Cary Audio SA-500.1 ES Black

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.