Cambridge Audio Azur 651P Phonostage – Black

Here we have a well-regarded budget phono stage from British based company Cambridge Audio. The Azur 651P offers inputs for both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges and our unit is in good condition, noting a couple of minor blemishes – please refer to photographs. It comes professionally packaged along with manual, PSU plus our normal three month warranty.
Cambridge Audio Say….
The design of a high quality but cost-effective phono pre-amplifier presents a major challenge. Providing first-class performance on an unlimited budget is one matter; achieving the same performance within tight price limits is quite another, and requires all the expertise and experience that Cambridge Audio brings to its product design process. We believe we have succeeded in our aim of creating a first-class affordable product.
The 651P offers both moving magnet and moving coil stages uses low noise discrete transistors for the all-important input stages instead of the more common integrated circuits.
It is designed to produce high gain and linearity, without requiring massive amounts of negative feedback to achieve low distortion. It also employ a single-ended ‘Class A’ gain stage with audiophile passive RIAA equalisation.
High quality components are used throughout such as 1% metal film resistors and close tolerance polypropylene capacitors.
The 651P uses more exotic amplification circuitry to provide even lower distortion and noise plus a second higher gain stage for MC cartridges. In addition, the 651P employs multi-parallel capacitors to achieve exceptional RIAA accuracy of only 0.3dB up to 50kHz and features a defeatable subsonic filter.
It can be switched off from the front panel and feature a very high efficiency external transformer that consumes less than 0.5W when the main unit is switched off.
Features:
Phono pre-amplifier with moving magnet (MM) and moving coil (MC) input stages
Discrete transistors for the all-important input stages instead of the more common integrated circuits
Single-ended ‘Class A’ gain stage with audiophile passive RIAA equalisation
Multi-parallel capacitors to achieve exceptional RIAA accuracy of only 0.3dB up to 50kHz
Defeatable subsonic filter to eliminate very low frequency ‘rumble’, caused by vinyl imperfections
Eco-friendly <1W Standby power consumption
Acoustically damped full metal chassis with thick brushed aluminium front panel
Specifications:
Gain @ 1 kHz: 39 dB (MM); 55 dB (MC)
Nominal Output: 300 mV
Sensitivity For Nominal Output: 3.35 mV (MM); 0.5 mV (MC)
THD 20 Hz – 20 kHz: < 0.005% (MM); < 0.002% (MC)
RIAA Curve Accuracy: < ± 0.3dB, 25 Hz – 20 kHz
Signal To Noise Ratio: 86 dB (MM); > 72 dB (MC)
Input Impedance: 47 kOhm (MM); 100 Ohm (MC)
Input Capacitance: 220 pF
Overload Margin: > 30 dB
Crosstalk @ 20 kHz: > 83 dB (MM); 69 dB (MC)
Max Power Consumption: 5 W
PSU Consumption in Standby: < 0.5 W
Dimensions: 215 (W) x 133 (D) x 46 (H) mm
Weight: 0.9 kg