Crunch Time for CA 740A

[newaudio]

hi folks again...

the cambridge audio 740 amp is goin! i just never warmed to it...a very precise and "sensible" sound in my opinion if that makes sense? i sat the other night and listened to various discs from rock, country and folk. it just got painful to listen to at the end. what to audition though?

Munster Sounds suggested the Kandy 2 or Marantz 8003.They dont give out demos for home listen so it involves lugging speakers and player to Cork. Clooney Audio suggest the Cyrus 8 with a home demo offered? any other suggestions from the good readers out there? Speakers are RS8s and player is the CA 740C. looking to spend about a grand.

thanks

eamonn

 

[Gerrardasnails]

newaudio:
hi folks again...

the cambridge audio 740 amp is goin! i just never warmed to it...a very precise and "sensible" sound in my opinion if that makes sense? i sat the other night and listened to various discs from rock, country and folk. it just got painful to listen to at the end. what to audition though?

Munster Sounds suggested the Kandy 2 or Marantz 8003.They dont give out demos for home listen so it involves lugging speakers and player to Cork. Clooney Audio suggest the Cyrus 8 with a home demo offered? any other suggestions from the good readers out there? Speakers are RS8s and player is the CA 740C. looking to spend about a grand.

thanks

eamonn

840A v.2. You will love it! And Rcher Sounds offer a money back guarantee after a few weeks of listening.

 

[plastic penguin]

It all depends what the OP doesn't like about the 740. If its presentation is similar to the 840V2, I can't see him warming to that either.

Although you were pretty much on the button with the Creek prediction...

 

[Tesler]

newaudio:
"it just got painful to listen to at the end. "

eamonn

What was painfull about the sound? Harsh and a bit Sandy in the treble? restrained?

 

[newaudio]

hi

in response... it just got annoying and grating. treble too bright with the sound just lacking that certain something. my old sony was warmer with a degree of excitement to it....

 

[newaudio]

hi gerrard... did you have a 740 before the 840? worth a demo I think. how do you find the sound of it?

 

[Tesler]

plastic penguin:
It all depends what the OP doesn't like about the 740. If its presentation is similar to the 840V2, I can't see him warming to that either.

Although you were pretty much on the button with the Creek prediction...

Yes Quite, I was lucky enough to do a direct comparison with the 740A and 840A V2 in my own home last year, I friend bought the 840a and came round to my house one night to compare the two amps.
I've got the 740A.

They are very similar, but the 840 is a bit more open sounding, but not a lot different though.

Have any of you Guy's who own the 840A ever tried the 740A?

I find the extra £250 for the 840A is probably spent on that strange clicky, ratchety, relay type volume control, better speaker terminals and extra inputs rather than sound quality over the 740A. But thats Just IMHO.

 

[plastic penguin]

Tesler:plastic penguin:

It all depends what the OP doesn't like about the 740. If its presentation is similar to the 840V2, I can't see him warming to that either.

Although you were pretty much on the button with the Creek prediction...

Yes Quite, I was lucky enough to do a direct comparison with the 740A and 840A V2 in my own home last year, I friend bought the 840a and came round to my house one night to compare the two amps. I've got the 740A. They are very similar, but the 840 is a bit more open sounding, but not a lot different though. Have any of you Guy's who own the 840A ever tried the 740A? I find the extra £250 for the 840A is probably spent on that strange clicky, ratchety, relay type volume control, better speaker terminals and extra inputs rather than sound quality over the 740A. But thats Just IMHO.

You have MA RS8s? in that case, the Creek Evo 2 will sound stonking - a very neutral amp, lashed with detail and a tight, fast bass.

 

[newaudio]

hmmmmm! food for thought then. i need to demo a few to get a feel... the 740 combo was my first decent move into hi-fi separates and i was bloody disappointed!

and why? because i didnt demo first of all...! DOH! number one rule broken.

 

[Tesler]

newaudio:
hi

in response... it just got annoying and grating. treble too bright with the sound just lacking that certain something.

How long have you had your 740a?

I've had mine for 2 years and moved it backwards and forwards from my main system to the spare room countless times because I felt the same as you about the sound.

I'ts fine now, I've also tried some bi-amping experiments with it too which yielded some nice results.

It took my 740a quite a long time to loosen up a bit and get a bit more puncy and dynamic. I don't have to turn it up to much to sound louder anymore either.

 

[plastic penguin]

plastic penguin:Tesler:plastic penguin:

It all depends what the OP doesn't like about the 740. If its presentation is similar to the 840V2, I can't see him warming to that either.

Although you were pretty much on the button with the Creek prediction...

Yes Quite, I was lucky enough to do a direct comparison with the 740A and 840A V2 in my own home last year, I friend bought the 840a and came round to my house one night to compare the two amps. I've got the 740A. They are very similar, but the 840 is a bit more open sounding, but not a lot different though. Have any of you Guy's who own the 840A ever tried the 740A? I find the extra £250 for the 840A is probably spent on that strange clicky, ratchety, relay type volume control, better speaker terminals and extra inputs rather than sound quality over the 740A. But thats Just IMHO.

You have MA RS8s? in that case, the Creek Evo 2 will sound stonking - a very neutral amp, lashed with detail and a tight, fast bass.

Or Arcam. Both will ahve tremendous synergy and it won't grate!

 

[Tesler]

plastic penguin:plastic penguin:Tesler:plastic penguin:

It all depends what the OP doesn't like about the 740. If its presentation is similar to the 840V2, I can't see him warming to that either.

Although you were pretty much on the button with the Creek prediction...

Yes Quite, I was lucky enough to do a direct comparison with the 740A and 840A V2 in my own home last year, I friend bought the 840a and came round to my house one night to compare the two amps. I've got the 740A. They are very similar, but the 840 is a bit more open sounding, but not a lot different though. Have any of you Guy's who own the 840A ever tried the 740A? I find the extra £250 for the 840A is probably spent on that strange clicky, ratchety, relay type volume control, better speaker terminals and extra inputs rather than sound quality over the 740A. But thats Just IMHO.

You have MA RS8s? in that case, the Creek Evo 2 will sound stonking - a very neutral amp, lashed with detail and a tight, fast bass.

Or Arcam. Both will ahve tremendous synergy and it won't grate!

Sorry PP I think you quoted me instead of newaudio?

My Speakers are B&W 602s2's it's newaudio who has RS8's. I've never heard the RS8's but maybe they are exaggerating the brightness of the Cambridge?

 

[newaudio]

thanks guys... getting ideas now. clooney have Arcam so will pay a visit. like the specs of the creek amp too!

watch this space!

 

[d_a_n1979]

In agreement with PP here that the Creek Evo II or even the Arcam FMJ A28 amps would be a better fit than your current C/A amp.

I've demo'd both the 740 and 840 amps and found them to be fairly brash and the M/A's metal tweeter wont help matters either

If you're happy with 2nd hand then deffo keep an eye out for an Arcam FMJ A32 or the Arcfam DiVA A85 integrated amps on eBay. The NAD C352 or even the NAD C355BEE integrated amps would do very well indeed with your RS8's.

If you wanted to go back a bit further an Arcam Alpha 10 integrated would be sublime and if you're lucky enough you could find the matching power amp as well

 

[Gerrardasnails]

newaudio:hi gerrard... did you have a 740 before the 840? worth a demo I think. how do you find the sound of it?

I didn't but contrary to Tesler (I think), I found that the 840 was a big jump up in class (check out how many awards it has won compared to the 740 range). As the others have mentioned, the Creek Evo is a great little amp - I had the original with my RS6s and it was superb. The newer model is supposed to be fantastic (a friend has just bought one) and you just know they will match up lovely.

At the end of the day it's up to you and your ears and if you can demo (at home with the 840 with no worries) then try a few out. I strongly believe that my amp is very under rated and it's only the v1. I also believe that the RS speakers sparkle with powerful amps (not to say they don't sound great with less powerful ones).

 

[drummerman]

Perhaps try an Arcam A38. Suits Monitor Audios.

 

[Anonymous]

Much talk about the CA amps recently...and I have to add that my 640A has the same bright tendency which ultimately leaves me feeling short changed.

I assume that this brightness and sibilant vocals is down to the amp and not the 640 CDP as this discussion seems to suggest.

I too put my faith in in the CA gear after rave reviews and did not audition first (doh!). There are too many members reporting this issue so I guess it must be true...very disappointing and almost hard to believe that such a product could be manufactured in this way ;o((

Mike

 

[smuggs]

i may be wrong but i thought the 840 was a better pre-amp when adding there power amp, a few extra inputs and greater quailty build in some area's. But listening to some mezzo6's through the 2 amps there was no change in SQ but i heard them with no power amps paired up.only that when you pushed the speakers you were around 1 oclock on the 740.

 

[smuggs]

i have also found that while i could not afford many things i still demo'd them i a made 2 months i listened to the rs8s for around 45mins and found them very big bass imo the stand out feature and the top end and on some tracks the midrange really took over so i guess the CA range is quite in your face i feel it harsh saying that its to bright. So i think that you should try and take your amp to somewhere were they do your speakers and others in a silmiar price range and see if you can get your amp to sing if not you know for sure that its the amp sound that is not for you. You could well not be a MA fan.

good luck theres nothing worse than loosing belief in your setup

 

[bay24]

Not sure what you have tried but before you spend lots of money have you tried different interconects? I was quite disapointed with this combo using a merlin cable due to similar isues with the top end but switched to a SHB cable and then to a chord chamelion silver plus and got much better results. I am much happier, a fuller sound, more punch and no grating during long listening sessions. May be worth a go before you spend lots of money.

 

[matthewpiano]

The 740A is a very talented amp, if a little on the clinical side, but it is VERY fussy about partnering equipment. Synergy has to be spot-on to get the best out of it and I'm convinced that MA Silver series are completely the wrong speakers to use with it. I reckon this is a synergy issue and would suggest looking towards NAD, Creek or Arcam for possible amps to audition.