Do all Cary amps have a 'Cary' sound ?

IMHO and short experience Cary amps have a certain "house" sound on the warm and pleasure side.
Of course there is variation between a 300B SET and a V12 push pull, they are different ways to work, but always keeping the warmth.

If you compare to QuickSilver or AudioResearch you'll understand that Cary's just a waste of money...
Only good for chamber music and nothing else.

"QuickSilver or AudioResearch" ? Cary pretty much kicks both their asses. AR - great for tube destruction, if you have too many tubes on your hands. As ugly as the worst solid-state gear. Quicksilver - their 8417 and some of the silver 60, silver 90 stuff might be ok. But overall, mostly all Fugly gear, and ho-hum sonically, from my experience. Cary CAD300sei or 805 will trounce both those brands.

-Ed

they make everything from flea-sized single ended to megawatt push-pull, so you should narrow your focus a little... Most if not all of the higher-powered amps can be converted to triode (at the cost of about half of the power...) so there's another important difference in sound 'signature'. Make sure, if you're buying used, to check with Cary to see what upgrades have been offered since the amp's inception and which, if any, have been done on the unit. Those can make a huge difference! And finally, amp-speaker interaction is always critical, so factor that in.

Thanks for the replies so far. I expected a range of opinions, but wasn't trying to start an argument.

Good points Musicslug, I'll definetly consider the upgrades on used gear.

I purchased a Cary V12R about three months ago--it replaced a Music Reference RM 200, which replaced a BAT VK75SE, which replaced a pair of BAT VK 60 mono amps! I find the Cary to throw a huge soundstage and has great detail. Music feels alive and very emotionial. I must say that of all the amps have have had in my system, which consists of a BAT VK50SE, Electrocompaniet CDP, Verity Audio Fidelio's and all Siltech IC's Elrod PC's, I like it the most. It is not the most expensive of the bunch, but after spending some time with it I am very, very pleased with the sound that I am hearing. I listen mostly to jazz and classical, but every now and then I throw some rock into the mix. As far as some of the negative posts go--those folks may want to take a closer look at the rest of there system!!

Also consider, any tube amp that uses little or no negative feedback - and Dennis Had doesn't believe in it - will take on the caractor of the tubes used in it. Feedback will help force an amp to be more linear; a non-feedback design relies on the linearity of the tubes it is using. Example: with the right NOS tubes my SLI-80 went from being a nice little integrated to a sublime little integrated. The wrong choice in rectifier tubes gave it a piercing, hurt your ears quality. The right ones put me in audiophile nirvana.

John
I also have a Sli 80 and love it. I have ran a ton of different NOS tubes through it and was wondering which rectifiers you are refering to?
Thanks
Sheldon

If the Cary is that big an improvement over the Music Reference RM200 that's saying a lot!

Sheldon60 - RCA 5U4GBs were the offending tubes. Mullard 5AS4s set things right.