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Suitable affordable speakers for Cary Cad 805AE

Hi Dear Fellows!!I bought a pair of second hand Cary Cad 805 AE monoblocks amplifiers.I consider myself lucky because this is not the sort of stuff you usually get for cheap money.The issue is that as I have not enought money to buy the wonderfull Tannoy westminster Royale or at least a Prestige series, I came accros to a pair of Thiel cs 1.5 speakers, and knowing that they had wonderful reviews and were affordable, I bought them.They sound very controlled, wright in timber and soundstage.Everything ok till here.The issue that bothers me a lot is that , as they are 4ohms, 3nominal, and 86db; after hearing a 5 or 6 hours in a weekend the power and output transformers of the cary amps get really hot.I'm very worried if these low sensivity and low impedance speakers could damage my power amps.Cary cad have the 4ohms binding posts, but I red that speakers of 8ohms and 90db sensivity will make the job easier for cary cad amps.
Has anyone used theese amps with thiels or other speakers of 4ohms?
Should I changed my speakers for the health of my amps?
If so,  could you recommend me a suitable speaker in the range of 2k-3k dollars to match theese marvellous amps?

Any experiences and suggestions will be highly appreciated!!!

Many thanks in advance!!

Cheers!

Raf
rafael0054
glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,690 posts
 

I love those amps great buy, that said I don’t think they are ideal for your speakers. They are also class A 50w amps so they will run hot regardless so I’m not to concerned about that, but hopefully someone that knows these amps better then me can chime in (I’ve owned Cary gear in the past (SLM 100 mono’s SLP 94) and had very good results. As you also know they do play and probably fairly good but i’m thinking the speakers would probably sound better with a more powerful amp. I’d continue using them for now if funds are short at the moment. when you have funds saved up then look for a speakers that are 90db or higher, there are many out there. AudioNote, LivingVoice, Ohm, Zu Audio(maybe a good look for cost to performance), Teckton (spelling), and the list goes on. don’t rule out older speakers either may get a great buy.


good luck and enjoy

roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Letting your Cary SET amps transformers get hot will damage them eventually! Warm is acceptable - NOT HOT! Too much current going through that iron! Find a tech that can check the operating condition of the amps (leaky coupling caps ...). And the Thieles do suck up a lot of current - tube amps are current-limited! Lastly, a SET 211 or 845 can only put out less than 20 watts at 1% distortion!
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
I've heard those with the Vandersteen 1's and 2's (both well within your range) and they were rocked by your amp.  It's a really sweet amp and pairs nicely with Steen's.  You can find plenty of happy owners of both on AG I'm sure.  Very strong pairing with either.  
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