[scottiebabie]

Quote:

 
It may be irrelevant here, but..
Is anyone here has experience with Cambridge Audio Azur 840a especially with headphone? Thanks!!

 

a number of years ago, i had a cambridge 640 (IIRC) integrated amp driving a pair of elac bookshelfs. i found it wasnt too bad cept it wasnt that detailed but it was smooth. i had a HD600 back then & the 640s headout was slightly below a PPAv2 with opa627s & is prolly comparable to a LDII+ i had at that time. IIRC the 640s bass was slightly looser & soundstage wasnt as coherent as the PPAv2. other than that i thought it drove the senns quite well & i was pleasantly surprise it measure quite well to 'dedicateds'.
 
but ofcos the 840s mite be an entirely different beast altogether. i know the 840 CDplayer is miles ahead of the 640.
 

 

[Meewoo]

Quote:

a number of years ago, i had a cambridge 640 (IIRC) integrated amp driving a pair of elac bookshelfs. i found it wasnt too bad cept it wasnt that detailed but it was smooth. i had a HD600 back then & the 640s headout was slightly below a PPAv2 with opa627s & is prolly comparable to a LDII+ i had at that time. IIRC the 640s bass was slightly looser & soundstage wasnt as coherent as the PPAv2. other than that i thought it drove the senns quite well & i was pleasantly surprise it measure quite well to 'dedicateds'.
 
but ofcos the 840s mite be an entirely different beast altogether. i know the 840 CDplayer is miles ahead of the 640.
 

Wow, Scottie, you really are an amp guru! Thanks!!

I thought it might lack the power to drive headphones like modern HT receiver. It turns out not. I might find a store to audit it.

 

[Philimon]

Got this one today: Marantz 2252

 

[TruBrew]

Nice, is that an HE-6 running off the speaker taps.
 
 
Edit: My mistake, you own the HE-4. Do you find they perform any better that way?
Quote:

Got this one today: Marantz 2252

 

 

[Philimon]

The Marantz is definitely warmer (round?,) than my Luxman's headphone out, also is warmer on my speakers. I'm really enjoying the combination with fully turned "mid" tone control with HE-4 (did not have on Luxman). I will be comparing speaker vs headphone out on Marantz soon. 

 

[Trance88]

I've got a 1980 Akai receiver. I use it as my computer audio amplifier. It's not bad, but I have a feeling it's gonna need a re-cap. The sound is a little thin I think. Definitely listenable though. I'll have to try to wire up my vintage Pioneer SE-30 headphones to the speaker outputs (they're 8 ohms) as opposed to using the headphone jack.

 

[Meewoo]

Quote:

The Marantz is definitely warmer (round?,) than my Luxman's headphone out, also is warmer on my speakers. I'm really enjoying the combination with fully turned "mid" tone control with HE-4 (did not have on Luxman). I will be comparing speaker vs headphone out on Marantz soon. 

 
May I know what Luxman you have? I have Rx-1120a and RX-113, RX-113 is warmer than 1120a. But I like 1120a a lot since I feel it's the "perfect" warm sound. To me, a little warmer than 1120a is kind of veil, the detail starts losing;  a little brighter than 1120a is kind of too dynamic, the soothing feeling starts losing. And the 1120a has the wildest sound-stage in my vintage stuff. If you are trying to part with your Luxman, please let me know. I really  expect your review can compare Luxman and Marantz.
 

 

[Philimon]

Quote:

 
May I know what Luxman you have? I have Rx-1120a and RX-113, RX-113 is warmer than 1120a. But I like 1120a a lot since I feel it's the "perfect" warm sound. To me, a little warmer than 1120a is kind of veil, the detail starts losing;  a little brighter than 1120a is kind of too dynamic, the soothing feeling starts losing. And the 1120a has the wildest sound-stage in my vintage stuff. If you are trying to part with your Luxman, please let me know. I really  expect your review can compare Luxman and Marantz.
 

I really will be doing a close comparison between the two, because I plan on selling the loser. Luxman R-1050, 55WPC. I already have an interested buyer in the Luxman if I don't plan on keeping. Also, I would prefer to sell locally because I have no experience shipping these things... though for the right price... 

 
My speakers are bi-ampable, but I've never and am not sure how. Is it possible to hook up both receivers at the same so that I can do easy A/B comparisons? This way I don't have to get up and switch cables. Or will this mess things up?
 
I just looked up the 1120. The TOTL Luxman receiver, correct? 120WPC, nice. 
 
Unfortunately for the Luxman I slightly prefer the Marantz look, and its convenient "mid" tone control. My belief was that on the Luxman that if you turn down the treble and bass knobs, then you are basically increasing the mids which would make a mids control knob unnecessary. Am I right?

 

[Philimon]

Luxman R-1050 

 

[scottiebabie]

Quote:

Wow, Scottie, you really are an amp guru! Thanks!!

I thought it might lack the power to drive headphones like modern HT receiver. It turns out not. I might find a store to audit it.

bud much as i'd like it, amp guru im NOT! LOL! however theres quite a number of gurus here starting with my (now)vintage lovin brotha Skylab. he's prolly owned more amps than i'll ever see in a lifetime not to mention the gear he's heard. now he deserving of the title 'Amp Guru'. me im nothing but a fly on the wall as all.
 
back to cambridge amps, im sure it'll drive anything short of the vaunted orthos & K1ks.

 

[Meewoo]

Quote:

I really will be doing a close comparison between the two, because I plan on selling the loser. Luxman R-1050, 55WPC. I already have an interested buyer in the Luxman if I don't plan on keeping. Also, I would prefer to sell locally because I have no experience shipping these things... though for the right price... 

 
My speakers are bi-ampable, but I've never and am not sure how. Is it possible to hook up both receivers at the same so that I can do easy A/B comparisons? This way I don't have to get up and switch cables. Or will this mess things up?
 
I just looked up the 1120. The TOTL Luxman receiver, correct? 120WPC, nice. 
 
Unfortunately for the Luxman I slightly prefer the Marantz look, and its convenient "mid" tone control. My belief was that on the Luxman that if you turn down the treble and bass knobs, then you are basically increasing the mids which would make a mids control knob unnecessary. Am I right?

Well,  it's sad I am living in east coast.
I am not familiar with Bi-amp, but I do know it requires two receivers. One receiver can only to bi-wire. I guess your speakers are Mirage. I have one pair old mirage 490i also. Yes, you can connect two receiver to speakers. If you want, you can disconnect the interconnect metal piece. I did A/B comparison this way (without disconnect the metal piece) for many times. But please make sure you turn off one receiver before turn on another. 
Adjusting treble and bass combine can affect mid-range. It depends on which range the treble and bass are. I remember Luxman R-xx50 has two bass and two treble ranges. Those can do a lot of combinations. Some people can chime in this topic since they say Sansui's treble and bass control is not useful as Pioneer's. (someone please help this topic!!) 
Again,  I am expecting your review!!
 
@Scottie,
I know Skylab is amp guru, I would consider he is Tube guru. You man are vintage guru!!!

 

 

[RexAeterna]

I really will be doing a close comparison between the two, because I plan on selling the loser. Luxman R-1050, 55WPC. I already have an interested buyer in the Luxman if I don't plan on keeping. Also, I would prefer to sell locally because I have no experience shipping these things... though for the right price... 

 
My speakers are bi-ampable, but I've never and am not sure how. Is it possible to hook up both receivers at the same so that I can do easy A/B comparisons? This way I don't have to get up and switch cables. Or will this mess things up?
 
I just looked up the 1120. The TOTL Luxman receiver, correct? 120WPC, nice. 
 
Unfortunately for the Luxman I slightly prefer the Marantz look, and its convenient "mid" tone control. My belief was that on the Luxman that if you turn down the treble and bass knobs, then you are basically increasing the mids which would make a mids control knob unnecessary. Am I right?

you can bi-amp 2 different ways. you can have one amp power the highs while another power the lows or also known as ''vertical bi-amping''. Or you can have have one speaker channel(like speaker A) power the highs and speaker B power the lows or also known as ''horizontal bi-amping'' what bi-amping is meant for is split the impedance load to the amp(s) which can improve clarity and overall sound to your liking cause of better handling of impedance dips and spikes the amp sees. i use to use my amps to passively bi-amp my technics sb-t200's and while i did get a better control over the tweeter and woofers and while i was able to fine tune the sound to my liking i didn't really noticed too much difference. i do keep my technics sb-t200 towers bi-amped cause i make use of it's powerful dual 5.5'' woofers. i get crazy hard hitting bass from them and they go much lower compared to my other speakers. i only make use of them in some movies and when i crave my guilty pleasure of earth-quake like bass and to piss off my neighbors. other then that i love my smaller natural response of my modern pioneer sp-fs51-lr floor towers.


i would only see bi-amping benifical if your using 2 weak amps and not be able to handle the whole frequency spectrum or feel not getting enough. i usually suggest using one powerful amp that can handle low impedance drives and so forth instead of using multiple amps unless you need to have control over the frequency range and if the amp cannot handle how power usage and consently clipping or chance of clipping .

 

[henree]

How do you know if you need a re-cap? I do hear a slight humming sound through headphones when no music is playing.

 

[moodyrn]

I finally got my kr-9600 back from the repair shop, but unfortunately, it does have a blown ic. But the good news is, I just scored a working one with a few blown bulbs for 250.00(wow). A broken one recently went on ebay for around 220.00. He really didn't want to sell it for that price but I talked him into it. The ic alone goes for 200.00 when they come available(which is why broken ones go for so much). So I could sell the spare one, break the rest of the unit down in parts and should get my money back and more. So looks like it's going to work out in the end. I can't wait to compare this to my sx1010.

 

[mythless]

Anyone a fan of Mitsubishi gear?  Just picked up DA-P10, DA-A10, DA-F10 and DA-M10.