Amp upgrade: looking at an unusual solution....

[Gazjam]

Brian the 405....

it looks as though its got two sets of outputs?
(4 phonos it looks like)

will that mean ir can drive my Caiman AND my AV amp front channels (obviously not at once!)


Thanks for the offer Alex, whats the advantages over the current crop of Azur amps, particularly my 640a?

(apart fromk not having a dry joint problem!)

thanks.

[Alex Nikitin]

Thanks for the offer Alex, whats the advantages over the current crop of Azur amps, particularly my 640a?

(apart fromk not having a dry joint problem!)

thanks.

Hi Gaz,

Cambridge A3i was a completely original design, the power amplifier circuit is unique and has nothing in common with either earlier or later Cambridge amps. Unfortunately, due to some poor quality parts and assembly problems it was not very reliable in the field. Occasionally I'm buying second-hand A3i amps from ebay and make these in what I would call a "designer's cut" version of A3i amplifier, replacing a number of parts, modifying the circuit in few places and fine-tuning the bias current. As a result modified A3i has extremely small distortion at low and mid frequencies (below -110 dB or 0.0003%) and very good sound too (sometimes these two things do not go together well ). I think it can compete against any integrated amp of a similar power (2x50W into 8 Ohm) up to £1K, maybe more .

Cheers

Alex

[smithy]

Find yourself a secondhand MC2 750,see what a big amp can do.If the slight fan noise doesnt bother you they are a bargain.

[Labarum]

Brian the 405....

it looks as though its got two sets of outputs?
(4 phonos it looks like)

will that mean ir can drive my Caiman AND my AV amp front channels (obviously not at once!)

All but the latest 405s had it's single input (L+R that is) on a 4 pin Din that connected from the pre-amp. The left and right outputs to the speakers were on 4 4mm banana plug sockets. (Two per loudspeaker, clearly.)

Most refurbs leave the 4 pin DIN where it is and parallel a pair of standard RCA phone sockets. You could loop from the DIN into you AV amp, but you might get some strange impedance effects. If you were having the amp ungraded maybe a resistive combiner could be added to the front end - what the quality cost would be I cannot say. The Quad power amps are rather more sensitive (330mV from memory) than modern power amps which have a standard line input of 2v (2000mV). That extra sensitivity would give you room for a few resistors. I had the input sensitivity of my Quad adjusted, which means if I choose I can run the Beresford into the Quad from its fixed outputs, and use the digital volume control on the Squeezebox. I don't, because my second digital input, the Virgin TV box has no volume control.

So yes, you could loop from the Quad to the AV amp, but might need some circuit mods to do it. But there is an easier way. Use the variable output of the Beresford to connect to the stereo power amp (whatever it is) and the Beresford fixed out put to connect to the AV amp which has its own volume control.

[Spur07]

I'm afraid I can only go with what I know - I haven't had the experience of listening to multiple products, valve amps, etc down the years like some of the other posters on this forum. So whether you pursue the pre/power or integrated route why not consider the Naim 'Olive' range if you want something clear, rhythmic and tight - or better still, check out the Avondale website. The Beresford is, after all, in its 'warts and all' conception very much akin to the 'Naim sound'.

[Ali Tait]

Hi Gaz,
If you would like to hear some valve amps,I'm not too far from you,being in Dunfermline.You'd be welcome to come over for a listen anytime.I have a WAD KEL 84 up here too,which would be my recommendation if you decided to go for a valve amp.