I've just recently got a pair of the Mordaunt-Short 902's this christmas and wanted to treat myself to a new amp to show em off a bit more than the one i currently own. The one i am using at the moment is a 30 watt JVC amp/tuner from the 70's! The bugger weighs a ton mind, and used to belong to my dad! - It did the job with my old Eltax 4.2's but since getting the MS's the sound has lost a bit of beef and also it was sounding very flat and lifeless
Out of interest I started reading about the new Cambridge Audio Azur range and spoke with my local Richer Sounds dealer who kindly agreed to a 14 day loan of an open box CA Azur 640a. To give you an idea of my set up, I have the MS speakers mounted on spikes on a pair of Gale stands (about 1ft high) and I have a TEAC CD player (not sure of the model at this moment, but its a decent seperate unit bought about 5 years ago) connected to the CA 640 by some CA Atlantic connectors. The speakers are about half a metre away from my back wall, and are right next to my television (sitting either side of it) - The sound right away seemed warmer, and the detail in the sound was alot better right out of the box but still the sound is missing something - from time to time the mid range seems a bit stifled (which i thought was strange with the 902's) and the bass, although very precise does not have the same deep 'kick' as my old Eltax 4.2's.
Basically I wanted to know if anyone else has a pair of MS 902's with a CA Azur 640, and how they found the pair, match-wise?
Also, should I change the position of my speakers? The AMP is new so i don't think its 'burnt in' just yet, also the speakers have only had probably about 20 hours play at the most. Should the sound improve much with another 30 hours or so? I've got the amp for 2 weeks so i have a bit of time to play with it before i decide to take it back for a refund or not.
Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. Even if you just have opinions on the 640 or your MS's, speaker placements etc.
I can't even be bothered reading all that again, so here is a summary!
I have MS 902's and a CA Azur 640a - anyone else own either of these, and if so what type of sound are you getting? Also, how long do you recommend before the equipment 'beds in' ??
I have recently bought the Asur CA 640A also, in place of a Kenwood KA-3020 SE. I had also noticed a lack in the underlying depth of sound, while the mid-range and treble was tight and warm. Strings are particularly clear and precise. I put this down to the fact that the unit is new, and think that as the unit is worn in, it should warm up nicely in the bass area.
I'm using JPW millenium ML 310's, of which I'm using only two of a set of four, which may also explain the loss of bass depth. The reason for only using two is frustrating, the 310's are 6 ohm, so all four on the CA 640A triggers the protection circuit, because the overall resistance of four speakers at 6 ohms is 3 ohms... too low for the amp, too much drive is needed to run them all. So i've bi-wired two, and am getting nice results.
For the time being I've increased the bass level on the amp output, just slightly, and it works. It's not perfect, but it just gives the sound that extra something underneath, it otherwise seems to lack. The thing with monitor speakers is that they just don't have the cabinet size to create the resonance needed for full bass sound, there are many things you can do, and reasonable distance behind the speaker will help, but it's not everything, its the same air pressure going in and out of a reflex port if its 6 ins or 10 feet away from a wall.
A friend of mine has (seemingly now) old fashioned woofer, mid-range, tweeter cabinets roughly twice the size of a monitor, and the sound is deep and warm, really nice. Thats what I'm after, but you just can't seem to get those types of speakers anymore.
Can I ask what speaker cable / speaker cable connectors you're using? It's just I'm having trouble getting ones which will fit the amp end on the CA 640A.
ms 902s are not flat sounding at all so i would think you are right in getting a new amp if your looking to spend £200-350 the yamaha rx-v range are exelent for sterio and cinema as everything you put in it sounds better im using an yamaha rxv650 with wharfedales pacific evo 10s. i recomend you go for an yamah instead they know haw to make amps for sure.
