Cambridge Audio 740A, 740C and Mordaunt Short 906i

[jl151080]

I recently traded in the Cambridge Audio 640C V2 for the Cambridge Audio 740C, to go with the Cambridge Audio 740A amp.

Running it with the Mordaunt Short 906i’s, I find the vocals are clear, but the rest of the soundstage seems a bit veiled. Overall, the sound is a little disappointing.

This could be because my lounge is quite ‘live’, with laminate floor etc, and nothing to deaden the sound, or perhaps because of the speaker cables. At the moment, I’m using cables I bought along with the speakers from Richer Sounds (I bought the speakers online and at the checkout option, Richer Sounds suggested cables, so I went for those).

Is anyone else running the Cambridge Audio 740A and 740C with the Mordaunt Short 906is? What are your impressions?

 

[matthewpiano]

I had the 740C, 740A and some MS914is until about 6 weeks ago so maybe I can throw some light on this for you.

How long have you been running the 740A amp? It does take quite a good running in period for things to open up. After that, you will find it better but it always retained some of that veiled, slightly disappointing sound for me. For a powerful amplifier it has a tendency to sound like its running out of steam unless you have the volume control over half way round. Its very detailed but also quite dry sounding - analytical, almost clinical. To me, it lacked any decent sort of feel for the ebb and flow of music and never really created any sense of atmosphere in my room.

I tried the different parts of the system in all sorts of combinations with other kit and every time it was the amplifier that proved to be the sticking point. It isn't that its a bad amplifier. In some respects it is really very good. It just doesn't communicate in a very musical way and that, ultimately is the reason that I now have my new Denon/MA system which is better in every way.

In your situation, I'd start (if its quite new) by giving the amp more chance to run in. If things still don't improve look at a change of amp. I believe the 840A is a different proposition altogether but you could also look at the Denon PMA1500AE, Audiolab 8000S or a Rega Brio 3. Don't make any changes to the system without trying possibilities out WITH YOUR EQUIPMENT, even if it means taking your hi-fi along to the dealers. Synergy is a very strange thing and its vital to make sure that the components you use together, make the sound you are looking for.

 

[jl151080]

Thanks for your reply. The amp is still quite new, I've had it a couple of months, so maybe it still needs to be run in. I got the 740C CD player last Saturday, so I'm still playing around with it.

I found last night that the CD player was not set to 'DSP Upsample', so when I did this, it improved the sound a bit. I have no idea what the sub menus to do with digital word spacing and dither etc are all about though!