When I was 18 I had one of these (39yrs ago) and I loved it ! it was with some nice Mordaunt Short speakers and a Rega Planar 2 turntable did the job well, I have lost the CAS4040 but still have the rest. great video....cheers !
Thanks for this video. I used a CAS4040 as my main amp in the 1980s and a CAS4140 series 2 unit as a backup amp in the early 2000s. Brings back memories of these old "wood top" amps. They tended to sound better used with a turntable than via their line stages from my experience but always had an easy-to-warm-to presentation.
Creek always seemed a strange brand name as most creeks I know of are rather muddy. They seemed to specialize in these little integrated amps with similarly long but skinny form factor . DIN is actually superior to RCA terminations in every way electrically for unbalanced signals. Alas, they never caught on. Naim and Creek stuck with them and it seemed more of an affectation as XLR balanced would be the superior choice all round. And standard. But that tiny cabinet would be an issue. Creek, like Naim, sometimes made a big marketing claim as to how plastic cases are superior sonically. Which is total hokum of course. As usual, great review. Full of real information. Thanks
Thanks for the kind words. It is a thin, narrow and long case for sure. Pretty basic output stage. I thought it sounded just fine as long as you did not try to push it. I think Quad used some kind of DIN jacks in some of their gear as well. What is up with the English..... 🙃😄
Imho this is one of those "budget high end" offerings typical for the UK around that time. It is the middle model of a three piece familiy with its smaller brother very similar to this one and a bigger brother that is very different (and that was way more expensive). There is also a S2 version of this amp that came out a few years later,that reviewers found lacking soundwise in comparison to the original version. Creek Audio still exists today and still is in same market bracket mentioned above.
I would appreciate a video on how to bias tubes in amplifiers. I have a The Fisher X 202 B integrated and haven’t been able to find good step by step instructions for tube biasing. I’m off topic but don’t know another way to reach out to you.
There is an email address in the "about" section of the channel. I would not be of much help other than point you to the service manual for that unit or do a search for how to bias the X202B
You have a lot of gear! Not familiar with your Audio Refinement Complete. Glad you think it sounded fine- I thought so too, just don't want to pair it with AR9's
Thanks for the question. When I am testing, I adjust the volume control to get 29dB of gain and then increase the input signal level until it distorts. I sometimes mention where the volume control is/was during this or my listening, but did not in the instance- I will try to mention it in future videos.
Interesting stuff - thanks for this. Incidentally I have a 4040 S2 - what annoys me about my Creek is the speaker posts are actually not posts but inserted leads. Getting the correct leads is illuding me at the moment lol. Thus I can't wire them up to speakers.
Thanks for the comment and sorry to hear about your speaker connecting issues- I would think that you could find something online to use. You could always remove them and install a 3way binding post, but that may be beyond your skillset?
Isn't it another of those 'less-is-more' British amps? The kind that even skimped on output relays, sometimes not even having speaker fuses to be more 'audiophile'? And God forbid that the OP devices went, the speakers would be toast before the fuse went anyway.
Thanks for the comment and you are indeed correct- no speaker relay protection or speaker fuse protection as you mentioned. But it sounded ok- maybe there was a a really good protect circuit...probably not, though...
When I was 18 I had one of these (39yrs ago) and I loved it ! it was with some nice Mordaunt Short speakers and a Rega Planar 2 turntable did the job well, I have lost the CAS4040 but still have the rest. great video....cheers !
I appreciate your taking the time to share about your experience and system used with the CAS4040!
Thanks for this video. I used a CAS4040 as my main amp in the 1980s and a CAS4140 series 2 unit as a backup amp in the early 2000s. Brings back memories of these old "wood top" amps. They tended to sound better used with a turntable than via their line stages from my experience but always had an easy-to-warm-to presentation.
Thanks for the comment. For a real simple amp I thought it sounded fine.
Creek always seemed a strange brand name as most creeks I know of are rather muddy.
They seemed to specialize in these little integrated amps with similarly long but skinny form factor .
DIN is actually superior to RCA terminations in every way electrically for unbalanced signals. Alas, they never caught on. Naim and Creek stuck with them and it seemed more of an affectation as XLR balanced would be the superior choice all round. And standard.
But that tiny cabinet would be an issue.
Creek, like Naim, sometimes made a big marketing claim as to how plastic cases are superior sonically. Which is total hokum of course.
As usual, great review. Full of real information. Thanks
Thanks for the kind words. It is a thin, narrow and long case for sure. Pretty basic output stage. I thought it sounded just fine as long as you did not try to push it. I think Quad used some kind of DIN jacks in some of their gear as well. What is up with the English..... 🙃😄
Imho this is one of those "budget high end" offerings typical for the UK around that time.
It is the middle model of a three piece familiy with its smaller brother very similar to this
one and a bigger brother that is very different (and that was way more expensive).
There is also a S2 version of this amp that came out a few years later,that reviewers found
lacking soundwise in comparison to the original version.
Creek Audio still exists today and still is in same market bracket mentioned above.
Thanks for sharing some info about the Creek "family". I thought it sounded pretty good, but would not want to deal with the din cable adapters.
I would appreciate a video on how to bias tubes in amplifiers.
I have a The Fisher X 202 B integrated and haven’t been able to find good step by step instructions for tube biasing.
I’m off topic but don’t know another way to reach out to you.
There is an email address in the "about" section of the channel. I would not be of much help other than point you to the service manual for that unit or do a search for how to bias the X202B
This one sounds fine but I prefer my Audio Refinement Complete
You have a lot of gear! Not familiar with your Audio Refinement Complete. Glad you think it sounded fine- I thought so too, just don't want to pair it with AR9's
Can you please tell me at what o'clock position of the volume control it was nondistorting and distorting ?
Thanks for the question. When I am testing, I adjust the volume control to get 29dB of gain and then increase the input signal level until it distorts. I sometimes mention where the volume control is/was during this or my listening, but did not in the instance- I will try to mention it in future videos.
Interesting stuff - thanks for this. Incidentally I have a 4040 S2 - what annoys me about my Creek is the speaker posts are actually not posts but inserted leads. Getting the correct leads is illuding me at the moment lol. Thus I can't wire them up to speakers.
Thanks for the comment and sorry to hear about your speaker connecting issues- I would think that you could find something online to use. You could always remove them and install a 3way binding post, but that may be beyond your skillset?
@@vintageaudioreview thanks
Isn't it another of those 'less-is-more' British amps? The kind that even skimped on output relays, sometimes not even having speaker fuses to be more 'audiophile'? And God forbid that the OP devices went, the speakers would be toast before the fuse went anyway.
Thanks for the comment and you are indeed correct- no speaker relay protection or speaker fuse protection as you mentioned. But it sounded ok- maybe there was a a really good protect circuit...probably not, though...