805 SET Monoblocks

@decooney  , oops, I missed your post.

Yes, I remember comparing Cary V-12 (EL-34) biasing notes with you and also the subject of Cary customer service (or lack of).

As far as the 805s go, back in the mid '90s I worked with a guy who got interested in "better end" stuff about the same time as I started dipping my toes in it.  I turned him on to my dealer in Philly, and he basically jumped in with both feet, and the amps that he wound up buying were a pair of CAD 805s.  At the time they were going for 4k a piece.  I hate to say it, but I never went over to his place to listen to the system that the dealer sold him, but every time he told me about it (and he told me about it frequently) he said that was "you-are-there-magic."  Every so often I see a pair of 805s come up on Cary's preowned site for a few thousand dollars, and it always gets me to thinking. . . . 

I had a pair of MasterSound PSET 845 monoblocks which put out 120 wpc. Highly recommended.

Cary 805rs has been something I’ve wanted to try

Of course there’s also the Kondo Kagura

@paulfolbrecht 

Link Magnetic 805ia is a very well regarded 805 SET amplifier. 50 watts per channel pure class A (By default).

Charles

@immatthewj I had thought about a set of the 211FEs and spoke to a few people I know who own them and most end up who resale them is due to them being room heaters. I had that issues with my last two Cary amps, fwiw. I've been watching the retail price on both the 211FEs and the 805RS for the past 3-4 years fairly regularly.  Seems if old Billy wants to sell more of them, getting the price down and keeping it down will be key to their future imo.

I spoke with him three years ago about the idea of designing and building some smaller "Classic" monos like the older SLM 70 Monos and closer to my current Quicksilver Mono 120 amps I run now.  Thought was something with more available EL34 tubes, maybe a tad less heat, perhaps, or at least lower cost replacement tubes.  No dice.   He was barely even mildly interested and more involved in the new electronics gadgetry at the time. Imo if he wants to compete, and sell more of the 805RS, will have to drop retail prices even more, and with better Class-D coming along, I think this will continue to need to resurface, and as costly it is to build them, the market will drive the demand. Best of Luck to them in any case.   

. . . I won't try to post a link because A'gon always shoots me down whenever I try that, but I did just go to Cary Direct's site and they are listing the 805s for $12,700 now, and the 211FEs for $17,246. 

I am pretty sure that Cary still makes the CAD 805s?

And I know for a fact that I recently got an email from Cary Direct about the 211, which, if I remember correctly, is a real high powered pair of SET monoblocks.

If you go to Cary Directs web site, you can find out for sure if they are still building those.