Amplifier advice please!!! Cambridge cxa60 vs cxa80

[Richard10909]

Hello

I'm looking to buy a new amplifier to pair with a Audiolab 8200cdq and Dali zensor 3 speakers. My budget is £700 max atm. Originally looked at Arcam FMJ A19 but I'm liking the what hifi reviews on the new Cambridge cxa60, plus it has all the digital extras. However the cxa80 interests me but did not get the same write up as the cxa60. Has anyone had any experience or compared these amps. I'm just wondering if the balanced xlr on the cxa80 and Audiolab would actually make a noticeable difference or to stick to high end interconnect. Also the cxa80 is a dual mono block design and just wondering if this amp will really sound that much better than the cxa60 for the extra £200. Alternatively other amp suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks for any comments on this

Richard

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi
My advice would be to buy a good power amp and work back from there ( as straight away you have solved how speakers are driven )
The power amp though needs to have ability of lowish input sensitivity, which otherwise can restrict how attenuation is achieved.

A Quad 909 being an excellent low distortion power amp, and suiting passive volume attenuation like LDR's,



Cheers / Chris

[high.spirits]

I used to have an A19 before going to valves and it was excellent.

I auditioned it against many rivals e.g. Roksan, Music Fidelity, older Arcam A18 etc and it was superior to all.
It has an openness hard to believe at that price point and you can pick them up s/h for a bargain.

Try before you buy.

[Macca]

What amp are you using now? And what is wrong with it?

You might find spending the money on better speakers would give you more improvement than swapping one amp for another. Balanced connections won't bring you any benefit unless you need to use a very long interconnect between source and amp - like 40 foot. Otherwise just a gimmick. You have a DAC already so why pay for another one inside the amp?

Check what that money could buy you in a pair of used speakers.

If you do need a new amp then my recco would be to get a good power amp second hand and use it with a passive pre amp. That will give you a jump up in quality that you will notice immediately.

[Richard10909]

Ok thanks. Well my amp is a bit out of date. An Arcam alpha 7 and was using kef iq30 and brought the dali zensor 3 because they sound warmer and better than the kef. The Audiolab also already has a preamp built in and a good dac

[struth]

Used to have a fmj 19. Its a decent amp, but you will do much better secondhand and save a bit too.

[Macca]

In that case I would say go and get the cxa 80 and compare it to the Arcam. Richer will let you take it back if you don't think it is a sufficient improvement. Amps don't really go out of date, there is nothing new in amplifier tech. But Arcam amps can be a bit 'meh' so you might find the Cambridge is better.

If it were me I would still look for a quality used power amp instead, £750 would buy you quite a bit. The Krell I am using at the moment was £900 s/h, for example, so just £150 more than the CX80. Arcam, Cambridge etc are not even in the same league.

[agk]

I'd stay well away from Cambridge amps if I were you. They sound great when they work but do have a tendency to go tits up.

[Simon_LDT]

I wouldn't trust much of what WhatHiFi says. If I had my time again I would have looked for something with more bang for buck. I love my Arcam amps but if I had that sort of money to spend again I'd be looking at Firebottle Monoblocks or something from Arkless or something like a Bryston or Krell. Also, definitely buy 2nd hand and get even more performance for your money. Lots of superb gear out there at good prices.

[Richard10909]

I've seen an old naim nait 5i and rega brio 3 going cheap, but again it's intergrated and haven't heard them and probably won't get chance to compare. Also there's those NVA A40 mono blocks for 500 bucks online that seem to be popular but I've never heard of them