2. amps-preamps
  3. 1376013686

Please alleviate my fears

I have a Cambridge Audio Azur 840A v2 integrated driving a pair of Usher Dancer Mini 1 speakers. It sounds great, but I have concerns (hopefully unfounded). When the volume is all the way down, the digital readout is 95. This number decreases as the volume increases. I have to turn the volume control all the way from 95 to 50 before I hear anything from the speakers. At that point the music gets substantially louder quickly. When the readout reaches 8 the system is playing pretty close to concert levels (in fact, as loud as I've ever played it). But, it appears that I'm having to turn the amp up 85 to 90% of the way to achieve this volume (way more than my old Yamaha amp). Is this amp approaching it's clipping point (full power)? Is the visual representation showing the actual percentage of power this amp can produce? Or, is there headroom left between the 8 mark and 0? It has never sounded distressed. Thanks in advance for your shared knowledge and insight.
danoroo
danoroo OP
239 posts
 
@ Martykl

Thank you sir. I suspected that was the case. To determine it's limits I guess I'll just turn the amp up until it starts to distort. That will tell me what I want to know.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
I owned a Cambridge 840, can't recall whether it was v1 or v2, but definitely don't remember having to turn it up like you're doing.
Sounds to me as if you have a volume setting on your pc set too low. I'd check all of those settings.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
Have you tried playing a different source such as a CD to confirm this problem? If a CDP has the same volume range then the amp is the culprit.
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,745 posts
 
Dano -

agreed as above, there is something amiss w/ the amps volume potientiometer.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Stated power means little, I'll bet 120 Yamaha amps will drive just about anything .
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