Cyrus 8vs2 Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6

[admin_exported]

Hello, thinking of purchasing a CA stream magic 6, question is will this work with my cyrus 8 vs2. If connect the cyrus to the CA via the pre outs on the cyrus will the cyrus act as power amp and the CA as a digital pre amp?

Will the volume control on the CA be the master volume control?

All advise is welcome, thanks.

 

[plastic penguin]

I would say "no". Had the Cyrus 8VS2 on home dem, and didn't like it with my MA speakers. I've also heard many Cambridge amps + CDPs and they are similar in tonal qualities.

The ONLY way they will work together IMHO is if you have forgiving room acoustics and/or benelvolent speakers.

 

[John Duncan]

I'm going to presume that you already have your speakers and are happy with the Cyrus/speaker combo, so will only address the logistics of what you're trying to do - the SM6 is a wonderfully rounded source that doesn't exhibit any brittle tendencies in my experience.

The short answer is you can do what you ask but you're going about it the wrong way: the pre-outs of the Cyrus have no part to play. What you should do is plug the Cambrdge into the AV input of the Cyrus and follow the instructions in the manual to set the AV channel to have fixed gain. This will mean that the amp will always have fixed volume and you can use the volume control of the StreamMagic to control system volume (after you've set it up to run in pre-amp mode, obviously).

However, I'd point out that you're still using the preamp of the Cyrus, and if you set the fixed volume of the Cyrus too high, you could run into noise problems. I'd probably not set the Cyrus above 12 o'clock before fixing the volume. Alternatively you could just plug the SM straight into any of the Cyrus' inputs and use the amp's volume control...

EDIT - just read your note again and I wonder if you;re under the impression that it can *only* work in preamp mode? This is not the case - the default is to have a fixed output like any other normal CD player or source, and yu have to specifically set it to be in pre-amp mode. Hope that's clear.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks John.

In understand what you are saying, don't bother with the pre outs just plug it into the cyrus amp like you would any other source using the audio out on the cambridge audio. As you said you can set the volume on the cyrus to a fixed no problem.

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

 

[Anonymous]

One more thing, is the LINK input on the cyrus the same as the control bus connection on the CA.

I know there are other ways of controlling the volume but I wondered if you could connect them this way?

Thanks.

 

[John Duncan]

Thanks John.

In understand what you are saying, don't bother with the pre outs just plug it into the cyrus amp like you would any other source using the audio out on the cambridge audio. As you said you can set the volume on the cyrus to a fixed no problem.

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

Correct, the pre outs of the Cyrus are an output so can serve no purpose for what you're trying to do. If the amp had power amp ins then you could use those, but it doesn't.

Let me check the link thing - it works with the Azur amp but I strongly suspect it won't with the Cyrus.

 

[John Duncan]

I can't see anything on the back of a vs2 that would allow you to plug the remote output from the SM into it. So I think your stuck with remote volume of the Cyrus or the fixed gain arrangement outlined above. I'd be inclined to do the latter if you're using the iPad app, since you then have browsing and volume capability in one place.

FYI, the iPad app is better than the android one, if that makes any difference to you.