Cambridge Audio azur 540R V2.0 Manuale Utente Scaricare il pdf

www.hi-world.co.uk OCTOBER 2006 HI-FI WORLD

REVIEW

the Rocket speaker system with

my reference processor/ amplifier

combination, so knew what it could

do, but the performance with the

540R v2 was still surprising. On

‘Aero’ there was a little extra

warmth in the lower midrange, giving

a touch more richness and body and

causing a slight congestion - but still

nothing seriously objectionable. Bass

was a little slower than my reference

system, the UFW-10’s felt as though

they could go faster than the 540R

V2 could, and likewise the high

frequencies were slightly more closed

in than my reference.

Given a high quality DTS signal,

this system could generate a stunning

sense of space, simply destroying

the walls of the room and placing

sound right around the listener. This

was not splashy, diffuse surround

sound, but highly directional and

carefully controlled images, precisely

located on the soundstage. Even

with the formidable ‘Zoolookologie’

(a surround sound maelstrom), the

540R v2 proved more than up to

the job in hand, keeping instruments

in their appropriate speakers whilst

steering the voices quickly and

cleanly around the room. Dolby

Digital is equally well served musically

with the same signature speed

and transparency, only with a little

harshness in the high frequencies,

typical of the Dolby Digital encoding

process.

I selected two movies which

each present their own challenges

for an AV receiver, Starting with

‘Swordfish’ (Warner Bros. 85392

13222 Region 1), I went immediately

to Chapter 18, ‘Hitting the Hit Squad’,

which involves a high speed chase

through a city centre with machine

gun fire and soundtrack punctuating

the sequence. The 540R V2 did an

excellent job of allowing each strand

of the soundtrack to be heard, but

lacked the ultimate low frequency

impact of my reference system, with

the individual impact of each bullet

being discharged from the chain

gun sounding less dynamic than

through the Denon 3805. Likewise,

the dialogue channel had a little less

clarity than my reference, but this

was still an excellent performance.

On more subtle material, chapter

20 ‘The First Date’ from 'The Thomas

Crown Affair', whilst there was an

echo around the museum as Rene

Russo and Pierce Brosnan discussed

the artwork, this was not as clear

or as convincing as I usually hear,

likewise the conversations of the

other diners in the restaurant later

in this sequence were indistinct, but

the ambience generated around the

room was widely enveloping of the

viewer and succeeded in giving the

viewer the feeling of listening into a

conversation in a crowded restaurant.

Dolby Pro Logic performance

was assessed

using ‘Heat’

on LaserDisc.

The

soundtrack

on this is

particularly

dynamic, the final heist sequence is

chaotic and requires sounds to be

accurately placed in all speakers.

Again the 540R v2 gave away some

imaging precision and speed to the

Denon 3805, but overall the steering

was very quick, well focused, although

the bass frequencies were a little

softer and lacked the absolute impact

which I can achieve with higher end

units, this is still an excellent result.

A blinding multichannel

performance at the price then,

but on two channel, this receiver's

lower cost roots are more obvious.

When used to decode CD the

sound is over dependent on the low

frequencies, and this means some

midband attack, texture and clarity

is lost. Likewise, the upper midrange

and high frequencies are somewhat

harder and a little more forward

than in real life. The midband is quite

reticent and veiled, giving a slightly

murky quality to the sound. However,

all the blame cannot be aimed at the

DAC stage as the analogue side of

things exhibits a lack of midrange

transparency together with a slight

exaggeration of lower registers. I also

noticed that everything went through

the processor, even straight stereo,

meaning there was no true pass

through available for analogue signals.

Still, I have to say, for £250 the

stereo performance is peerless - I

wouldn't so much as contemplate

the idea of listening to music on any

of the 540R's price rivals, as you'd

never get out alive! At this price, the

Japanese branded receivers sound

just plain nasty on music, and the

Cambridge Audio does not - therein

lies the difference.

Finally we come to the radio,

and I was pleasantly surprised by the

sensitivity and separation available

on the FM tuner. It pulled in The Bay

from about 40 miles North of my

home, cleanly with good separation,

whilst BBC Radio Three and Four

were both very quiet, offering a very

listenable sound, whilst the RDS

functionality of this receiver worked

well. I would, however, recommend a

good external, roof-mounted antenna

if you intend to seriously use FM, as

a small internal FM aerial gave very

poor performance.

CONCLUSION

Here is a comprehensively equipped,

multichannel AV receiver for only

£250 - I have interconnects that

cost more than that! Performance is

superb on surround sound material,

its tuner is very usable and the

internal amplifiers are powerful

beyond what their specification

would suggest. If you are looking for

a solid six channel AV receiver which

can handle all the current surround

sound formats found on satellite and

DVD, I would give this an unequivocal

recommendation, the value for

money is astonishing.

Put simply, it’s the only AV

receiver at or anywhere near the

price that plays music in a listenable

way, as well as offering a welter of

surround sound facilities. Other

Japanese branded designs may have

far more gloss and glitz to their

finish and feature count, but this one

punches way beyond its price point

on sonics.

VERDICT

Incredibly versatile, sonically excellent

AV receiver at a bargain price.

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO

540R V2.0 £250

Cambridge Audio

+44 0845 900 1230

www.cambridgeaudio.com

)

FOR

- excellent feature set

- high quality amplication

- Component video sockets

AGAINST

- no onboard video conversion

- no true stereo pass through

- slight opaqueness on stereo

"this receiver could generate a

stunning sense of space..."

WORLD

hi 

REVIEW

HI-FI WORLD OCTOBER 2006 www.hi-world.co.uk

hen Cambridge

Audio, a company

with such legendary

designs as the CD1

behind them, arrived

in the AV world, the

competition knew they had trouble.

Their first foray into multichannel,

the 540R, was very well received - if

a little basic by modern standards

– and the subject of this review is its

replacement, appropriately called

the 540R v2.

The specification is extraor-

dinary for the price point - along

with six 80W amplifiers, there are

four stereo inputs, a full tape loop,

RDS FM tuner, a front panel stereo

input with composite video input,

three electrical and three optical

digital inputs, a pair of HDTV ready

component video inputs, three S-

video and three composite inputs,

and unusually at this price point both

a 6.1 analogue input and 6.1 analogue

preamp outputs.

These last two features show

great forward thinking on the part

of the designers. The 6.1 input is

not only required for DVD-Audio

and SACD multichannel, but more

importantly to hear the new Dolby

TrueHD soundtracks on HD-DVD

and Blu Ray discs. The 6.1 preamp

output is also a welcome addition -

in a low cost AV receiver the biggest

compromises are invariably in the

power supplies and power amplifi

cation stages, so these outputs give

the owner the option of using better

quality, external power amps to

replace the internal amplifiers.

Opening the box brings you face

to face to a solidly built, surprisingly

heavy receiver, a dauntingly thick

user manual (of which only 32 pages

are English), a small ring antenna

and a remote control unit. The main

receiver is 430x150x350mm (WHD)

and weighs 15.8kg. I was pleasantly

surprised by the build quality on offer

here - surprisingly solid with just

a hint of ringing when tapped with

a fingernail. Likewise, the controls

on the front panel are good, if not

luxurious, with the plastic buttons

having just a little unwanted lateral

travel and the main volume control

proving nicely weighted.

On the front panel are from left

to right, an on-off switch, 6.3mm

headphone socket, tuning up/down

and store buttons, direct select

source buttons for DVD, Video 1,2

and 3, Tuner, Tape, CD and 6.1 Direct.

Just beneath these are less critical

controls for surround sound mode

with buttons for stereo, Dolby Digital

EX / DTS ES, Pro Logic II / DTS

Neo 6, DSP Mode and Input mode,

a remote control eye, front panel

composite video input with stereo

audio, all on RCA phono, and finally

the volume control.

The rear panel is festooned

with connections, starting with 75

ohm FM aerial inlet and 300 ohm

AM loop, S-Video and composite

video outlets for a TV/ monitor,

three S-Video and three composite

inputs, three TOSLink optical and

three S/PDIF electrical digital inputs,

a TOSLink and S/PDIF digital output,

two component video inputs and a

component video output, all on RCA

phono connectors, four analogue

stereo inputs, a full tape loop, 6.1

Completely

Japanese big name brands have driven multichannel almost single-handedly, but there’s one

aordable audiophile alternative to the orthodoxy of Denon, Marantz, Pioneer, et al.

David Allcock enjoys the Cambridge Audio Azur 540R v2.0 experience...

WORLD

hi 

Surrounded

www.hi-world.co.uk OCTOBER 2006 HI-FI WORLD

REVIEW

direct input and 6.1 pre amp outputs,

six pairs of binding posts, an RS-

232 connector and control bus for

custom installation. Phew! The mains

cable is a permanently fixed type

giving no option for installing an

aftermarket higher quality item.

Connecting this unit held few

surprises, though there were a few

small shortcomings. Starting with the

binding posts, these can accept either

4mm banana plugs or bare wire, but

not spades, as the shroud around

the binding posts preclude their

usage. There is no video conversion

inside this unit, so if you have a

combination of S-Video, composite

and component video devices,

you’ll need to run all three video

connections to your TV or projector.

Whilst six digital inputs are present,

these cannot be reassigned to any

input, instead you’re restricted to

CD, DVD and Video 1 or 2, the three

S/PDIF and TOSLink pairs linked,

meaning you strictly have three digital

inputs, not individually addressable

ones, which is a function you take for

granted on more expensive receivers.

The only other small

disappointment is the preamp out

facility, which has to be activated

through the firmware and is an all-or-

nothing switch, you either have all the

preamp outs activated or you have

the internal amplifiers activated, you

cannot elect to use certain channels

on preamp out. The subwoofer

implementation is highly versatile,

giving 10Hz crossover steps between

40 and 150Hz with a final step to

200Hz.

SOUND QUALITY

I elected to use Onyx Rocket

speakers with this receiver, a pair

of RS 550 MKII front left and right,

RSC200 centre, RSS 300 dipole

surrounds with a pair of UFW-10

active subwoofers. Whilst this entire

speaker system is still expensive

in comparison with this receiver

at £1,800 for all seven, they offer

phenomenal performance for the

money, are a benign 8 ohm nominal

load, and are efficient at an average

89dB, making them a transparent

match for this receiver. Also used was

a Pioneer CLD-99 Elite LaserDisc

player used as a Dolby Pro Logic

source, and an M-Audio Audiophile

96/24 soundcard used for DVD

playback, supplying Dolby Digital and

DTS streams to the receiver. My

usual reference system comprises a

£1,000 Denon AVR-3805 receiver,

three Bryston power amps and five

Martin Logan speakers with a pair of

Rocket UFW-10 subwoofers.

I started out using DTS music,

with Jean Michel Jarre ‘Live A Pekin’

DVD (Warner 5046761662), an

astonishingly transparent, fast DTS

mix pulls the viewer into the concert

and is incredibly visceral. I had used

"the only AV receiver at or anywhere

near the price that plays music in a

pleasantly listenable way..."

WORLD

hi 

Completely 1
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