Get the wallets out CA fans (or start saving up)

[Gray]

https://www.whathifi.com/news/cambridge-celebrates-50th-anniversary-flagship-edge-hi-fi-range

 

[insider9]

CA - Cambridge Analytica?

*biggrin*

 

[MajorFubar]

They might be worth it. They might sound fantastic. But being badged as Cambridge Audio is a disabiity at that pricepoint, certainly in this country. Not that I think CA make bad products, but ever since their exclusive UK tie-up with Richer Sounds, they are perceived as just a budget brand. Anyone thinks I'm being unfair, consider this: if yesterday I'd told you to go draw me up a shortlist of nice amps over two grand, how far up the shortlist was anything by Cambridge Audio.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

It wouldn't have ever entered my head......I've always regarded CA as a budget brand and even some of their kit at just over a grand wouldn't even be in my thoughts for purchase...my first separates amp was a Cambridge a500...it was fine..but you climb the ladder and on to the next one etc etc etc.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Sure look purdy, but think I'd still crave for the PM/SA-10 pairing *smile*

 

[drummerman]

It looks sleek in a manly sort of way.

 

[Al ears]

It looks sleek in a manly sort of way.

It certainly looks similar to some very hi-end European amps but the change of name to Cambridge doesn't quite seem enough. They should have, like many other manufacturers, thought of a new name for their luxury range of products that moved people's mind away from the cheapness that the word Cambridge means to many.

 

[JMac]

They do have something of an image problem but their more expensive gear is quite decent. I auditioned their top amp a few years back (851W?) and it was actually not bad for the price.

 

[Muddywaterstones]

Oxford......?

 

[chebby]

Cambridge Audio does have some regrettable ‘history’ when it comes to reliability and build quality. (That goes all the way back to the Stan Curtis era especially.)

The ‘pile it high, flog it cheap’ nature of it’s [almost exclusive] retail relationship with Richer Sounds didn’t exactly place it among the elite brand names in people’s minds.

 

[Al ears]

Cambridge Audio does have some regrettable ‘history’ when it comes to reliability and build quality. (That goes all the way back to the Stan Curtis era especially.)

The ‘pile it high, flog it cheap’ nature of it’s [almost exclusive] retail relationship with Richer Sounds didn’t exactly place it among the elite brand names in people’s minds.

+1

Exactly my point, they need to create subsidiary for higher end gear and call it something like Esoteric........oh, hang on. ;-)

 

[BigH]

Went to buy a CA product once, both units in the shop did not work, I was pretty pee'd off as I had made about 100 mile round trip for nothing, never considered CA products again. Yes there are reports about poor reliability.

 

[Gray]

CA - Cambridge Analytica?

*biggrin*

Judging by the responses so far, l'd say Analytica have a better reputation.

 

[Gray]

It looks sleek in a manly sort of way.

So do you darlin'

I'm not gay by the way (but l've slept with a bloke who is)

 

[chebby]

Back in the first half of CA’s existence (when it was British made) domestic products weren’t supposed to be reliable. Our cars, motorcycles, televisions and other electronics were total pants!

If you wanted something that worked you bought Japanese.

However this was ‘not done’. It would put the local radio and television repair men out of work. It would decimate the car and bike spares and repair industry!

Also everyone knew someone (uncle, parent, friend of family etc.) who had fought in the war which inhibited purchases of German and Japanese goods (the good stuff) as ‘unpatriotic’.

We had a culture of repairing everything without questioning why. The television rental companies had fleets of vans for their repairmen to keep up with the constant demand caused by crappy Thorn EMI/Ferguson valve sets (all badged up with the rental company’s various brands like Rediffusion or Baird) all made in the Ultra factory in Gosport, Hampshire. The new Sony Trinitron sets were much smaller, better made, solid state but expensive. I bought one in 1981 that lasted well over 20 years with no repairs before we gave it away (still working). I had Japanese motorbikes that didn’t sit in a pool of oil and refuse to start on a cold morning!

By the 1980s Japanese cars had become a byword for great build and reliability (only an idiot would choose a Land Rover over a Toyota Land Cruiser if surviving an expedition was a priority).

As an A’level student, working part-time in a hi-fi shop back then, I dreaded someone insisting on hearing British electronics (speakers were fine) as there was a very high rate of ‘straight out of the box’ failures whereas none of the Japanese brands had this problem. (They did their own QC in-house rather than leave it to retail and customers!)

 

[CnoEvil]

They could take a leaf out of Toyota's book and create a Lexus like rebrand for their expensive stuff.

 

[Al ears]

They could take a leaf out of Toyota's book and create a Lexus like rebrand for their expensive stuff.

Glad you agree with me, that's just what I have been saying.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Excellent post Chebby, takes me back to my childhood with all the TV rental companies.

Auzzies have a saying that if you wanna go into the outback take a Land Rover... if you wanna come out again then take a Toyota *smile*

Got a Jap and a German bike in my garage... the Kawasaki doesn't like being laid-up over the winter, BMW no problem....

 

[johnnyboy1950]

Are these comments reletive to the op's post? Things have moved on surely!

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Are these comments reletive to the op's post? Things have moved on surely!

Who cares, it's a forum and I'm a troll *biggrin*

 

[newlash09]

Takes a lot of marketing muscle. Which CA might not be ready for. But again the brand is gaining traction in US and far east markets. So any new spin off has to wait till the CA has established itself in these new markets first.