Good Azur 540C Price?

cmy330go

Just searching for a few opinions here. I stopped at Decibel Audio (Chicago) and found a demo model Cambridge Audio Azur 540C for $279. I was told it would be sold as new with original box, remote, manual, and full warranty. I'm in need of some guidance here. Is it a really good deal? Would I be much better off to wait for a good deal on a 640C? Or should I consider something all-together different?

Any help here would be much appreciated!

BTW....The guys at Decibel are AWESOME!!!!

Thanks Much
Dave

F1nut

Audio Advisor has them new, on sale, for $269.22. The 640C is $343.95

audiobliss

Those are V1, right? What's the difference between them and the V2?

cmy330go

audiobliss wrote:

Those are V1, right? What's the difference between them and the V2?

Yes, the ones on Audioadvisor are v1. I'm not fully sure what the difference is between the two versions. I'm hoping to find out today at simply stereo.

Thanks for the heads-up F1Nut. I totaly forgot they carried CA.

dkg999

The Version 2 are clearly marked as V2 on the box and the units. I am not sure of the V2 differences in the 540C, however in the 640C I believe you get separate higher quality DAC's for each channel plus a more robust toriadal (sp?) transformer that solves some of the sporadic hum problems the first 640C's had. I believe the drives and optics are unchanged. It looks like the V2 640C is going for $549 most places. I'm pretty happy with my V1 640C. The best tweak I have found is to mate it with a tube preamp. I have my 640C and my Jolida 100A both running into my Audcom preamp (bought from Russman) and even though the Jolida is better, the use of the tube preamp really closes the gap! I had my 640C running into the Audcom, using my Parasound HCA-1000 for power, and my old Polk Monitor 5B's sounded absolutely amazing!

cmy330go

According to the guy at Simply Stereo you are basically dead on. He told me that the 540C V2 was upgraded to the Wolfson DAC that is in the original 640C and that the new 640 now has a DAC for each channel. He did also mention the transformer upgrade, and also a new (better?) remote control.

Now if they had just had one to listen to..... :rolleyes:

dorokusai

I think CA gear is underrated.

dkg999

Dorokusai - I agree. Maybe with some tube rolling my Jolida CDP will put further distance between it and the 640C as far as sound quality. I bought a demo CA 540D DVD player, and it put the Denon 3910 I was trying out and planning to buy to shame as far as picture quality, and the HT sound was the same. Good stuff at reasonable prices.

W WALDECKER

dkg999 wrote:

Dorokusai - I agree. Maybe with some tube rolling my Jolida CDP will put further distance between it and the 640C as far as sound quality. I bought a demo CA 540D DVD player, and it put the Denon 3910 I was trying out and planning to buy to shame as far as picture quality, and the HT sound was the same. Good stuff at reasonable prices.

i bought my 640C out of curiosity while i sent my main CDP out for factory 24 bit mods and i really like the sound of it. i bought a demo unit that audio advisor used for advertising photography purposes and the build was not bad at all and after it burned in for a while it sounded very nice through my Anthem Pre 1L preamplifier. i think i paid $379.00 and it was well worth it. thanks....WCW III

cmy330go

Well I think I caught a nice deal.

I just ordered a 640C V1 (black) from Audio Advisor. As noted above they are selling them new for $343 however they were out of black. So I noticed they had a black open box model still listed for $419. After talking with them they agreed to sell it to me for $300 with all packaging, accessories, warranty, and 30 day guarantee. It will probably arrive early next week. I'm really hoping I will notice a big improvement, but I'm having doubts that I will. I'm just not certain that it is a big enough jump over my old cheap Sony.

I figure if nothing else I could eventually use it as a transport for a good external DAC. I guess only time will tell.

Dave

ward91

cmy330go wrote:

Yes, the ones on Audioadvisor are v1. I'm not fully sure what the difference is between the two versions. I'm hoping to find out today at simply stereo.

Thanks for the heads-up F1Nut. I totaly forgot they carried CA.

i think that they have improved heat synks that in turn reduces the transformers temp that in turn increses the ability to play LOUDER for LONGER

along with some other things

http://ws4.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=CAMB-540R-V2-SIL

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=106&Title=Azur+540R+%28version+2%29

it sais some of the improvments here.

dkg999

Dave - if I would of known you were going to pull the trigger that fast I would of let you know that I am back at the farm outside of Des Moines this weekend, I would of brought my 640C back with me and we could of hooked up so you could give it a listen. I think you will see a nice improvement over your Sony CDP. The 640C does need about 80 hrs. to break in, and the sound does really smooth out. Doug.

cmy330go

dkg999 wrote:

Dave - if I would of known you were going to pull the trigger that fast I would of let you know that I am back at the farm outside of Des Moines this weekend, I would of brought my 640C back with me and we could of hooked up so you could give it a listen. I think you will see a nice improvement over your Sony CDP. The 640C does need about 80 hrs. to break in, and the sound does really smooth out. Doug.

No problem, and thanks for the offer! Shipping was only $6 so I'm not too concerned about the cash loss in the event that I don't like it.

BTW....Where is your farm located? Just curious.

Dave

dkg999

It's in the Maxwell, Collins, Mingo area. NE of Des Moines.