[Shrinky Smurf]

Charles,

I have the Cambridge Audio AZUR 851A in my system, and am generally pleased so far. It is very solidly built.
I am still growing into the hobby, but will tell you a couple of things I have noticed with mine.

1) This integrated amp can get fairly hot, so make sure you have good ventilation. Not fry-an-egg-on-it hot, but a bit toasty. Mine is in a roomy enough spot that it’s fine.

2) The remote buttons are made of that rubbery material that gets sticky with time - a common complaint I have seen on several reviews (if anyone knows a fix please let me know). I’ve seen enough complaints about this for Cambridge systems I cannot understand why they did not fix this years ago.

3) Also, it has a low volume (but noticeable) hum at rest, from the amp itself, that does not seem to be transmitted to the speakers like a 60Hz hum can be (had that problem with my REL T-zero sub neutrik connector before I found the culprit... great sub for a small system, BTW). I don’t notice it when the music is playing, but it may take away from the darkness of the background in the room for ultra-trained ears. In fact, my CD just finished, and sitting here in the listening position it is not audible to me at all. If I get up close I can hear it. Don’t know if this is normal, but it’s what my amp does.

All in all, I am greatly enjoying it for now, and would recommend it. It is a great int amp for its price range. That said, I suspect I will eventually upgrade, once my other upgrades make this the weakest point in my system.

Best,
Shrinky