CA 650 how is it ?

Got something...

"The 650A takes Cambridge back to the forefront of performance at this price level.. Its wrap-around lid and thicker front panel make the amp look far smarter.It's a fine buy."

5 Stars - WHFSV

Time to upgrade 640->650 --- how much ?
 
I have not read the review yet, but have owned the 650a and 650c for several weeks now. I have no hesitation in recommending both units. Why? For midrange clarity, low frequency control and high frequency expressiveness they excel. I'll explain.

My friend has had the 640a & c for a couple of years and although quite impressive, especially for the price, did not make me want to go out and buy.

I was recently out looking for a new TV and went into my local Richer Sounds, while there took a listen to the new 650 pairing.

Impressed me enough to buy, even in showroom conditions. Well they were playing a CD i'd worked on!

To give you a little background, my career is in the engineering side of the music industry, being involved in the studio with recording, mixing and mastering - so when I listen to certain CD's (mine) I like to think I know what they should sound like.

Over the years I have read many rave reviews, including equipment costing 000's, most never impressed.
Do most reviewers know what instruments are meant to sound like or for example a live kit of drums? And no I don' t mean going to a live concert and listening to it through a P.A. system. If you are close to a drum kit the bass drum pushes against your chest, a cymbal crash can hurt your ears! The pedals on a pipe organ have a hard to define breathiness. A live string section is breathtaking.

The 650's as a pair are able to portray the nuances of the instruments correctly, with a fluid well controlled bass and also have the power and dynamics in the treble to correctly define a drum kit, some would probably call it too bright but they are wrong - it is correct.
When paired with speakers capable of presenting the information they receive correctly, I have tried the 650's with several (including the studio monitors), they will not show themselves wanting.

Some of my colleagues (not in music) have systems costing £000's and will not admit that the CA's sound good. Pride?
emotion-9.gif
Or maybe their ears are just used to the coloured sounds they believe to be correct.

I think they would go well with your RS6's but not sure how much of an improvement they'd be over the 640 V2's.

Edit: Seen the reviews now - just as expected!!! Maybe the reviewers ears are much younger than mine!!
 
Hi:

Your signature tells it all! How is 650A...how different it's from 640A...is it worth to upgrade from 640 to 650...lack of bass...trouble with treble...are some of the highlights of 640...has it all been answered in 650...and how much is 650 ?

Your detailed review of 650 is greatly expected. thanx stump.
 
Can't help thinking this would be a sideways move. You'd be better off looking at replacing your CA gear with Roksan, Naim or Rega.
 
What bothers me about the review is ; a hint of treble brightness. The old 640 had this problem, I hoped they would have solved this with this amp. And I hope the amp is more reliable than the old one. The old amp had some serious problems with reliability.
 
I'm with Tarquin here - I think you'll be underwhelmed by the 650 if you've already got the 640... I juyst don't think it will differ enough. Do you like the Cambridge audio sound? If the answers yes I'd go for the 740 or 840 as they are a jump up in quality. A great time to test drive some other brands too.
 
Well, they are both prone to excess brightness, so the logical conclusion is don't partner them together!

Personally I never enjoyed the first gen 640 azur amp and cd much preferring NADs 352 / 541 combination. And ultimately you only get what you pay for and a £350 amp or CDP is just that....
 
What? 650 also has brightness, i'll be better stick with the 640 then. Yes, indeed, it would never be an upgrade, just sideways with the 650, thanx for pointing out. From the below amps, which could partner well with the RS6 ?

NAD 355->NAD 372->PM7003
 
From my experience Marantz 7001Ki partnered with RS6s rather well, but I have heard the same thing about 355BEE. NAD is a bit warm and Marantz is fairly neutral.
 
Which one goes well with RS6-

ARCAM FMJ A18 - 50 wpc
ARCAM FMJ A28 - 75 wpc

the cdp will be CA 640C V2, so does A18 gel with RS6 and 640C, and is that 50 wpc will be able to drive the RS6 ? or should i look at A28 ?

thoughts pls
 
vinod_david:Hi:

Your signature tells it all! How is 650A...how different it's from 640A...is it worth to upgrade from 640 to 650...lack of bass...trouble with treble...are some of the highlights of 640...has it all been answered in 650...and how much is 650 ?

Your detailed review of 650 is greatly expected. thanx stump.

As I said in my previous post, I am impressed with the 650's but cannot tell you how much different they are to your 640 V2's
 

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