For a budget amplifier you get oodles of clarity! its punchy, and delivers the most delicate of high frequencies too....
i have paired it up with an old pair of Kef Cresta 3's and have used several diffent speakers and different cables....
the first lot of cable i tried was specially handmade ... Read review
Advantages: great clarity, can recognise delicate sounds, for the price its unbeatable! Disadvantages: it wont break any windows in terms of volume! it lacks any digital input!
For a budget amplifier you get oodles of clarity! its punchy, and delivers the most delicate of high frequencies too....
i have paired it up with an old pair of Kef Cresta 3's and have used several diffent speakers and different cables....
the first lot of cable i tried was specially handmade gold in, silver out @ £600 per meter! and the current cable is cheapy £2 bell type wire, and to be honest, it made very little difference ... ...notable).. so as another plus, it will make a very low budget system sound very good!
so positives are
amazing sound quality, from bassy club music to delicate classical, it delivers all with a convincing realism, and thats using a standard cd player on my pc! its bass is very punchy if need be and is quite apparent even at low volumes!!!
clarity is top notch for a budget amp, i have had people put cd's of their ... more
For a budget amplifier you get oodles of clarity! its punchy, and delivers the most delicate of high frequencies too....
i have paired it up with an old pair of Kef Cresta 3's and have used several diffent speakers and different cables....
the first lot of cable i tried was specially handmade gold in, silver out @ £600 per meter! and the current cable is cheapy £2 bell type wire, and to be honest, it made very little difference in the quality... maybe a tad clearer, but nothing vastly notable).. so as another plus, it will make a very low budget system sound very good!
so positives are
amazing sound quality, from bassy club music to delicate classical, it delivers all with a convincing realism, and thats using a standard cd player on my pc! its bass is very punchy if need be and is quite apparent even at low volumes!!!
clarity is top notch for a budget amp, i have had people put cd's of their favourite music, and after one song be thoroughly disapponted and never listen to them again! it does reveal some hidden sounds... but bear in mind im using Kef Cresta 3 speakers, which are superb budget speaker in itself!
so in reality, this amp will cater for budding audiophiles and hardcore ravers alike...
the negatives are
very few actually, it doesnt really have alot of eardrum bleeding volume! but for a single room, who needs more! i would recommend using banana plugs for the speaker cables as i never trust screwing a clamp onto bare wires!
ok some specs....
on the back it has enough inputs for 5-6 devices (tv, pc, dvd, another amp, cd, tuner etc), all in phono (red and white) and all the terminals will accept cheap and expensive phono plugs and the terminal posts for the speakers will accept loose cable and banana plugs and will hold them pretty well... it is a single amp, but would pair nicely with two of them! also, i have my speakers bi-wired, and the terminal posts would take a bi-wireable configuration in bare wires with no problems!
at the end of the day, the money in production has gone into quality of components, so in terms of features it is basic, it has treble, bass, volume, balance, and device knobs, it also has an in/out button for tape/ md monitor, and on the back there is an earthing terminal for a turntable/tone arm.... just to add, all my tonal adjustments are set to 0.... for line direct listening... and it delivers everything as it should be without fail!
in summery, it is a top notch budget amp, you can get them new for very little and paired up with a cheap cd player/tuner, and a set of floorstanders you have a decent entry level hi-fi... but in the same breath, paired up with a cd/tuner with bookshelf speakers, you have a decent mini hi-fi! and would cost you half the price in quality of sound than buying a "single" unit seperate system! it is always worth buying componants individualy.. as companies like sony, wouldnt suit each seperate up to its self, and you can get so much more from brand swapping, or model changing..... and usually for 50% of the price!
try the "Richer Sounds" website! absolutely fantastic!
Advantages: Design, black finish, sleek, modern Disadvantages: The Cambridge Audio name outways the product in this instance
This amplifier looks like a bargain, with a price tag at Richer Sounds for around about £85 and the CambridgeAudio brand name attached to it, it must be, mustn't it?
Not really, no - as good as it looks in the window, when I took it home and used it, the sound quality was not nearly as sharp as I would have hoped. I have a pair of great speakers and this amp wouldn't do them any justice. It has the regular bass and treble nobs on the front, a large volume nob, and a balance function, however you won't be able to turn the volume up passed a third as it then dissapointingly starts to distort!
Reading magazines such as What Hi-Fi, and Which? leads you to believe that CambridgeAudio is a brand wherby you cannot go wrong in terms of sound quality. I think this amplifier is aimed at the student market, due to the fairly cheap price ...
Advantages: Cheap, simple, well built amplifier Disadvantages: underpowered, can get a lot more, for only a little more expense
and has a large central volume control, which is where you want it. It is very unassuming and does it's job well. It's not going to wow you, it won't fill a concert hall, but it does it's job and you know you have the quality and reputation of CambridgeAudio built in.
However, technology has moved on a lot since i bought this, and for £100 or just over (again from richer sounds) you can now get a fully featured AV centre, capable of inputting and outputting digital audio, decoding etc. So if that's in anyway useful to you, or you want to drive more than 2 speakers, buy an AV amp, but if it's simple cheap decent audio you are after, you can't really fault the A1 MkIII integrated amplifier.
I still have mine connected to a computer, and i still think it's better than even expensive computer speakers. Much truer richer tone. ...
Advantages: Powerful, detailed, cabinet and finish, features, price Disadvantages: bass slightly weak, only slightly...
I have owed this amp for around two months now and it replaced the cambridgeaudioA1 simply because it is bi-wirable and the A1 wasn't. That said I've now realised that I've profited in many other areas too...
To look at the A5 is quite pretty available in both silver and black, it shares the same chassis as the A1, it is indeed very heavy duty and perhaps one of the best parts of this amp, the front panel is a 3mm thick sheet of aluminium and lets you know that its built to last.
After giving the amp its suggested 36 hours running in time I sat down and gave it a little listen. The A5's sound is infact very similar to the A1's it replaced, a very balanced and safe sound but rich and powerful too. The main difference sound wise is that the A5 offers you a little extra detail, and of course its bi-wireable so if you take advantage ...
