Cary 805AE Anniversary monoblock Amplifiers ???

[bebop86]

As my search for the perfect amp for my Classic Audio speakers continue what are everyones thoughts on the Cary 805??
I liked the Serious Stereo 2A3 alot BUT just did not have enough juice to power these big speakers-I have the Canary M-500's in this week and was thinking about the Cary's- As usual any thoughts would be appreciated!!

 

[Mike]

One of the owners from Cary is in our audio club. He told us that this amp is the sweetest in their lineup. I'm looking at it myself.


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[bebop86]

Thanks mike- the problem i have is that as sweet as the Serious Stereo 2A3 is- It just cant handle the 2 =15" woofers of the Classic Audio- The bass is just to flabby and overpowers everything- I am hoping that the canary 50Watt 300B will handle this but as a push/pull not sure if i will lose some of the delicacy that a SET gives-Also not sure if the 845 of the CARY is a warm and involving tube as I have never had one- thks

 

[Mike]

I think the Cary will surprise you. The 805AE is a SET. I trust John (from Cary). He said its incredibly sweet.


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[KeithR]

I think you can do much better than the Cary 805s.

curious why you dont use atmasphere since they use your speakers in design.

 

[Mike]

I think you can do much better than the Cary 805s.

Have you heard them? My Cary 211's were the best tube amps I owned - and these are suppose to be better. Cary gear gets no respect. It's really really good.


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[KeithR]

Many times, Mike although not in my room (at a friends house, a famous NYC dealer, and at several shows). I find the 805s slow and frequency limited. I think there are better SETs out there- Audion for one.

I havent heard the 211s and its a different design.

Btw, Im a Cary fan- i loved my V12 and SLP98 for several years. In fact, have owned the preamp several times

 

[Mike]

Keith - what do you suggest in the same price range?


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[Petro85]

Many times, Mike although not in my room (at a friends house, a famous NYC dealer, and at several shows). I find the 805s slow and frequency limited. I think there are better SETs out there- Audion for one.

I havent heard the 211s and its a different design.

Btw, Im a Cary fan- i loved my V12 and SLP98 for several years. In fact, have owned the preamp several times

i owned a v12 for a bit. nice but i liked my bats better at the time.
mike is right cary gets no respect. i been out listening to lots of amps with lots of speakers, for the most part id put the sound in my house right up there with anything i been hearing lately. im blown away everytime after i listen and come back home. and im running pretty inexpensive $2500 amps with about $1500 in tubes. alot less than the money in gear ive been hearing, and a good friend of mine runs these 805's and his system if off the hook good.
i love these carys and no matter what amps i get next im keeping these and the new amps got some serious competition to see if they stick around.
i like the 211's alot if i went big time speakers i would have thought about getting these, but for my tastes and direction im headed they are way to powerful .
cary rules!!!!! lol.

 

[KeithR]

i owned a v12 for a bit. nice but i liked my bats better at the time.
mike is right cary gets no respect. i been out listening to lots of amps with lots of speakers, for the most part id put the sound in my house right up there with anything i been hearing lately. im blown away everytime after i listen and come back home. and im running pretty inexpensive $2500 amps with about $1500 in tubes. alot less than the money in gear ive been hearing, and a good friend of mine runs these 805's and his system if off the hook good.
i love these carys and no matter what amps i get next im keeping these and the new amps got some serious competition to see if they stick around.
i like the 211's alot if i went big time speakers i would have thought about getting these, but for my tastes and direction im headed they are way to powerful .
cary rules!!!!! lol.

That's funny- I ended up selling my Carys for BAT gear as well. I had purchased new Sophias (the Is, so I'm dating myself) and BAT was really synergistic with them. The VK75SE is still one of my favorite amps...ultimately paired it with a 51SE.

 

[Petro85]

That's funny- I ended up selling my Carys for BAT gear as well. I had purchased new Sophias (the Is, so I'm dating myself) and BAT was really synergistic with them. The VK75SE is still one of my favorite amps...ultimately paired it with a 51SE.

now that is close to my system back a few years. i had a single vk60 and then bought another and converted to mono amps. then realized i never needed 120w and sold both and got a vk75. not the se. during that span i had 2 vk3i's , a vk5i and ultimately a vk50se . then i had bat upgrade the 75 to an se for my friend and sold it to him a couple weeks after i got it back , was a big bat whirlwind for a few years here, of course i didnt know much about the internet back then and just what stereophile and local dealers told me was good.lol. in that span is when i was messing with the v12 also.

 

[KeithR]

Keith - what do you suggest in the same price range?

Mike- 845s have a particular synergy with Zus, so a lot of 845 demos have transpired over the years. At the Cary price level (=~13k), the Audion Black Shadows are probably the best out there. They are linear, fast, but retain great tonality. They also make a great PSET 300B amp, although it costs more. Many Zu owners have these amps.

The best buy to me is the Sophia Electric 845, but the older wood paneled version (only with 206 driver tube)- they pop up used for under 3.5k/pair. 95% of the performance of the Black Shadows and have more slam at the expense of tone. I also think the Dehavillands are great, although they look like crap. Shindo's GM70 Lafons that I heard this weekend were great as well- although 2x the price of a pair of Audions.

The Italians make a lot of 845 SET- Viva, Mastersound, and New Audio Frontiers. Viva is more of an old-school, euphonic sound although the Solista has the best looks in the biz (and runs VERY hot). Mastersound is good, but really expensive. I was very, very close to buying a used NAF super integrated for 6k but couldn't pull the trigger. It's a beautiful, 100+ lb. beast:




I have been rethinking SET alot since my Shindo demo...perhaps I will get a Melody AN845 integrated demo soon. Although for my case-specific requirements, the DarTZeel works really well. It's the best SS I've heard by a mile. I'm sold on higher end integrateds as you guys know...by far the greatest value in audio these days.

 

[Mike]

Interesting Keith. 845's have some advantages if you need just a little more power. I also find 845's generally to be more neutral sounding than 300b's, but still warmer than your traditional KT88 and much better than most KT120 amps. EL34's remain the hidden gem in the tube world IMO.

At CES, I heard the LA Audio 845 amps and just melted. That room was a sonic relief after so much hi-fi.

 

[KeithR]

now that is close to my system back a few years. i had a single vk60 and then bought another and converted to mono amps. then realized i never needed 120w and sold both and got a vk75. not the se. during that span i had 2 vk3i's , a vk5i and ultimately a vk50se . then i had bat upgrade the 75 to an se for my friend and sold it to him a couple weeks after i got it back , was a big bat whirlwind for a few years here, of course i didnt know much about the internet back then and just what stereophile and local dealers told me was good.lol. in that span is when i was messing with the v12 also.

BAT gear is great- now I realize more about the "why." Victor eschews the use of negative feedback in his amps- which is quite unusual for push/pull. His VK250 has also been a heckuva good SS amp for years. The only issue is it could be a hair dark- I've always thought it would sound good on my Zus actually. A VK55SE in particular.

 

[Petro85]

BAT gear is great- now I realize more about the "why." Victor eschews the use of negative feedback in his amps- which is quite unusual for push/pull. His VK250 has also been a heckuva good SS amp for years. The only issue is it could be a hair dark- I've always thought it would sound good on my Zus actually. A VK55SE in particular.

i just heard a new vk55se(stereo) recently and was very impressed, it just seemed like a smaller lighter, more technologically advance version of the old vk60. which i guess is the point.lol.
i ran a single vk60 on the bass pumping-est very inefficient monitors that everyone said "dont ever run these on tubes, wont be good" platinum audio solos. and loved the setup to death. it was of course just great for rock and jamming stuff, but it was a great combo and i would love to have it in a second system somewhere. was nothing but f-u-n.
bat just came out with a vk-p12 phonostage and their vk-p10 phonostage is an old favorite of mine, but the balanced outputs kills me with 300b's , i thought about a vk32se which can take the xlr inputs from he vkp12 and then running rca from the pre to my amps. but not sure how that will work out. ive only used the xlr's when using bat gear before except from the turntable. id love to get some bat in the lineup somewhere and i may buy one of the vk3 series pre sometime soon(like a vk31 or32se) since they have a choice of xlr or rca, unlike the 5's

 

[Petro85]

Interesting Keith. 845's have some advantages if you need just a little more power. I also find 845's generally to be more neutral sounding than 300b's, but still warmer than your traditional KT88 and much better than most KT120 amps. EL34's remain the hidden gem in the tube world IMO.

At CES, I heard the LA Audio 845 amps and just melted. That room was a sonic relief after so much hi-fi.

sorry mike i went off on bat and just remembered this is a 845 thread.lol.

 

[KeithR]

Interesting Keith. 845's have some advantages if you need just a little more power. I also find 845's generally to be more neutral sounding than 300b's, but still warmer than your traditional KT88 and much better than most KT120 amps. EL34's remain the hidden gem in the tube world IMO.

At CES, I heard the LA Audio 845 amps and just melted. That room was a sonic relief after so much hi-fi.

Yes, i would agree. They trade a bit of that 300B midrange for shove and bass extension. I will be curious which you prefer on your incoming speakers. Your room upstairs looks fairly big, so I have a feeling more than 8 watts will be necessary on a speaker with a crossover.

Funny you mention EL34s- I had a little Mastersound Due Venti- retubed with NOS Siemens EL34s. It was shockingly good and not the overly warm sonic signature that some EL34s portray (Dynaco). Those tubes are readily available as well. The amp cost $3k new.

 

[dlb2]

Did somebody say 845's? :exciting:

As far as Cary goes, you have to like a company that continues to improve their products, even discontinued ones, continually. Instead of making you buy the latest, greatest you can send yours in for upgrades.

 

[Petro85]

Did somebody say 845's? :exciting:

As far as Cary goes, you have to like a company that continues to improve their products, even discontinued ones, continually. Instead of making you buy the latest, greatest you can send yours in for upgrades.

a big+1