope everything works out at the Doc, Peter. The only time a loss of hearing is a good thing is when you're married

I've got the Azur 540a running 4ohm Mission Argonauts that are 95dB sensitive. The impedence curve isn't as dramatic as your ML's, but I can say the CA runs very cool and I've got mine on pretty much all day. One of the things that I really appreciate about the CA is it's low level resolution. Whereas some amps need you to turn them up to fully develop, the Azur is balanced regardless of the volume. I use it for my office system so it's rarely cranked to, as Nigel Huffnel would say, "11". It does seem to produce a very real 50 wpc tho and I've never heard it show sign of strain or run out of room on the rare occasions I let it fly. Bare in mind, when you combine my speaker's sensitivity w/ my modest office dimensions (18'x10'), even half volume is REALLY loud.

From a pure sound quality standpoint, I'd actually give the C320bee a slight edge only because it's bass was a little deeper. The difference is miniscule however, and for me I opted for the far better aesthetics and much lower price of the Azur.

Hope this helps.

[Peter_Klim]

Hope everything works out at the Doc, Peter. The only time a loss of hearing is a good thing is when you're married

LOL!! Some co-workers and I joked the same thing the other day!

My hearing test came out better than expected. Both ears work the same, except a slight relative dip centered at 4Khz (in absolute, it is considered normal). But it is still a 10db difference between the 2 ears. Then at 8K they are the same again. In a couple of days the doc will review the results and we will take it from there. Thanks for your concern.

I wondered why you got the CA over the NAD and then remembered it wasn't for your main system, but for your office. What do you use in your main system again? Do you have it up in the gallery?

What I like about both these amps is that their volume controls are a rotary knob, instead of a digital pushbutton. With the knob, you have infinite volume settings. The Parasound Halo P3 only has only 40 something incremental steps (each step displays the volume by 2, so it displays up to "80", which is still 69 "more louder" than the amp used by Spinal Tap ) That, at one time, was my one draw back in deciding on it. My newer Onkyo (TX-DS777 used for HT w/the JBL L-series) has the digital knob that doesn't have an end it it spinning (does that make it even louder than the Halo?!?!)

I also like that the Rotels and the CA have a light in the volume know so I have some idea on what level the volume is set to.

Do you know if the NAD has the light in it?

[robin_v]

Good point about the low level response of the CA. I've been using Quad for about 30 years and sort of taken it for granted but it's certainly worth a mention. A lot of pre-amplifiers use logarithmic potentiometers and not linear for volume control.

My CA A500 has a very even response, much like the old Quad.

[slate1]

Congrats Walker,

3) The binding posts are disappointing in quality and don't accept banana! WTH??? Get some spades or pins while you're waiting for the unit to come in, you're going to need 'em.

Have fun!

You can use banana's on the Cambridge Amps (although I still agree that the binding posts area crap....). The small circular "plug" in the end of the post will come out but you'll have to get something like a thin knife blade to pry them loose. Once the end-cap has been removed, they will accept banana plugs - I've got mine hooked up this way but had to call the vendor I purchased the amp from in order to learn how to do it and the manual speaks nothing of it.

I've had the 640A for a few months now and am really enjoying it - just hope it lasts for a while. I've been reading about some reliability issues.

[topspeed]

You can use banana's on the Cambridge Amps (although I still agree that the binding posts area crap....). The small circular "plug" in the end of the post will come out but you'll have to get something like a thin knife blade to pry them loose. Once the end-cap has been removed, they will accept banana plugs - I've got mine hooked up this way but had to call the vendor I purchased the amp from in order to learn how to do it and the manual speaks nothing of it.

I've had the 640A for a few months now and am really enjoying it - just hope it lasts for a while. I've been reading about some reliability issues.

Hey Slate,

Thanks for the input. After posting, I later found that the Azur could indeed accept banana's from AudioPlus, the distributor. Unfortunately, the reason I was talking to the distributor was to check on the repair status of my 3 month old 540a (2+ weeks and counting). Hopefully my trials and tribulations are an aberration and you folks will have better luck. I still think the binding posts suck tho !

[slate1]

Man - I hate to hear you're having trouble with yours.... I'm hoping that I won't have any issues with my 640a. I love the amp - it sounds better than many other integrateds I've had including those from NAD, Creek, H/K, etc. I honestly couldn't be happier and my only complaints are the cheap volume knob and those damned binding posts. I can't imagine why they skimped on both of those after building such a nice piece of equipment.

[Geoffcin]

Hey Slate,

Thanks for the input. After posting, I later found that the Azur could indeed accept banana's from AudioPlus, the distributor. Unfortunately, the reason I was talking to the distributor was to check on the repair status of my 3 month old 540a (2+ weeks and counting). Hopefully my trials and tribulations are an aberration and you folks will have better luck. I still think the binding posts suck tho !

Enquiring minds wanna know.

I wonder if they know that hundreds of people are reading your posts about thier service?

[topspeed]

Enquiring minds wanna know.

I wonder if they know that hundreds of people are reading your posts about thier service?

Hey Geoff,

You know, I'm actually not slamming them. I shipped it UPS ground and it had to go all the way from Cali to NY so that alone probably chewed up 5 days or so. Mike at AudioPlus warned me before I shipped it that it was vacation time so it would take a bit longer. Well, the boy wasn't lyin'. As of yesterday, they said they were scheduled to look at it in the next few days. Hopefully, I'll have it up and running in another week or so. I'll let you guys know.

Man, I never realized how horrible my computer speakers were until this happened

[Geoffcin]

Hey Geoff,

You know, I'm actually not slamming them. I shipped it UPS ground and it had to go all the way from Cali to NY so that alone probably chewed up 5 days or so. Mike at AudioPlus warned me before I shipped it that it was vacation time so it would take a bit longer. Well, the boy wasn't lyin'. As of yesterday, they said they were scheduled to look at it in the next few days. Hopefully, I'll have it up and running in another week or so. I'll let you guys know.

Man, I never realized how horrible my computer speakers were until this happened

I think they are screwing you around already. If your dealer confermed that the unit was faultly, then the manufacturer should have authorized an immidiate replacment. If it's going to take another few weeks to get this sorted then they've really dropped the ball IMHO.

[topspeed]

Yeah, you're probably right. I guess because it's only used for my office rig, I just don't care that much. Most of the time I'm not even paying attention to the music anyway. Besides, Lord knows I've got bigger issues to deal with than a faulty amp.