Cary Audio

It is well known that using monoblock amplifiers, as opposed to both channels together as a stereo chassis, is the best way to get powerful and lifelike music. By using separate power supplies that can be much more massive, each amplifier can have more dynamic power and be quieter. Keeping two separate amplifiers also makes any inter-channel crosstalk in the amplifiers impossible, so separation is better, meaning your soundstage and musical imaging will be larger and more well-defined. The simple act of separating the two channels provides a lot of distinct advantages, but also increases the investment because of needing to double up on power supplies and chassis parts.Is this extra expense worth it? One listen to the CAD-211FE will convince you that it most certainly is. With over 70 watts of class-A power, automatically transitioning as needed to over 150 watts in class-AB, this powerhouse will effortlessly drive nearly any speaker to realistic live performance levels. It includes a bias meter on the front panel to help you maintain your amplifier at its peak operating level, and offers both XLR balanced and RCA single-ended inputs to match your system. Fully differentially-balanced construction, zero global feedback, and huge reserves of current and power mean that your system will come alive with all types of music and movies.

The CAD-805 Reference Series (CAD-805RS) is the latest edition in the 805 series of single-ended mono block amplifiers that has been in continuous production since 1993.Here is what you will see with a pair of CAD-805RS moving from front to back. The front panel is a handsome thick machined aluminum that is available in either silver or black anodized finish. The CAD-805RS is equipped with a built-in meter on the front of the chassis. The adjustment pot is located at the rear of the chassis along with a bias jack for an external meter. Looking at the amplifier from above, you see a top-plate, which is finished in a handsome Anthracite Black gloss enamel, with white silkscreened lettering. To the left, the main power switch, to the right the ‘standby/operate’ switch which powers up the 211 or 845 output tubes. To the left is a rotary switch with a green jewel-like knob that chooses the appropriate bias for your choice of 211 or 845 output tubes. To the right is a similar rotary knob that dials in ‘negative feedback’ on a global basis and is adjustable from “off” in a continual rotation to a max of 10 dB of feedback. Also, on this top front portion of the amplifier are two 6SN7 input stage tubes, a 300B driver stage tube, and your choice of either an 845 or 211 output tube.Behind the tubes, the main real-estate of the 805 is occupied by two very impressively sized transformers—one power, and one output, and four electrolytic capacitors. Also, toward the rear of the chassis are the aforementioned setscrew adjustment pot for biasing purposes and the quarter inch bias jack for reading the bias of the 300B driver tube. These are the only user adjustments you will have to worry about, other than choosing your output tube flavor.The back panel offers a choice of 4, 8, or 16 ohm speaker outputs that are very high quality and heavy duty. There is a RCA input jack and a XLR input jack with a user selectable switch, and two visible fuses—one for the 300B and one for the output tube. There is also a built-in fuse within the AC power socket. The power cord is detachable.To review the circuit, the single-ended audio input signal from the outside world is passed to the control input grid of the first 6SN7 tube. This first 6SN7 stage is operating in a parallel dual triode conventional resistance-coupled Class A amplifier. This first gain stage is directly coupled to the next 6SN7 dual triode gain stage. This second stage is operating in a series anode constant-current Class A amplifier. This amplified audio signal is passed through a coupling capacitor to the grid of the 300B driver stage.The 300B triode tube operates in a Class A single-ended mode utilizing fixed negative grid voltage on the 300B driver stage. This negative grid voltage is user-adjusted by the screwdriver pot at the rear of the CAD-805RS. The 300B is directly coupled to the grid of either a 211 or 845, 100-watt plate dissipation, triode output tube. The method of coupling at this stage is called an interstage transformer. This is an air-gap design with a flat frequency response from 30Hz to 23 KHz.The audio signal from the 300B interstage transformer will drive the 211/845 output tube to 27 watts Class A output. With additional volume levels, the amplifier goes into a positive grid mode with a power output of 50 watts Class A2. In the case of the 211-output tube, the Class A2 power is on the order of 70 watts at clipping. The high-power output from the 211/845 tube is coupled to the loudspeaker via an air-gapped 150 watt continuous duty output transformer. This transforms the high impedance (8000 ohm primary winding) of the output tube to 4,8, or 16 ohms to drive the loudspeaker.

Cary Audio has almost always offered stereo tube power amplifiers, and the CAD-120S MkII is the latest in this long line of award-winning, top-rated amplifiers. The new MkII version of our most popular power amplifier features a boosted sensitivity and reduced level of global feedback, allowing it to be used with a wider variety of other preamplifiers to produce a larger soundstage with more apparent musical detail.Fully differentially-balanced, like most Cary Audio products, the CAD-120S MkII offers both RCA single-ended and XLR balanced inputs to match any associated equipment. Front panel meters continually monitor the bias current to the tubes, helping you easily keep the amplifier operating at its peak efficiency.A huge power supply provides plenty of current storage to handle peak demands of your music. It can be switched on the fly from triode mode (Class A) at 60 watts per channel, to ultralinear mode (Class AB) at 120 watts per channel. This lets you enjoy the greatest possible minute details of your more delicate music, or ask for much more power when you want to turn it up a few notches. The CAD-120S MkII can make almost any system sound its very best in your home.

The introduction of the SA-500.1 ES solid-state power amplifier represents the next generation of the SA-500.1 design. It embodies a modular approach that ensures consistency in performance, and ease of manufacture and serviceability. In implementing the new design, we have dramatically improved performance and current-handling capacity over the previous model while still maintaining the highest levels of sonic quality.The SA-500.1 ES is a 500 watt monoblock amplifier into 8 ohms, (1000 watts into 4 ohms), with balanced and single ended inputs. The amplifier exhibits very high current capability, is stable into low impedance loads, and features 3 dB of dynamic headroom.When we designed the SA-500.1 ES power amplifier, one of our primary goals was to create a product that would give years of consistent and reliable use without any maintenance. To achieve that goal we took a hard look at the design and choice of components. For example, we use high-precision metal film resistors in almost all our circuitry, even in places where their use is not required. We have overbuilt the output stage and increased the heat dissipating capabilities of the amplifier by as much as 50% over previous designs. The changes encompass almost every part of the design, down to the choice of thickness of the chassis sheet metal. The monolithic front end brought major advantages to the amplifier design with improved temperature stability, low offset, and a substantial reduction of all types of distortion across the full frequency spectrum.

The introduction of the SA-200.2 ES solid-state power amplifier represents the next generation of the SA-200.2 design. It embodies a modular approach that ensures consistency in performance, and ease of manufacture and serviceability. In implementing the new design, we have dramatically improved performance and current-handling capacity over the previous model while still maintaining the highest levels of sonic quality.The SA-200.2 ES is a 200 watt stereo amplifier into 8 ohms, (350 watts into 4 ohms), with balanced and single ended inputs. The amplifier exhibits very high current capability, is stable into low impedance loads, and features 3 dB of dynamic headroom.When we designed the SA-200.2 ES power amplifier, one of our primary goals was to create a product that would give years of consistent and reliable use without any maintenance. To achieve that goal, we took a hard look at the design and choice of components. For example, we use high-precision metal film resistors in almost all our circuitry, even in places where their use is not required. We have overbuilt the output stage and increased the heat dissipating capabilities of the amplifier by as much as 50% over previous designs. The changes encompass almost every part of the design, down to the choice of thickness of the chassis sheet metal. The monolithic front end brought major advantages to the amplifier design with improved temperature stability, low offset, and a substantial reduction of all types of distortion across the full frequency spectrum.