Cambridge Audio 540R / B&W 704

I have this receiver and it happily drives both my pair of Spica TC-50s, and a set of JM Lab Chorus. I don't have specific answer to your question, but I suugest you go to the Cambridge www site, and go to the Forums area. Post the question there. Most all queries get an answer.

J.

The CA is built like their integrateds. It will have good power output...can you audition one from a local dealer in your system?

I had been to the CA website but hadn't noticed the forum. Thanks for the tip, I'll try it. Yes, my dealer will let me take one home, so that will be the ultimate test. But there's actually a debate raging now in my living room about whether or not the HK is really underpowering the B&Ws. Some of my friends feel that the output is fine, and that the sonic differences between the old center channel that I'm using and the B&W fronts are merely giving the illusion that the B&Ws are underpowered. It's hard to say. I'd been planning to get the matching B&W center speaker eventually but now I'm thinking that I should audtion that first.

Rfprice,

There has been a lot posted on how to use your 2 channel setup as the front speaker driver. This may be an option for you.

Connect the front L/R pre out of the HK to the aux input on your Rotel Pre. Set the 1070 pre at say 12:00 adjust the output of the HK AVR fronts to match your center and rears per your liking. Once your fronts are set you should be able to control the volume of the whole system with your AVR. Once the level is set remember to always set the 1070 pre to 12:00 for HT.

Not only will this save having to change cables all the time but it will unload the AVR somewhat.

Michael

Michael,

Thanks for the tip. A friend of mine recently suggested that same solution, which I'd never thought of before. But unfortunately, the HK 110 doesn't have pre-amp outputs. Nevertheless, it is a good solution and frees me from having to worry too much about the current capacity of my next receiver. In fact, I've just about decided to go with another HK, the 230, instead of the CA. I like HK and the 230 pumps 35 amps of current. That should be enough even without routing the fronts through the Rotel (because I just don't have enough outlets to run everything at once).

Incidentally, my friends were right about the center channel. I auditioned it at home and the system seemed to come up to speed. Could still use a little more power though.