Hifi guidance and upgrade advice needed!

[admin_exported]

Hi

I'm new to this forum and relatively new to hifi. I am looking to upgrade my system and was hoping for some of your expert advice.

I've got a Cambridge Audio Azur 540Rv2 AV receiver which i'm using for my hifi equipment (Marantz CD6003 & B&W 685's) as well as Blu-ray, Sky TV etc. However i'm currently only using the AV receiver for stereo output. I am keen to upgrade the amp but i'm not sure what the best approach is. My current thinking is either:

1. Twin the 540R with a separate pre-amp or power amp? If so would pre or power be preferable? I'm aware of the functions of separate pre and power amps but unsure about how they can be twinned with AV receivers or integrated amps, any detail here would be appreciated.

or

2. Just get a dedicated integrated amp for the CD player. How could I do this whilst using the same speakers for both systems?

What do you think, any other suggestions?

 

[Lost Angeles]

griminals:

Hi

I'm new to this forum and relatively new to hifi. I am looking to upgrade my system and was hoping for some of your expert advice.

I've got a Cambridge Audio Azur 540Rv2 AV receiver which i'm using for my hifi equipment (Marantz CD6003 & B&W 685's) as well as Blu-ray, Sky TV etc. However i'm currently only using the AV receiver for stereo output. I am keen to upgrade the amp but i'm not sure what the best approach is. My current thinking is either:

1. Twin the 540R with a separate pre-amp or power amp? If so would pre or power be preferable? I'm aware of the functions of separate pre and power amps but unsure about how they can be twinned with AV receivers or integrated amps, any detail here would be appreciated.

or

2. Just get a dedicated integrated amp for the CD player. How could I do this whilst using the same speakers for both systems?

What do you think, any other suggestions?

If your Cambridge amp has front pre-outs you would use it in conjunction with a stereo amp as follows

1) The front left and right preouts of the A/V Receiver go to an input on the stereo amp (Tape 2 for example)
2) Some stereo amps (not many) have a fixed-level input especially for this purpose so you can miss this step out: set the volume of your stereo amp to about half and run your speaker calibration routine on the receiver. Then always use this volume setting on the stereo amp whenever you watch AV - overall volume is handled by the receiver.
3) When watching AV, have both amps on - the stereo amp will handle the front speakers, the AV amp will handle the rest.
4) When watching stereo, the AV amp is out of the equation so won;t degrade the sound.
I have no idea whether your AV amp has pre-outs, if it does not then you cannot use your second idea and probably not with your first idea

 

[John Duncan]

It does have pre-outs...

 

[Anonymous]

Ok great, thanks for the info on attaching the stereo amp. Do you think there could be any value into adding a separate pre-amp or power amp to the mix as an alternative to a separate stereo amp?

 

[Anonymous]

Ok great, thanks for the info on attaching the stereo amp. Do you think there could be any value into adding a separate pre-amp or power amp to the mix as an alternative to a separate stereo amp?

 

[Lost Angeles]

griminals:Ok great, thanks for the info on attaching the stereo amp. Do you think there could be any value into adding a separate pre-amp or power amp to the mix as an alternative to a separate stereo amp?

As JD says it's got pre-outs then you can either use them to feed a Power amp to your front speakers or use an Integrated amp as per my previous answer. I can't see how you would use a Pre-amp. You do not give any budget so I would be tempted to demo an integrated amp with your CDP and speakers and see how this compares to what you have now. If you like the Cambridge sound then that could be a good starting point.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much, I will demo a power and integrated.