Find of the Decade!! '74 Cambridge P110

hybridtech

hybridtech

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Original Brochures, User Handbook (27 pages), Service Manual (42 pages), Amendment Sheets (6 pages) ...... Ohh!..... and THE AMP ... lookit the braiding holding the loom (none of those PLASTIC cable ties), the size of the torroidal, and THAT'S what I call a heatsink :-)
More laterrr ...
 

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hybridtech said:
Original Brochures, User Handbook (27 pages), Service Manual (42 pages), Amendment Sheets (6 pages) ...... Ohh!..... and THE AMP ... lookit the braiding holding the loom (none of those PLASTIC cable ties), the size of the torroidal, and THAT'S what I call a heatsink :-)
More laterrr ...
Click to expand...

Old school waxed cord lacing.Nice.
 
:ntwrthy:
avionic said:
Old school waxed cord lacing.Nice.
Click to expand...
"waxed cord lacing" sounds sooooo much better than "braiding holding the loom". I just love the forgotten detail these guys used. The main board, each channel(?) is laid out in mirror image.
Yeah I know someguy has replaced a bunch of caps (NOT ME!) which will be replaced with correct/real versions as well as a bunch of others.
Aesthetics rule.
 
I got interested in Hi-Fi in '77. As a consequence I'm aware of that model but not familiar with it.

What I'll say is that it looks like an amazing design.
 
SoCal Sam said:
"Find of the Decade" claim is questionable but the amp is not. Cool looking stuff!
Click to expand...

Please let him call this the find of the decade as that means any finds better than this will go to a different AKer allowing the finds to be spread around. That is why I never claim more than find of the month...I'm hoping for better in the next month.

Is that unit recapped? A bunch of caps on the right side of the first pic look to be newer installs.
 
Is that unit recapped? A bunch of caps on the right side of the first pic look to be newer installs.[/QUOTE]

Yep, very haphazard far eastern usage. Apparently in order to fix a problem? Unsure at this stage (I am mid renovating an A & R Cambridge A60) if they are even the correct valueish!
 
That's a nice 50-watter from early days of CA. Actually it would be a find of the decade for anyone who loves older Cambridge Audio stuff. Would love to get my hands on one and run it against my A&R A60! Well, I would not mind any of the early CA slim line amps.

Here's schematics if anything's missing from the documentation you have:

http://www.schematicsunlimited.com/...dge-audio-p110-integrated-amplifier-schematic

Hand drawn by its designer and CA's technical director Stan Curtis, no less! Now this is the guy who later went to found Mission Electronics, made Rotel products what they are today and saved Quad from bankruptcy. The big bottom heatsink idea was later re-developed for Mission Cyrus amps.

There's a cute tuner thet goes with it, so keep hunting:

http://www.mcmullon.com/icollect/hi_fi/cambridge_audio/brochure/cambridge_reciever_1.jpg
 
rlisin said:
That's a nice 50-watter from early days of CA. Actually it would be a find of the decade for anyone who loves older Cambridge Audio stuff. Would love to get my hands on one and run it against my A&R A60! Well, I would not mind any of the early CA slim line amps.

Here's schematics if anything's missing from the documentation you have:

http://www.schematicsunlimited.com/...dge-audio-p110-integrated-amplifier-schematic

Hand drawn by its designer and CA's technical director Stan Curtis, no less! Now this is the guy who later went to found Mission Electronics, made Rotel products what they are today and saved Quad from bankruptcy. The big bottom heatsink idea was later re-developed for Mission Cyrus amps.

There's a cute tuner thet goes with it, so keep hunting:

http://www.mcmullon.com/icollect/hi_fi/cambridge_audio/brochure/cambridge_reciever_1.jpg
Click to expand...

I always thought that Farad Azima founded Mission.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad_Azima
 
Yep, but not on his own.

I stand corrected though, should have written "co-found Mission Electronics".
 
rlisin said:
Yep, but not on his own.

I stand corrected though, should have written "co-found Mission Electronics".
Click to expand...

OK. I understand. Stan originated the circuits.

I know of and fully respect Stan. I bought my Oracle Alexandria on the basis of a review by Stan.
 
Very nice amp ! Congratulations on your find.
Find of the decade for you I can understand. If it is something that got you really excited and makes you extremely happy then good for you !
Looks like a quality unit, and I like those star shaped heatsinks too !
Is there an advantage in having a toroidal over a conventional tranny ?
All the best
 
Awesomeaudio said:
Very nice amp ! Congratulations on your find.
Find of the decade for you I can understand. If it is something that got you really excited and makes you extremely happy then good for you !
Looks like a quality unit, and I like those star shaped heatsinks too !
Is there an advantage in having a toroidal over a conventional tranny ?
All the best
Click to expand...
Low height (my own aesthetic) torroidal over tranny is the main advantage, plus a little bit of wood!
 
The Cambridge Audio Laboratories Ltd. P-Series P110.

IMHO, once recapped and realigned, it is a match for anything today up to about £3,000 UK.

The reservoir caps are very interesting because there are four. I've only seen one other pic of a P110 with four, all of mine have two. The circuit diagram specifies 6,800uF but all mine had 4,400uF.

Other things you may like to consider:-
Alps Blue Velvet vol pot
Longer speaker banana sockets
Replace all coupling caps (Elna Cerafine) - BUT looks as though all have been replaced already
Replace res caps - Nichicon
Slug Aux input 10.4db for CD input
Check protection circuit
Realign for xover distortion (quiescent current) as necessary
Oh - and a blue led mains lamp looks cool!

BTW, one of mine is serial no. 110233.

Congratulations on a cracking amp!
 
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Hi Mardler,
REALLY appreciate your reply.
I (think?) understand all of what you say except "Slug Aux input ....."?
Interesting the difference of 2 digits in the serial no. but yours' only have 2 x main caps!
Once I (eventually) start the rejuvenation, I will post lots more, including scans to Digital Docs of the seriously impressive documentation I mentioned in the first post.

Again Cheers
Tony
 
That's yummy!

Not one, but FOUR bolts to hold the transformer in. Thanks for sharing the pics. There is a battered Creek amp at a local trading post type place AKA "the place where they charge the highest prices". You might have prompted me to go and see what they will trade for it.

Lee.
 
Hi hybridtech,

Hope what I've done is useful.

The Aux input on the P-Series is 100mv sensitivity (tuner 250mv) which isn't a good match for modern 2v out CD players & streamers. Although the P-Series has an excellent overload capability, we decided (my engineer and me) to "slug" the sensitivity by 10.4db making it far less sensitive and better able to accept 2v without overload.

For those who don't know, Cambridge Audio's P40 of 1968 was innovative in many ways. For example, it was the world's first hi-fi amplifier to use a toroidal mains transformer and all future CA amps had one. This allowed the P40's slim case design (by the Woodhuysen Group) which became a Design Council icon only bettered by the Lecson Pre/Power - IMHO.

Completely outclassing all competing amplifiers for sonics in '68, the P40 was followed by the P50Mk2, P60 and P110 all of which went on to cement the great sound. Able to distinguish identical amps (bar serial number) just by listening, I bought my second CA amp new in 1972 - a P50Mk2 (first was a P50Mk1 essentially a mildly tweaked P40) - after comparing it to everything on the market at the retailer. The audition was at London's Audio T and was run by a young Martin Colloms!

Unfortunately, CA senior management (owners) was poor and reliability suffered especially after Stan Curtis left for Lecson having seen the writing on the wall.

Remember that in their day these amps weren't cheap - in today's money a P110 would be c.£1,250UK. A P50Mk2, P60 or P110 is still a fine sounding amp that easily competes with its peers today but a thoroughly refurbed one is far better and won't be shamed by amps costing up to £3,000UK.

Have pm'd you re manuals etc.
 
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