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Cambridge Audio P60

Edgeyboy

pfm Member
I have been given a Cambridge Audio P60 in time warp condition that my Dad who was one of the founders of Cambridge helped design.

It was in the cellar, heavily bubble wrapped, at my mother's house and we came across it by complete chance. It is silver with teak ice cheeks. Beautiful.

For both nostalgia and intrigue, I would like to get the amplifier restored. The fuse is missing from the underside, so that's the first port of call.

Could anyone point me in the right direction of someone who could help?

Many Thanks Tom.
 
I had a P110 back in the day.(55wpc rather than 30wpc, but otherwise identical.)

Well worth the effort to get it up and running.
 
Nice find!

I had my P50 and matching T55 serviced and re-capped by Mike Powell in Bolton.

He is inclined to be slow....

Jim
 
There are going to be several teardrop tantalums on the PCB. These fail short.
The main electrolytics will be fine if this amplifier has been in storage.
 
Thanks for the really helpful replies. Appreciated.

It's going to a very knowledgeable chap on Friday for inspection and diagnosis.

It's blowing the main fuse immediately on power on. I'm very hopeful it can be nursed back into health. It holds a lot of nostalgic memories for me, as my late father was one of the founders of Cambridge Audio.

Thanks again.
 
Hopefully shorted tantalums and maybe a LM317/337 spoiled by a bad tantalum. Had all of this with my C70
 
It went straight onto the bench on Friday afternoon. Thankfully the transformer is intact and operational. The rectifier is wrecked and new capacitors have been ordered. Very hopeful for a positive outcome.
 
My P50 originally bought back in 1973 is still doing excellent service on loan in my brother in laws system fed by an SL10 and driving some Mordant Short MS20 Pearls. A really nice classic system

eddie
 
The P60 has now been bought back to life.

The rectifier had failed totally, and we replaced the two capacitors which had been damaged as a consequence. The new capacitors are rated at a higher voltage (63v) rather than the 40v of the originals. The engineer felt that 40v was a bit marginal for that design, but presumably at the time, it was the highest voltage that could physically fit. Modern caps are considerably smaller, so he could easily fit 63v caps in the space.

The rectifier is physically the same size, but rated at higher volts and amps, so we would expect the amp to be that bit more reliable.

It’s giving out about 50 watts, one channel driven, so comfortably in spec for power. Distortion is somewhat below 0.1% at 40 watts so whilst a bit higher than the spec, it’s still of no concern whatsoever. We would rather not try and get distortion down as there’s always the risk of breaking something that’s currently OK. If it ain’t broke........

The controls seem to have cleaned up OK with some switch cleaner, so I’d rather not change them, given also the practical difficulty in getting some of exactly the same size as they have to fit the PC board and front panel.

So, a positive result for an amplifier with a history that can now be enjoyed for years to come.

Total cost of repair: £12 and a decent bottle of wine or two for the engineer.
 
Beautiful designs, those early Cambridges. To my eyes, especially elegant in silver. These early models are far from common in my country and I regret not buying a P40 a few years ago.
 
You reminded me that I used to have a P60. I think it survived until the late '80s. Not sure where it went then!

Great amp.

Stephen
 
I still have my P50, which my parents bought me for my 21st in 1975. It served me well until I got carried away by Naim in the mid 80s.

It is slightly under the weather and I am struggling to find the correct speaker plugs to give it a blast.

I am going to have to search out the details of the 'guy in Bolton'.
 
I still have my P50, which my parents bought me for my 21st in 1975. It served me well until I got carried away by Naim in the mid 80s.

It is slightly under the weather and I am struggling to find the correct speaker plugs to give it a blast.

I am going to have to search out the details of the 'guy in Bolton'.

Some DIN leads to bare with or banana should be fine. It really is a joy to see the amplifier working again.

The designer, Roy Gray, was a talented guy.
 
The P50 was designed by Stan Cutis.

Roy Gray designed the casework. he was an industrial designer of Woodhuysen Design.

From Wikipedia: In addition to an advanced technical specification, the P40 created quite a stir in part thanks to its iconic and innovative super slim-line case design by Roy Gray, from Woodhuysen Design.
 


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