2. amps-preamps
  3. 1002390829

Cary in bed with Stereophile?????

Lets get some comments on the true impartiality of hi fi mags in general, and the reality of high end audio. I recently auditioned the Cary integrated 300SEI, 12 W/channel. I have a Naim CD5 and Audio Physic Virgos. Certainly there was the tube "bloom", with some of the immediacy and palpability. But the bass tightness and articulation was not there. (My "reference" amp, an old 1970's Pioneer 50W/channel receiver, was clearly better in this respect) I comandeered my wife, who I would describe as a casual listener, to compare the Cary and the Pioneer. After playing two of her favorite songs on both amps, she said "this is a trick , you didnt change anything in the system". When I pressed her, and played another song, she said she could not hear any difference. The Pioneer is worth $50, the Cary $5000. Cary is rated highly by Stereophile, but they have two page ads spread all over the place ......
mythtrip
vayasteve
171 posts
 
I once had a CARY SL-70 amp and it went very well with a pair of B&W 802s on the top.Its very important to hear for yourself and find a dealer that you can become friends with so that in that moment when you want to test out one of their products,they will let you take it home to see and hear for yourself.I have a dealer that I patronize and I have the privledge to try something out before I buy it.This particular 12 WPC Cary amp only works well with a very efficient speaker,like over 95 Db,If youre using something like 90 Db the amp will sound like crap,plain and simple,beacause there is not enough power to drive that load.I really dont feel that Cary is in bed with Stereophile because then all the other advertisers are there with Stereophile too,So i feel that they have the loot to advertise,and MONEY talks and B.S.walks.
glreno
224 posts
 
I owned the Cary 300 SEI. I used it with the same speakers Stereophile used to audition this amp...the Infinity Preludes. I had the same opinion they did of it using those speakers. It was quite good. But those speakers have an amplified subwoofer built in, and were rated at 96db efficiency. After selling the Preludes, I never could find a decent match for the amp, but can tell you that the amp needs highly efficient speakers. I don't think the Virgos are efficient enough. The headphone amp in that integrated is also probably the best in the world, and I almost kept it just for that reason. If you really want to see what that amp can do, plug in a set of headphones. Low powered SETs are probably the most misunderstood creatures in high-end audio. Careful system matching is an absolute must to get great or even good results, and the most common mistake is overestimating the potency of 12 watts. Outrageous claims by manufacturers and dealers that sell these things and say they "will drive most dynamic speakers" don't help. I don't think Cary is one of those, however.
blues_man
133 posts
 
Whether the people at StereoShill are praising their heavy advertizers directly, I can't say for sure. But remember that they rely on the high-end industry being a healthy one. Therefore their advertizers have to do well or they go out of business.
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Let's put it this way: I have Totem Forest 87db/w speakers with medium efficiency. The minimum recommended amplifier power is 50W. Currently I use Bryston 3b-st but for auditoning I had a chance to plug in Unison Research Power 35 (35 W/ch)... Not only I havn't found lack of dynamics and base but the other way arround: details on mids and mid highs especially, the music did not go from speakers anymore but from the instruments. I do not think that Pioneer will be able to stand in comparison. Virgos have bigger efficiency (90dB) than my Totems but the bass driver is slower than midrange and tweeter. To make the bass driver "rock" along with others you will be better of with larger power amplifier(Rogue M120, VTLMB125...). Cary does make a sence starting from 805 and up.
More to discover