Where do I go from here?

admin_exported

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Aug 10, 2019
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Hi everyone

This is my first time posting here, but I thought this would be the place to come for some good advice as to what I should do next. First up I shall hit you with my current setup:

Cambridge Audio Azur 340C

Cambridge Audio A5

Sony BDP S350

LG 32LH4010

2x Mission 737 renaissance floor standers (very vintage, and to me they sound fantastic, but I don't have much to compare them to)

Now, this is a bit of a multi headed conundrum, and I wasn't sure if I should post it in here or in the AV forum, but here goes.

My birthday is in the offing, and my fiance has offered to sort me out with some new hifi equipment. There are 2 things I have my eye on:

1. A Cambridge Audio Azure 640A for the bargain price of £119, with the minor disadvantage of a very large drive in order to pick it up, so add at least £40 in petrol on top of that.

2. A Cambridge Audio Azure 540R AV Receiver for £99 that is available in my home city.

I know these are reasonably incomparable items, but here's the problem. With my current setup, I can't get my telly to play audio through the speakers, as it only seems to have an optical out, and my A5 does not have an optical in. Hooking the Bluray up to the amp with analogue interconnects doesn't work either, because the sound ends up out of sync with the picture on the telly for some reason. I am surmising that the only way to fix this is to buy an AV receiver of some kind (or possible a DAC)? So the first part of my query is this: if I were to buy the 540R, or some similarly priced AV receiver, would it provide better or even comparable sound quality for music through stereo speakers than the A5 I currently have?

On to the 640A now. I know this won't fix my need for an optical input, but for £119 it does seem like a mega bargain, and seeing as they're becoming thin on the ground these days, its a bargain I'm finding hard to pass up. My next question then, is should I grab on of these while I can, safe in the knowledge that my musical listening experience will definitely improve, and that I have a reasonable upgrade path for the future (I can always get some kind of AV receiver at a later date), or should will the 540R provide enough of an improvement musically that I can go for it and compromise with the added functionality of getting my telly working through it?

I hope that's not too much to digest, and there probably is no black and white answer, but any input would be appreciated, and will undoubtedly make my decision easier.

Thank you.
 

matthewpiano

Well-known member
Go for the 640A. Big upgrade over the A5 and the 640A actually works very well with the 340C CD player. At £119 it is a bargain of huge proportions and a very musical and involving piece of kit to boot. It will outperform the 540R receiver for music, and by some margin too.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Awesome. Thanks guys.

I've been mulling it over today, and veering towards the 640A, so you've just cast the deciding votes.

Can't wait to get it hooked up.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
640A for sure! See if you can swindle a DAC out of the mrs to solve the other problem.
 

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