- Thread Author
- #1
im going to do this in 2 parts. right now im giving a early quick review, then in a month or so when i settle into the 300b tubes i want and break them in and get a better feel for these amps in my system. i will go a little more in depth. it seem i do this all the time and then forget about the second part.lol.
first off, 90db speakers on 15w amps..... yea it drives em with ease. its only 2 clicks beyond where my 100w snappers would be on the volume dial. i could hardly believe it when i first turned them on.
but if i listened loud to the snappers at 12 o'clock im only at barely 1 o'clock with these amps. i got alot of volume dial left too!!! makes me very happy. i was worried about this.
i found the rectifier tubes sitting at my front door this morning and ice cold i pulled them out and put them in the amps, i couldnt wait. gave them 5 minutes to warm up and fired it all up.
one thing i will say is these amps are definitely not new, cary made them for 14 years and started in the early 90's. i think these were said to be made around 2004.
the tubes i presently have in these are a pair of 1960's brimars 6sn7's in one amp, and a mismatched single brimar and a brand new electro harmonics cheap one in the other amp. the rectifiers are new 1964 nos mullard gz37's.(cv378's)
the 300b's are new stock electro hamonics with about 10 hours on them.
so im not where i want to be tube wise. the rectifiers and one of the brimars came in smashed up , so i had to order new tubes and wait to fire these up until today.
straight up as soon as i dropped the needle in the groove the first thing i noticed was the position of the singer. where with my snappers she was standing back behing my turntable and to the left a little bit, now she is standing in front of my table and dead center.
maybe its the 300b magic im hearing already but everything is thicker sounding and more natural and more pronounced. the strings are resonating more the reverb is better. the midrange is super smooth and relaxed. yet not overly warm as i though it could possibly be.
the bass is (believe it or not) way better. still very tight, yet adding a little needed mud to it. my snappers could do great heavy bass with the cd player and on my old turntable. but since i got the merrill things were tightened up and i was hearing all the bass notes i was missing before. there are actually instruments playing that.lol. now im still hearing the notes but these 300b's are giving me the ability to get down lower and add a little deeper bass to the overall sound. i never would have guessed it. my 2 greatest fears with changing to these amps was that they wouldnt drive my speakers and that i would lose my bass. both have proved to be a non issue and im so happy about it.!!!!!
Oh yea back to the midrange, instead of how some instruments used to jump out at you. they now are in line with the rest and a nice even beautiful presentation. the soundstage was good with the snappers and is just as good if not a little more spread out, and a little bit better separation. so far about 5 or 6 albums in, i am thrilled with these amps. this is the first cary product ive ever owned, aside from a borrowed cad 120 a few years ago, i dont have much experience with the company. 300b magic is finally in my house. doug just mentioned to me that i have the least amount of watts on the shark now.lmao!!!! 15w baby!!!!
ive heard lots of tube amps in my day and alot recently. but for a 2004 pair of little compact amps these are unbelievably impressive. and even though less expensive than my snappers im saying a good step up musically.
and once again the sonus faber venere 3.0's have impressed the hell out of me being able to easily do anything i have asked of them. now running smooth with 15w pushing them. i never would have guessed they would do it so easily.
so far there is a definite overall improvement in the sounds in my house.!!!!!
View attachment 5124
View attachment 5127
first off, 90db speakers on 15w amps..... yea it drives em with ease. its only 2 clicks beyond where my 100w snappers would be on the volume dial. i could hardly believe it when i first turned them on.
but if i listened loud to the snappers at 12 o'clock im only at barely 1 o'clock with these amps. i got alot of volume dial left too!!! makes me very happy. i was worried about this.
i found the rectifier tubes sitting at my front door this morning and ice cold i pulled them out and put them in the amps, i couldnt wait. gave them 5 minutes to warm up and fired it all up.
one thing i will say is these amps are definitely not new, cary made them for 14 years and started in the early 90's. i think these were said to be made around 2004.
the tubes i presently have in these are a pair of 1960's brimars 6sn7's in one amp, and a mismatched single brimar and a brand new electro harmonics cheap one in the other amp. the rectifiers are new 1964 nos mullard gz37's.(cv378's)
the 300b's are new stock electro hamonics with about 10 hours on them.
so im not where i want to be tube wise. the rectifiers and one of the brimars came in smashed up , so i had to order new tubes and wait to fire these up until today.
straight up as soon as i dropped the needle in the groove the first thing i noticed was the position of the singer. where with my snappers she was standing back behing my turntable and to the left a little bit, now she is standing in front of my table and dead center.
maybe its the 300b magic im hearing already but everything is thicker sounding and more natural and more pronounced. the strings are resonating more the reverb is better. the midrange is super smooth and relaxed. yet not overly warm as i though it could possibly be.
the bass is (believe it or not) way better. still very tight, yet adding a little needed mud to it. my snappers could do great heavy bass with the cd player and on my old turntable. but since i got the merrill things were tightened up and i was hearing all the bass notes i was missing before. there are actually instruments playing that.lol. now im still hearing the notes but these 300b's are giving me the ability to get down lower and add a little deeper bass to the overall sound. i never would have guessed it. my 2 greatest fears with changing to these amps was that they wouldnt drive my speakers and that i would lose my bass. both have proved to be a non issue and im so happy about it.!!!!!
Oh yea back to the midrange, instead of how some instruments used to jump out at you. they now are in line with the rest and a nice even beautiful presentation. the soundstage was good with the snappers and is just as good if not a little more spread out, and a little bit better separation. so far about 5 or 6 albums in, i am thrilled with these amps. this is the first cary product ive ever owned, aside from a borrowed cad 120 a few years ago, i dont have much experience with the company. 300b magic is finally in my house. doug just mentioned to me that i have the least amount of watts on the shark now.lmao!!!! 15w baby!!!!
ive heard lots of tube amps in my day and alot recently. but for a 2004 pair of little compact amps these are unbelievably impressive. and even though less expensive than my snappers im saying a good step up musically.
and once again the sonus faber venere 3.0's have impressed the hell out of me being able to easily do anything i have asked of them. now running smooth with 15w pushing them. i never would have guessed they would do it so easily.
so far there is a definite overall improvement in the sounds in my house.!!!!!
View attachment 5124View attachment 5127
