Cambridge Audio Azur 540P C5095 Leaflet

The 640P shifts the goalposts, 
bringing dynamic contrast, 
tonal variety and bass weight 
to the vinyl it amplifies. It’s 
worthy of mid-price systems.

A great phono stage for the 
money, capable of putting a 
good budget turntable on a 
par with a digital source of 
twice the price.

result, the music is more engaging. It’s well 
worth the extra £20, if you can stretch to it.

With the weedier output of a van den Hul 

Condor moving coil cartridge, you can 
appreciate the improvement in high-frequency 
extension and detail, but you don’t get a good 
idea of the dynamic and spatial skills of the 
cartridge. That said, this is a silly combination 
(the cartridge costs over two grand) and with 
lower-cost systems, the 640P makes a lot more 
sense. If your turntable and amp are in the 
sub-£500 category, it’s a cost-effective way to 
get more from your vinyl. 

V

inyl is enjoying a revival on an 
unprecedented scale. Sales of seven-inch 
singles are up 80 per cent, which 

equates to 800,000 small black discs finding 
their way into people’s homes. But what are 
they playing them on? There’s been an upturn 
in ‘quality’ turntable sales over the last few 
years, but not on this scale – there are clearly 
lots of souls that need saving in terms of 
getting the most from the groove. To the 
rescue comes Cambridge Audio, with a brace 
of cost-effective phono stages.

These compact boxes contain the 

amplification and equalisation required to turn 
the pitifully small voltage coming out of a 
turntable’s cartridge into something that any 
normal amp can, well, amplify.

The 540P is a basic, moving magnet stage 

with inputs and outputs alongside the requisite 
earthing post. According to the literature, it’s 
built with Class A gain stages, active 
equalisation and discrete transistors, the latter 
setting it apart from most of the phono stages 
you’ll find in budget integrated amps. Power is 
delivered by a plug-top supply and the whole lot 
comes in a neat steel and aluminium box.

The dearer 640P offers moving coil and 

moving magnet inputs as well as a rumble 

filter to cut out undesirable low frequency 
energy. Inside the case, paralleled capacitors 
are used to achieve RIAA equalisation accurate 
to 0.3dB up to 50kHz; the power supply is also 
slightly different, though no more ostentatious. 
It does not specify what impedance is offered 
to the moving coil cartridge, but to be fair it’s 
not aimed at high-end cartridges which can be 
fussy about such things.

SOUND QUALITY
Used to amplify the robust output of a Music 
Maker MkIII moving magnet cartridge, the 
540P put in a stout performance reflecting the 
solidity of bass that this cartridge is capable of 
extracting. Vocals – especially female vocals – 
are not perhaps as well defined as possible, but 
it’s easy enough to hear what’s being sung and 
the detail of the presentation is not impeded.

More energetic tracks produce a suitable 

response from the 540P. It does what even quite 
ambitious CD players struggle to achieve, and 
produces acoustic space in a natural fashion. 
This level of performance puts it on a par (at 
least) with other inexpensive stages around, like 
those from NAD and Pro-Ject, which means it 
will better those found in budget amps as a rule.

The 640P is a more refined beast. It adds 

dynamics and weight as well as improved 
image precision to the 540P’s sound. We 
particularly enjoyed the fact that voices and 
instruments became palpably more lifelike and 
real in the room, thanks to the greater level of 
resolution it brings to the party. Everything 
from the bass up is more articulate and as a 

PRODUCT Cambridge Audio 540P and 640P

TYPE Phono stages

PRICE (540P) £40; (640P) £60

CONTACT 

콯 0870 900 1000

q

 www.cambridgeaudio.com

Stage two

Cambridge Audio 540P and 640P phono stages   

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