Cambridge Audio Azur 640C, wow

[Orange Peel]

I ordered one of these in silver for my system, and it arrived today so I gave it a work out. I put in some regular CD's that I am used to listening to on my Denon DVD 1600, but none of them really impressed me with the Denon, I always thought there was something missing. Well that is no longer an issue!!!! 8O Right away I could tell there was more to the CD than I was hearing, the detail, FULLNESS my God, seemed so much more tight and controlled than the Denon. Clarity was unbelievable, it was like the person was there playing in my living room. Soooo smooth sounding, the RF-7's just shined, I had the system CRANKED too, just to see if any flaws would show, and it was not stopping, just kept belting out clear as day!

I have never really enjoyed DPLII Music on my Rotel RSP 1098, but now it's a totally different issue, it's so much more pronounced, the pans from left to right, front to back, etc are just flawless, it totally engulfs you. I think I have got my system down now, it's really a whole.

I A/B'd the two players, I put the CD in the Denon and relistened, and then to the Azur, and I could definitely hear the difference, it seemed as the Denon wasn't in control of the music, it wasn't as punchy, detailed and full sounding, the Cambridge really made the music PUNCH, I could feel it in the chest when the bass hit, the bass really is an improvement. I could hear the drum stick hitting the stair drum, just that much more detail I NEVER noticed before. It was well worth the money

Thanks again to Jerry for all the help, adivce, putting up with my PM's, etc Now I have too much crap in my rack :lol:

Here's a list of my system....

Klipsch RF-7 Mains w/ DeanG X-overs,
Klipsch RC-7 Center w/ DeanG X-overs,
Klipsch RF-5 Rears,
SVS PB12-Ultra/2 Subwoofer,
SVS PB10 Subwoofer for Bedroom,
Mitsubishi WS-65869 65" HDTV,
Denon DVD 1600,
Rotel RSP 1098,
Aragon 3005,
Cambridge Audio Azur 640C CD Player,
Rotel RT 1080,
Rotel RB 1050,
Monster Cable HTS 2600,
Klipsch RCW-2 In walls for bedroom.

And here's a couple quick pics....

[Kevin P]

Nice set-up Scott! :T

Did you have the Azur hooked up with analog or digital? Have you tried both to hear which sounds better?

[Orange Peel]

Nice set-up Scott! :T

Did you have the Azur hooked up with analog or digital? Have you tried both to hear which sounds better?

I did both, I first listened in analog, then I switched to a fiber optic cable, and then did the same on the Denon, both connections, digital and analog sounded better on the Azur. It was hard to tell the difference between the digital and analog connection on the Azur though, they both sounded amazing, I have since then left the analog connected only and removed the digital connection.

Thanks for the compliments!!

And this is the V1.0 Azur, they have a V2.0 out, but I didn't want to pay full price for the V2.0 when I got the V1.0 for so much less.

[DrJRapp]

Wow...I love that shot from below....THE TOWER OF POWER

I knew you'd love the 640C. I've listened to about every cd player from $200-$2000 and it's still onje of my favorites. There isn't too much difference between V1 &V2 audio wise, just twin DACs in push pull could be a tad bit cleaner but I don't think you could tell the difference unless they were side by side. The rest is just some network capability and a different remote.

[wkhanna]

Geez Scott!!!!

At least give us warning before you post pics like that!!!

If my wife ever caught me looking at stuff like that.........

Oh....I don't even want to think about what could happen!

[starshaped]

CD Display

Hi Glad to hear you are pleased with your new CD player. Whats the build quality like of the unit? And also the display? It looks on the photos as though its dark grey LCD on a light grey background...or is that just how it looks in the photo?

[Orange Peel]

Thanks fellas! The unit is real well built, I thought it was cheap looking from the pictures before I bought it, but it's actually solid, decently heavy, and well put together. The display is a grey background with a black/grey type. It's backlit like a white-ish bright color when on, off is grey.

Sorry about no warning, I should have put a NWS (Not Women Safe, or Not Wallet Safe) tag in the title

[Kens1]

I'm also the proud owner of the azur 640 - awesome player! Congratulations!

[PewterTA]

Jerry should be getting kick-backs from CA... he's the one that recommended it to me and when I demoed it against the Rotel RCD-1072, I couldn't justify the Rotel's price for very little (if any) quality difference. It's a great player for it's price and easily will compete with players almost triple it's price.

Glad you have finally taken the step to make a decently big improvement in your music listening Scott!

Enjoy it! :T

[Orange Peel]

Thanks guys! I'm glad I listened to him as well, I wanted the 1072 so bad, but couldn't get one for the $500 I was willing to spend, then the CA Azur was on special and I couldn't pass it up! I LOVE the thing, the detail just blows me away everytime I listen, that player and my new DeanG X-overs are just putting me in heaven, I love listening and watching movies now, it's killer!!!!

[DrJRapp]

I'm glad everybody's happy with their Azur. I tried upgrading to the much touted Jolida JD100 recently. At twice the price it didn't have half the clarity of the Azur, so it's back to CA for me. This time I'm thinking of getting their server...the 640H (it's a 640C with a hard drive and some other toys) and eliminating my 300 disc Sony changer.

[krek]

IO have owned the 640H for about 3 days back in december. I was one of the first users here in holland. The software was very bad: it didn't play, stopped playing and was very hard to understand. The OSD was nice, but the little screen on the front of the machine was too small and gave other structures than the OSD.

I am using a Hermstedt Hifidelio now. In the states this is called Olive Symphony. Sounds great on its own although the cambridge sounded better. I hooked the Hifidelio up with a Musical Fidelity DAC and it sounds really really great. The hifidelio has a build in router and some other stuff which I found much better. Its menu is like an i/pod. fuss free and straightforward.

There have been some software updates on the cambridge machine but check it out first before you decide!

Here´s a site about the olive machine.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/28/olives-symphony/

[DrJRapp]

That's not good......thanks for the heads up!

[PewterTA]

Wow, I've heard a few people say it does hang up on them and you just have to reboot. I'm betting a firmware/software upgrade for it would probably fix the problem...

As far as the navigation, all the reviews you read (while yes the front display is small) is easily navigatable... but is much better hooked up to a display.

All in all, it sounds like a great first step.

[LikeCoiledSteel]

I had a 640C v.1 but I could not get it to work right. The remote that came with it would not work. So they sent me another one, but that too did not work. I later tried another 640 but it too would not work with the remote. So I sent it back and picked up and older 300SE and it would not even power up. Sheesh. I loved the build quality and the sound was very good on the 640C but it had too many bugs at that price. Hopefully the v.2 version has worked them out.
Steel

[PewterTA]

I've not had a single problem with my 640c, the only complaint I have is the range the remote works in is smaller than most of my other remotes. Other than that, it works perfectly fine.

[DrJRapp]

I loved the build quality and the sound was very good on the 640C but it had too many bugs at that price. Hopefully the v.2 version has worked them out.
Steel

I've had 10-12 of my friends buy the 640C and also know a dozen or so people online with them. You are the first to have even 1 problem, let alone so many. Must be all that Laudedale humidity. You need to move north here where it's drier!

[LikeCoiledSteel]

Hi Doc,
Yeah, WPB is a lot drier than Boca. lol its all those cacti up there.
I really wanted the 640 to work. I liked the way it looked and sounded. I got mine from AudioAdvisor, they had a great return policy and could not beleive that I had so many problems. I ended up with a Marantz CD5400, it s a nice machine, but I prefer the Cambridge.
Steel