A morning of speaker hunting to pair with CA 840s

[ear]

that weird it didn.t sound right...But maybe...the volume was graduated like -something to zero...maybe I was in the negative zone only lol

 

[ear]

that weird it didn.t sound right...But maybe...the volume was graduated like -something to zero...maybe I was in the negative zone only lol was i?

 

[tonky]

The 840A v2 sounds unbustable. The sound is full and controlled - very natural. Such is its clarity it sometimes does not seem as loud as it actually is. Try other less powerful amps and you can hear the difference. Their sound becomes hardened and strained at louder volumes.

 

[ear]

"I could move furniture with mine if I could stand the loudness at 3 o'clock! "

3 o'clock is the maximum volume isnït it?

 

[Anonymous]

The 840 has a wierd volume setup. each click is 1 decibel so it doent work like normal volume pots

 

[ear]

so at 3 o'clock is the max?

 

[Anonymous]

yes but i cant mine past about 1.30......very loud

 

[ear]

hum thx for the answer.it's a nice amp

 

[ellison]

ear:the CA 840 a didn't seem to have that much power specs say it does...that half moon level gauge was almost 80% and it wasï't as loud as other amps I heard wich were at 11 o'clock volume.But it sounded good the CA 840 and had good bass.

The ca840a is designed so that the first half of volume is much finer incrementally than the second half which is much louder incrementally.Another design with the 840 is that when you alter balance to complete left or right ,you will still hear output from both speakers.

ellison

 

[Gerrardasnails]

ear:so at 3 o'clock is the max?

I think it might go to 5 o'clock but there is no way to find out! 1-2 is very loud indeed.

 

[lordmortlock]

Yes true blue I clocked that earlier - thanks, might head over to cheltenham at the weekend to see if I can find some to play with.

I only mentioned the bass comment/ma rs6 as there was a couple of posts from others in past days wanting for low end. Thats not my gripe with the amp - and I'm pretty useless at explaining myself in hifi terms - but it just doesnt grab me enough. I make it sound like I want really exciting and upfront but I don't really mean that. I guess I'm looking for sound that's more rich (lol typed 'richer sound' but changed it!)

I've just done a stack more a/b testing with my old kit and the new... both plugged in to airports streaming itunes so I can switch between seamlessly with iphone remote. I just don't think the difference is big enough to warrant £1600. Maybe my ears aren't good enough to really hear the variation. Plenty of you guys obviously love the sound.

That quad pre/power tho... now that got me thinking...

 

[ear]

well today hearing a bunch of amps and speakers, the CA 840 didn't stand out more than the basic pioneer a-209r or the denon pma-500ae, these botj sounding sweet( much better than the more agressive pma1500ae or the awfull yamaha S700(very mechanical and "acid" sounding. conclusions...at least I know I woulnd go with the yamaha. But the 840 sure sounded way better than the 640

 

[Anonymous]

If you are looking for rich and warm without brightness, then I would audition the NAD C355 along with either the MA RS6 or the Mezzo 6's.

 

[matthewpiano]

ear:well today hearing a bunch of amps and speakers, the CA 840 didn't stand out more than the basic pioneer a-209r or the denon pma-500ae, these botj sounding sweet( much better than the more agressive pma1500ae or the awfull yamaha S700(very mechanical and "acid" sounding. conclusions...at least I know I woulnd go with the yamaha. But the 840 sure sounded way better than the 640

What were the speakers?

 

[Anonymous]

 

[matthewpiano]

garethwd:

LOL!! Must have been.

 

[ear]

I listened all of the amps with all of the speakers.jamo a506, sony ss-F6000, vardus 300 wharfedale and MA br5

 

[Gerrardasnails]

garethwd:

Is that a 2.1 system?!

 

[matthewpiano]

ear:I listened all of the amps with all of the speakers.jamo a506, sony ss-F6000, vardus 300 wharfedale and MA br5

Therein lies the problem. None of those are good enough to really show the difference the 840A would make, or to show the qualities of the Denon PMA1500AE.

 

[ear]

yes i know the charactet of the pma1500 very well and the other Ca stuff, it was the first time I heard the 840.certainly much better than the other ca amps.and more balanced than the pma1500, like someone said on a post , the pma1500 sound like the treble is always at 1 more level than it should be.

 

[Kevin Stephens]

lordmortlock: I guess I'm looking for sound that's more rich (lol typed 'richer sound' but changed it!) I've ....... That quad pre/power tho... now that got me thinking...

ALternately seek out a Musical Fidelity A3.5 amp (or even A5.5 amp) on sale / ex demo. I bought my 3.5 and a pair of Monitor Audio GS10 speakers (also the 3.5cd player) after listening to them against the Quad 999 CDP2/99 power combo. For me the Musical Fidelity combo is nice and rich without being too warm, yet still very detailed. My experience of the GS10 is not over bright at all, but they do seem more suited to MF than Naim/Cyrus/CA etc.

 

[matthewpiano]

ear:yes i know the charactet of the pma1500 very well and the other Ca stuff, it was the first time I heard the 840.certainly much better than the other ca amps.and more balanced than the pma1500, like someone said on a post , the pma1500 sound like the treble is always at 1 more level than it should be.

Fine amp though it is, that is exactly why I got rid of the Denon, although I actually thought both the bass AND the treble were 1 level higher than they should be, with the midrange an after-thought. Its an amp that lacks finesse, particularly given its ridiculous asking price these days.

 

[ear]

"Its an amp that lacks finesse, particularly given its ridiculous asking price these days."

...my point. the pma500 also seems to have that treble lift.the a-209r doesn't and it is cheaper.the pioneer and the CA840 were the more balanced.Yamaha is to forget..

 

[Tesler]

Just in case anyone may be interested, a colleague from my work has a CA 840a v2 and has agreed to bring it round to my house on Saturday night.

I have a CA 740a in my spare room and I'm going to do a comparison test on Saturday night between my 740 and his 840.

I'm also going to test vinyl playback using a 640p Phono stage as well.

I'm going to take my Pioneer A400 out of my system and try the two Cambridge amps, one at a time, in its place.

Would anyone here be interested to see what the outcome of this is going to be?

 

[lordmortlock]

Yeah defo Tesler. Bang it on a new thread.