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CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CXA81 MKII
Price £999
SOME audio brands, when realising they have an authentic hit on their hands, leave well enough alone and let the product milk as many sales as possible until it gets knocked off its perch by something newer and better. Cambridge Audio isn’t having any of that: even though its CXA81 stereo amp was already the best around at its price, there’s now a MkII. Well, if something newer and better is going to come along, it might as well be another Cambridge.
Visually, this is a pleasingly understated device and only comes in that silver finish Cambridge insists on calling ‘lunar grey’. Volume, input selection and speaker switching (it can power two sets at a time), plus a headphone socket and a power button – that’s your lot as far as the front panel goes.