Options to upgrade from Cambridge Integrated

agree totally with Bob.....focus on speakers. the cambridge will drive most just fine.

Well, I guess you're going to get every opinion possible here. Do the integrated, spend more on amps, spend more on speakers, etc. They're all right, of course, it all matters. Notice how we're trying to drive up your budget here -- "spend it all on speakers (or amp) now" -- the implication of course being that you'll later come up with the same amount to spend on the other piece later!

I also vote for the speakers. In particular, choose the speakers first. Then you'll know how much you have left to spend on the amp! And you can demo amps with your actual speakers (once you own them) which is important. So even if you buy them close together, I'd do speakers first.

I will say that I am not a big fan of integrateds. I shopped hard for integrateds about 5 years ago, and compared the Cambridge, NAD, NAD silver series, Arcam A60, Marantz, AR Complete, all head-to-head. In the end, I went with separates. I do think the AR is smoother and less forward than the Cambridge. But if you can save your pennies and buy separates with a $1000 (used) or $2000 (new) budget, it's a big leap up. Integrateds in that price range don't sound as good, at least not on my speakers. In the $500 range you'd need to stick with an integrated, but I just wonder if you will hear a significant enough difference over your current amp.

I agree with Ehart when he says the AR is smoother and less forward than the Cambridge. I don't think you have to go with separates to better any of the integrated amps he lists. I think there are other integrated amps--Qinpu, Vecteur, SimAudio, perhaps Bryston and Creek too--that will outdo any of them and sound better than any similarly-priced separates. (That's without even looking at tubes.) Those amps are all more pricey than you want, though.

I think Ehart has another point when he says a $500 integrated may not give you a big enough step up to be worthwhile. We're not trying to drive your costs up here, but a too-small step can wind up more expensive than a big one in the long run.

Ehart and I do seem to have a different take on the relative importance of speakers and amp, and certainly there may be good reasons for going either way. If I were you I guess I would do just as you are doing--replace the speakers first, since they are the weakest element in the chain just now. After you get used to your new speakers, you may find you have a better idea of exactly what you want in an amplifier. The search will likely be a lot easier (although not necessarily less expensive) once you know that.

I absolutely agree with Jaybo and Bob_reynolds that there's more bang for the buck with money applied to speakers and with Ehart that finding speakers you really like should be your first priority.

Having said that, if what you're looking for are pieces you plan to live with for awhile, my experience is that you'll want to find an amp that's reasonably well in balance with the quality of the speakers you buy.

I owned the Cambridge 540, the first version, at the same time I had the Audio Refinement Complete, bought it for a friend's system, and the difference in sonics between the Cambridge and the ARC was greater than you'd expect for the difference in the prices, certainly greater in a relative sense than the difference between the ARC and the Simaudio I-5 I bought to replace the ARC.

When the Cambridge went to my friend to replace a Rotel integrated, because she wanted remote control, there wasn't much difference either of us could hear but when I found a good deal on a Creek 4330 and swapped it for the Cambridge, the difference was obvious, certainly worth the difference of $175 between what we sold the Cambridge for and what the Creek cost.