greystone

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2800.00 from Dealer

Summary:
I have to agree with the other reviewer on this amplifier I have the i model. It is clearly one of the best amps I have owned. It does so many things right and very little wrong. The amp does take at least 100 hours to break in but once it does its amazing. The SET sound with the power to drive anything. Flip the switch to Ultralinear and shake the dust out of the rafters. I have owned many many different amps and this is one of the keepers. They are going for a steal on the used market which is amazing for the amount of amplifier you get here.

Strengths:
Stunning sound and looks..

Weaknesses:
None other than it takes awhile to break in but so does just about everything

Similar Products Used:
Krell, BAT, VAC, Levinson, Mac, CJ you name it.

gverbosky

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $3000.00 from Upscale Audio

Summary:
I always find it somewhat disconcerting when I read reviews from folks that don't actually own the product but feel compelled to rate it low. I have owned many very expensive amplifiers and to this day still do and would never dream of rating a product based on an afternoon listening session in a showroom. This particular amp has become my favorite in a matter of weeks. Even before it was burned in the depth and detail it portrays was awe inspiring. The Cary build quality is second to none even compared to my WAVAC. I am not sure what was up with the amp the previous gentleman reviewed but something was obviously wrong. My WAVAC cost me 20k and this amp is right there with it. One thing over the years that I have found true is the Stereophile ratings. If a product is Class A you can pretty much figure that the sound is going to be right up there with the best. There may be exceptions but that is not the case with this amplifier. Highly recommend this amplifier it is a raving bargain and spectacular looking to go along with it.

Strengths:
Everything.. Amazing speed, depth and power. Grabs ahold of the speakers and drives them like a madman on crack

Weaknesses:
None.. The thing is big and heavy but awesome looking

Similar Products Used:
You name the top of the line amp and I have probably had it. Anything from Audio Research, CJ, SunAudio, Levinson, Krell, VAC, BAT to the mighty Zen. Can you tell I have a problem.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I spent an afternoon at a famous audio salon in NYC listening to a variety of amps last weekend. All amps played through Audio Physic 3-driver floorstanders (about $4K) and digital source was always an Arcam CD 73. I had never heard any Cary amps but from what I had read, I liked their design philosophy and was predisposed to like the V-12. Heck, I went to college in North Carolina and have a soft spot in my heart for gear manufactured in that sweet state. Surprisingly, I really didn't like the amp at all-- I used VTL 5.5, assorted BAT tube preamps and a high end tube CJ preamp as front ends, and none of them sounded any good with the V-12. I also tried a VAC Avatar through the same setup. Stevie Wonder's Talking Book CD was my listening material. Through the V-12, high end was virtually nonexistent, the soundstage was closed in.... I was incredibly surprised and couldn't wait to turn the thing off. For comparison, I listened to the same material through the same pre-amps using Rogue Monoblocks, BAT tube amps and a BAT VK-200-- those amps absolutely destroyed the Cary in terms of detail (but none were harsh at all), soundstage depth and a sense of musical "rightness" that made me want to listen more. In another room, I listened to the same material on the same Arcam through a VTL IT-85 integrated into JM lab mini utopias, and even that $2750 integrated killed the Cary. I hesitate to write a bad review for an amp I haven't lived with, but my reaction was so strong and immediate, and many audioreview readers don't live in an area where they have access to high-end gear and they rely on magazines and the web for information. Given that Stereophile rates the V-12 as Class A, I thought it was important to share what I heard in a controlled environment where I had a bunch of high-end gear that could be a/b-ed against each other where it only took seconds to switch amps.

Strengths:
Weaknesses overwhelmingly outweighed strengths, but it sure does look great.

Weaknesses:
No high end compared to less expensive tube and solid state amps, sounded broken, even though the shop had just received the amp back from Cary when they didn't like the way it sounded.

Similar Products Used:
Rogue 120 monoblocks, BAT tube amp, BAT VK-200, VAC Avatar,

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Audible Arts, San Jo

Summary:
I brought this amp home for the weekend, through the kindness of Jeff at Audible Arts in San Jose, in the attempt to find the perfect (hah!) amp for the Newform Ribbons speakers. Comparison amp is the Spectron Musician II. Front end Levinson 390s and Spectral pre amp. This is a gorgeous $4,000 amp, done up in "Jaguar Red" (Looks more like blood red; maybe the name refers to the Jaguar's prey.) It has 6 EL34 output tubes on each side of the transformers,which reside in the center of the amplifier. Inputs are XLR and RCA. The amp seemed to like the XLR the best so all consequent listening was done in that mode. Power rating is 100 watts pc Ultra-linear class A/B and 50 watts pc Triode class A. The Cary took about two hours to come up to speed (the amp had been off quite a while) and to find the best power cord etc. Now on to the sound. In a word, gorgeous. Midrange was sweet and utterly grain-free. Highs were detailed and spacious. Cymbals sounded like real metal being hit with real wood sticks and presented a great accustic decay. Patricia Barbers Voice just wrapped around me. Everything was just a tad more seductive in triode mode, so for most testing thats where it stayed. The amp had plenty of power there, though not the best of deep bass control. Switched to ultra-linear it was capable of some darned good bass. In both modes, the bass sounded very organic and musical with plenty of mid-bass heft and weight. Ultra-linear just gave some more deep-bass control, though not enough for electronic rock. Cary's have been accused of being overly sweet. I did not find the amp to be so; in fact I could make its balance change at will with different interconnects, and even more so, power cords. I could make it sound like it preferred to do highs (with the JPS power cord), or I could make it lushly sweet (the Spectrons power cord). All in the cable mix,and the choice of speaker terminals, the amp just tells it like it is. Final choice in interconnects were the Empirical audio silver XLR cables. Compared to the Spectron the mid-bass was more prominant (read:satisfying) with the Cary. Deep-bass of course was the Spectrons home and the Cary could not get near its performance here. But most accustic music just doesn't go there and the Cary's bass was so musical and organic. In the low-midrange the Cary also held the advantage with a sensuous warmth and dimensionality that the Spectron could just not equal. From the upper mids on up the Spectron came into its own,its ultra-clean dynamics and depth surpassing the Cary handily here. (As it does most everything else in this frequency range. If it had the proper mid-bass I would be happy.) An interesting thing was noticed as regards the subwoofer. With the Cary, the sub could not track the main woofer's movements as well as it could with the Spectron, with a loss of bass-coherence resulting. The subs frequency control had to be turned all the way down to avoid smearing the bass. This effect was above and beyond any level adjustment. I lay this down to phase shift and a bit of flopping with the woofers on the Cary. This amp should live a long time; the quality is evident all through the amp. The extra pair of EL34's on each channel give the tubes plenty of headroom in ultra-linear and they are still not working too hard in triode. (Most 100watt EL34 based amps only use 4 tubes per channel, pushing the tube pretty hard.) I consider the Cary a late-evening amp for romantic music of all kinds. I am loathe to part with this amp, the sonic beauty of it with the Ribbons was so seductive that I am (almost) willing to overlook the lack of power and low frequency control and extention. (I sometimes just play damned loud in the day time.) I need more power Scotty! If your music of choice is Jazz, Blues, and Classical this is your amp daddy! Not recommended for those that like heavy electronic rock or Blue Man Group at full volume.

Strengths:
Wonderfull midrange in either Ultra-linear or Triode. Just mo'better in Triode. Excellent highs for a tranformer coupled tube amp. Musically coherent. Great dimensionality in mids. Gorgeous to gaze upon. (Best with lights out.)

Weaknesses:
Deep bass has poor control. Very hot (duh, it's a tube amp). Heavy (again, duh). Exposed tubes (not for families with rug chewers either four-legged or two-legged).

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Owned for ~6 months. Beautiful looking amp. Used with Proac and Martin Logan speakers. The triode mode is the best for my taste. Surprisingly good bass, mids full without being too colored, highs not bad (a little rolled off compared to my CJ amp). This amp though is too slow and lacks a certain rhythm & pace. It always seems to lag the music. Ended up dumping it.

Strengths:
Build Quality, looks, flexible features

Weaknesses:
slow, lacks rhythm & pace

Similar Products Used:
Conrad Johnson Premier 11a, Cary CAD300SE, Sonic Frontiers Power One, Fourier Components Triomphe, Threshold T200, Ayre V3