AudioSceptic
Major Contributor
From memory, the P50II was a Stan Curtis design, unlike the earlier P40 and P50, and did "not" suffer from crossover distortion. Martin Colloms rated it highly both for measurements and for subjective SQ. BTW I still think those Cambridge amps were some of the best looking ever, although the slim design probably did compromise heat dissipation.I seem to recall some issues with those early Cambridge amps (crossover distortion?) - I no longer have the reviews which were tech based back then). The more powerful P80 'sounded' ok I remember but wasn't too good on the bench and we had to send an entire batch of newly launched P60's back as all were faulty... I suspect it was too clever a design and too slim a case coupled with components not quite up to it back then. The late 70's saw the beginnings of better components coming along I think (greater power and capability with less components needed) and I do regret our Uk market not exploiting the best of mid priced far eastern products back then - it was either contrived UK makers 'telling a story,' or a new wave of very expensive US gear with heavy build. I was trying to think Threshold was the first, but we had a good few others before, some of which came from the pro market, tried their luck and then returned to said market.
As a mere consumer, my impression at the time was that Japanese amps were starting to gain respect, but the serious brand was Crown/Amcron, or Phase Linear if you wanted huge power (200 or 350 W seemed incredible then). The Quad 303 was still the established top Brit amp but there were doubts about load tolerance and SQ.