[Gulinias]

I spent a good bit of time listening to both units today and these are my evaluations. The receiver is a very nice unit for the money. It is not quite as good as the Arcam 500 but at over twice the price for the 500 that is to be expected, It held its own against the 350 and 280 they had. If you add the fact that it can pass True HD and DTS Master it is the better buy. The 650 is fast and sounds solid. It is not the equal to the 840C for cd playback that probably would stand to reason. I did use the Cambridge DAC for CD playback and that closed the gap some. The tonal qualities were similar but the detail I thought was good but not as good. That being said the 840 was in a set up with direct connections to every unit and the 650 was not. I decided to purchase all three units and will be getting them tomorrow. I loved the Arcam but I cannot spend that much on unit that I may well add an external amp to someday. I think the Cambridge represents a solid value in a field that is ever changing.

 

[Filthy McNasty]

Cambridge Audio AKA "the Poor Man's Arcam"


My brother went through the same thing last year and bought the 540R. Best SQ, I have heard, at the price point.


Congratulations - enjoy.

 

[Britcanuck]

Looking forward to hearing opinions and comparisons on this unit. Possibly considering it as a potential candidate for an upgrade.

Thanks.

 

[latinido]

Recently I got my CA650 and now it works in my system with PIONEER LX82 and FOCAL 800 series speakers. Also I have my old PIONEER LX50 (DVD/SACD/DVD-AUDIO) player. I had possibility to compare both these units. The main conlusion CA has got much better analog output and all CDs (I use analog outputs for CDs) sound much much better.

And of course CA is excelent BLU RAY machine and sounds great especially with materil where is DTS HD MA tracks.

 

[rwheelwright]

I have the 650r and had a chance to hook up the 840C to it to listen. When using an optical cable the cds sounded fine. When using analog it was way to bright for my taste. They did not go together well at all. I am returning my 650r though due to isses with sound and video cutting out and intermittent turning off.