2. amps-preamps
  3. 989847141

Airtight ATM300 vs. Cary 300SEI

I'm going to mate a SE tube integrated with some vintage Spendor LS3/5A spkrs. Had decided on the 11W Cary 300SEI (with WE's; I'm not a KR fan), but then see Gindi's review of Airtight 8W ATM300 in Ultimate Audio mag raving about the Airtight with, would you believe, these same 15 yr old speakers. Being the societal pawn and audiophobic guy that I am, or seem to be at the moment (we never admit it until that moment) now I'm intrigued about that combo. Cary is plentiful on used market at about $2K and, given the $6300 retail and newness of Airtight piece, it would be a minimum of $3500, so there is a difference. Anyone think its worth it? For context, system will have some type of CD player (Sony, Metronome,etc.), Audio note(Kondo) interconnect, Mapleshade Planar spkr cables, Well Tempered TT w/Koetsu. Thanks for the feedback.
asa

Showing 3 responses by eggpowder

eggpowder
22 posts
 
auricap is available from

http://www.audience-av.com/passive.htm

and michael percy.
eggpowder
22 posts
 
Cary is really not in the same league as Airtight. That's why you see so many used Cary. Transformer is the heart of a SET amplifier. Both Sun Audio and Airtight use Tamura transformers. Sun uses the OEM and Airtight uses the regular version. Sun 300B SE amp uses 6SN7 driver which I think is a better driver for power amp. both units use tube rectifying. Sun has a choke in the power supply circuit. All their amplifier can be ordered as a kit. 3 models are available. SV300BE is the stereo SE version. For 20% more, you can have the SV300-BTE monoblock version which has independent power supply circuit and grounding for each channel. I have a PP monoblock and upgrade all the wiring to Cardas and the capcitors to MIT RTX polystyrene and the big electrolytic to Black Gate. It has beat every 300B that I have heard including the med price Audionote, Wavelengths,Cary, Audion and many others. You can order them direct from Sun Audio in assembled form or kit. The best price is from the Hong Kong distributor but you can check around for prices. If possible, order the unit without the tubes. You will want to have WE 300Bs, red base RCA 5692 for the 6SN7, RCA 5U4G and Tungsol or RCA 6V6. Ask about upgrading the electrolytics to Blackgate and the film capcitor to MIT RTX or better. I think the Hong Kong distributor is more flexible on these. But you can call around and see.

The english site for ordering direct and distributor list:

http://www2.big.or.jp/~sunaudio/index_e.html

The price in Japanese Yen

http://www2.big.or.jp/~sunaudio/sv.html

Good Luck
Terry
eggpowder
22 posts
 
I have compare OEM and regular tamura transformers. The regular seems to be bigger in size. Regarding the capacitor choice, it is partly a personal preference. I know I don't like MIT polypropene in this application. I am happy with MIT RTX but I will try Auricap if I am building another pair.
More to discover