Any Hi Fi Geeks?
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Morning All,

Took my first (and long awaited) steps in to hi fi ownership yesterday. After many years of thinking about it, I decided to bite the bullet and went to Richer Sounds and bought an amp (Cambridge Audio Azur 340a), CD player (Cambridge Audio Topaz CD5) and floorstander speakers (Cambridge Audio S70).

I could hardly contain my excitement as I opened the boxes (savouring the ‘new electrical goods’ smell). Speakers in place and cables laid I loaded a CD in to the player (Jason Mraz – We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things)

Sure enough the sound eclipsed what I was used to from my old midi system. Possibly a little on the bright side, but still crystal clear with well defined middle and bass. However, vocals are not so great. Anything with an ‘S’ in it sounds noticeably distorted (“I’m YourS” etc.).

Leaping to the defence of the system I have tried many different albums, all confirm initial opinions, most frequencies sound good, however, treble is a bit bright and vocals are not reproduced clearly (particularly Ss). I have tried turning the treble down, but it makes little difference and reduces the middle frequencies too much.

Obviously I’m pretty disappointed. Whilst it is a cheap system in hi fi terms (£500) it is a large amount of money to me (clearly should have been spent on the mini) and I expected it to be better.

So my questions are:

- Am I expecting too much at this price point?
- Is there an obvious weak point in the system (appreciate the CD player is particularly low end)
- Is this a common issue?

Before I ring Richer up on Tuesday any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

I can't really comment on the specific parts of it.

But I have a Cambridge Azur 540a/c/t with some Mordaunt Short floorstanders, it sounds the bollocks and really so should your setup. Give them a ring on Tuesday and see what they can do to help.

My older lower end of the range cambridge stuff is really good, allthough I don't have their speakers.

What interconnects are you using?

Give it a bit of time, you probably need to run the speakers in.

Leave it playing for a couple of hours, i think new speakers take about 8 hours of use to run in.

Also, with Richer sounds you can rent good quality interconnects for a week, try doing that and seeing if they make a difference, it may be your cabling which isn't up to scratch.

Edited by Timinichelsea on 4th Apr, 2010.

speaker's need to run in?

what kind of rca cables and speaker cables?

the surround (hi-fi) system i have at mine is KEF with a fek off pioneer amp, twin 10" sub's and 6 speakers, we had to set it up twice as the first time it didnt quite do it 100% as i had my foot in the way! got an engineeer to do it second time (after i blew the centre speaker) now the qualifty is twice as good as before proper good system but just a tad pricy!

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Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

Cabridge stuff is a tad on the bright side and won't suit everyones taste. I still have and have had in the past quite a bit of Cambridge Audio equipment.

For your speakers, wire one out of phase to the other, place them facing each other with about an inch between them, throw a duvet over them and run them at about 1/3 volume for 8 hours. Wiring one out of phase causes the audio waves to cancel each other out therefore it won't disturb you whilst it runs the speakers in properly. Then once you've done that, obviously you need to wire the speakers back correctly.

If this doesn't help, then it may be your cables. If you've bought silver type speaker cable, then this will make the sound brighter and as you say, it will accentuate sibilants (the 'S' sound for example). Try changing them for thicker standard oxygen free copper speaker cables, that will tone them down. Then you can try different interconnects - if you're using the Cambridge Audio interconnects, then as an example, the Pacific interconnect gives a bright sparkly sound (which I like), yet the Arctic gives a more subdued and warm sound which will suit more people.

Also note that the electronics have to warm up properly as well - they can be very harsh at first. I know everyone is trying to save the planet, but if you want it to sound its best, never switch the equipment off, don't even put it on standby.

If at the end of all this, its still too much for you, then maybe Cambridge Audio isn't for you. Not everyone likes the bright, forward sound that they produce. It forces you to listen to the music, its difficult to have it as background music. If thats the case and you want warmer sound, then you want to try NAD electronics and possibly KEF speakers.

Hope this helps.

Edited by Coupe on 4th Apr, 2010.

Welcome to Hi Fi!

What cables are you using? makes a huge difference in quality and sound distortion. Kind of like HD against normal digital TV. Until youve tried it, its hard to appreciate it.

If your wife wants to learn to drive, don't stand in her way.

I'm running a Rotel Cd, Yamaha Amp into Monitor Audio RS6 speakers (best Hi-Fi buy I have EVER made) and yes I still have the Dual record deck cos I'm an old fart, with records..

Yes, they do change a bit when they have been "run in" but I would say thats more on the bottom end.

I had never put much credance in the speaker spike thing until I did it with my old KEF's but was converted, a good secure connection to the floor DOES affect the high end and doing that could quieten down any shrillness.. it did the trick for the KEF's

Terry

website:- http://www.terryhunt.co.uk

Thanks for all the replies. Went back to Richer yesterday and we ran through some options.

I have kept the amp, but changed cdp and speakers to the matching 340c and the MS 902i with some heavy stands. Sounds way better!! :)

902i's are lovely speakers - I use them at the rear of my AV system. With 906i's at the front and the 905i centre speaker.

I looked today and my stuff is actually Cambridge 640A, 640C, and 640T.

What the difference is between this and the 540/340 I've no idea!

If your wife wants to learn to drive, don't stand in her way.

Also a cambridge 540A, 540C, 540R owner and love them to bits, paired up to some B&W DM 602's


Oh and gotta hand it to Richer Sounds, really do go the extra mile to help you.

Edited by advantage998 on 8th Apr, 2010.