andrewpaul

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.40 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $305.00 from eBay

Summary:
C500 preamp (bought in Australia)

After hooking up a NAD c540 (preamp circuits of integrated amp) to the NAD c270 poweramp (120w RMS) and listening to this combo for about 6 months, was keen to aquire a dedicated preamp. Along came the Cambridge Audio c500 on offer from eBay. After sucessufully bidding on this little gem I hooked it up to take the signal from my NAD c542 cd player to the c270 poweramp. What has impressed me most about the Cambridge c500 pre, is the timbre, tone and realism of voices. Very impressive. It is a revelation. To hear singing voices this accurate is wonderful. In addition, the rendering of instruments is a vast improvement on the hifi set-up I've been used to. The c500 has the ability to present the signal in a precise and timely fashion, with an emphasis on accurate rise and fall of sounds. The only thing I could fault so far is the bass which I find is a little woolly and rounded. But this may be a result of other factors. I have the option of bypassing the preamp and send the cd signal directly to the c270 poweramp via a variable bias input at the rear of the poweramp (very handy feature from NAD). What I gain by bypassing the c500 is tightness of the bass rendering, but at the expense of accuracy and realism. Like the other reviwers here, I recomment this preamp for those wanting the get a taste of true hifi and like me, will have cash in the future to 'blow' on some truely hi-end kit, like Musical Fidelity, Quad, Cyrus, Krell, etc. But like a lot of audio hounds, there's always other urgent things to spend money on (like children's school fees and dental treatment).
I think you should try this little wonder if the moneys tight, it's woth every cent. Well done Camridge Audio boffins.

Strengths:
Realism of both voice and instruments. Timing and pace.

Weaknesses:
Bass presentation not as tight as I've heard. (by bypassing the preamp entirely via variable bias imput on the poweramp)

Similar Products Used:
Preamp sections of both NAD c540 and NAD 3020 amps

Price Paid:  $220.00 from eBay

Summary:
I changed the old Denon PRA-1100 preamplifier with this Cambridge Audio. Very smooth sound, good soundstage, gives the impression, as if there would be an other room behind the speakers (let's say: behind the musicians). At this price, I think you cannot get a better preamplifier. Yet: In a high-end shop I compared the C500 with the Audio Refinement Pre 5. The Pre 5 costs four times the price of a C500, but it sounded much better - even on a relative cheap CD-Player - than the C500 with external DAC or an expensive CD-Player. My audio equipment: Linn Kabers active, driven with 3 Cambridge Audio P500 and Luxman CD-Player. The C500 cost about Euro 360,00. I bought it for Euro 220,00

Strengths:
smooth sound, good soundstage.

Weaknesses:
none at this price. perhabs: very simple remote.

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Audio Shop

Summary:
Made the move from a Yamaha receiver to separates and didn't notice much difference. I purchased mostly Cambridge Audio products including the T500 tuner, the D-500 cd player and the P-500 amps. It is a great price for what you get at this level. I bought a used Bryston 4B amp to replace the Cambridge Audio amps and what a difference this made. The tones became richer, the pace faster and the detail more pronounced. I followed this upgrade with Newform Research speakers, the R-630 model. And although the sound was still good, I found the high midrange was too bright. So I did some speaker and cable upgrades. Trying to find the right match. Thanks by the way to Omer of OZ Enterprises, who allowed me to audition a number of cables and had the best prices in town. Back to this pre-amp. One of the changes I made was to replace the power cord. This power cord is as bad as the power cord on the D-500 cd player that everyone complains about. It was this move that solidified the great credentials that this pre-amp has. The sound is now rich and clear. The fact that this pre-amp comes with a remote that can be used on the tuner and cd player is a plus. Someday I will upgrade the pre-amp, but for now, I think for the price it is unbeatable.

Strengths:
Clear full sound when power cable is replaced.

Weaknesses:
Except power cord nothing major.

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha R-5 receiver, HK-45 receiver.

Price Paid:  $199.00 from richer sounds london

Summary:
Sound quality at its best,anything clearer would be fiction.CAMBRIDGE AUDIO have done their home work.

Strengths:
Sound perfection,user friendly

Weaknesses:
cheap front pannel,the back pannel is much nicer than the front.

Similar Products Used:
marantz cd5000

Price Paid:  $270.00 from Audio Advisor

Summary:
Plugged my CD-Player (with digital volume control) directly into my RB-1070 and then put the C500 in between. I could not hear any difference (besides volume adjustments). I don't believe there's any other pre-amp out there for this money that will be this transparent. (Are there any other pre-amps out there for this money at all???)

Strengths:
clean, affordable

Weaknesses:
can't select source from remote (no big deal to me)

Similar Products Used:
Auditioned: B&K, Rotel (integrated)