Cary 805 AE Feedback Request

I own these amps. Due to a change in speakers, I haven't run them for some time. But, IIRC, the character of the sound MIGHT change a (little) bit over the first 20 minutes or so, but nothing really dramatic. You can listen happily after 2 minutes.

As to reliability. Only one isssue. Cary loves those elegant thin toggle switches and uses them for the Bal/SE choice on the rear of the (very heavy) chassis. There is a natural tendency to lift the amp from the front, but doing so can (and, in my case, did) snap off one of these switches. Other than that - dead reliable.

I've also owned Cary 300B monos for about a decade and never had a problem there, either. Or with my Cary 303 CD player, for that matter. Generally reliable and well made stuff - IME.

Good Luck

Marty

Rchan,

Just revisited the thread and saw you posed a question (I think) to me. Sorry for the delay in responding, but it's tough to answer. The 300Bs and 805s typically saw duty with different speakers, so there was little head to head. The best combo I ever acheived with either of the Cary amps was 300B w/Merlin VSM SE. Acoording to Bobby P., this early iteration of the VSM was paricularly SET friendly.

The 805s were usually paired w/Verity Parsifal Encores. A very nice combo with different strengths/weaknesses than the 300B/VSM. My guess is that the gist of your question produces the following speculation:

No. I think you'd say the 805 never produced the "SET" effect with any speaker the way the 300B did w/the Merlins.

Marty