News

26/9/2003

Cambridge Audio Azur 640T DAB/FM tuner

Cambridge Audio already has a class leading pedigree in manufacturing DAB digital radio tuners, thanks to its award winning range of hugely respected DAB products. Continuing this proud tradition is the ground breaking new Azur 640T DAB/FM tuner, which delivers the best from both digital and traditional FM transmissions.

Part of Cambridge Audio's dazzling new Azur range of hi-fi electronics, the company's first completely new series of products for nearly five years, the sparkling remote controlled 640T has been designed from the ground up and builds on years of painstaking audiophile research and development, as well as a hard won reputation for consistently engineering quality components at great prices.

The 640T offers the perfect combination of digital and analogue radio, delivering the highest levels of performance with both transmissions, in one elegantly designed package. What's more, the 640T not only receives band III DAB transmissions, but also L band. This despite the fact the Radio Authority will not be issuing bids for L Band multiplexes in UK until 2007 and it will be 2008 before broadcasts start.

At the heart of the remote controlled design is the very latest, highly integrated DAB solution from Radioscape, incorporating an acclaimed Texas Instruments DSP (digital signal processor). This is allied to a highly sensitive, digitally implemented FM detector, which receives analogue RDS FM transmissions, then using the very lasted DSP technology all processing and IF demodulation is carried out in the digital domain. Even when signal strengths are low, this ensures excellent signal to noise ratios.

Complementing this is a superior WM8716 24-bit/192kHz digital to analogue converter - with built-in 4x up-sampling - from respected manufacturer Wolfson Microelectronics. There are also separate proprietary DAC and analogue circuit stages employing surface mount technology, high grade polypropylene capacitors, a split power supply feeding the analogue stage and Cambridge Audio's exclusive Natural Contour Technology (NCT).

The latter has been developed by Cambridge Audio to balance out particularly processed broadcasts and their sometimes 'flat' presentation. NCT allows the listener to subtly adjust a performance's timbre, via a three-stage control on the back panel. The 'Warm' setting adds an analogue-like warmth to digital sounding programmes, while 'Lively' breathes life into the sound quality of heavily compressed programmes.

This proprietary engineering sits on a specially designed low resonance, acoustically damped chassis, with a newly styled outer casing, which is available in black or silver, and takes in a thick anodised aluminium front panel.

www.cambridge-audio.co.uk