Though the CAD-572SE's class-A, single-ended-triode (SET) design produced only 20Wpc into 8 ohms—probably not enough wallop…
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My entrée to high-end audio was in the late 1990s, when I bought a used pair of Cary Audio CAD-572SE tubed monoblock amplifiers to add to my Marantz CD player, Audio Note M2 preamplifier, and ProAc Response One SC loudspeakers. This system reproduced recordings with a sound that made me happier than a country boy with a glass of milk and a helping of peach cobbler. (I was reared, as my grandmother would say, though not born, in North Carolina, where Cary is based.)
Another excellent 45rpm reissue purchased from Revilla: a remastering of Miles Davis's Sorcerer (2 LPs, Columbia/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab 2-435). Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in 1967, Sorcerer, like all of Davis's original Columbia recordings with his second great quintet—Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams—can sound small, foggy, and lacking resolution and clarity. The MoFi changes all that, and again, the Music Hall–Heed–Cary–Elac system provided thrills and chills. Re-creating the beautiful depth of the 30th Street Studio, every scintilla of note action…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, class-A/B integrated amplifier with internal DAC, Bluetooth receiver, and remote control. Analog inputs: 2 balanced (XLR), 2 unbalanced (RCA). Preamplifier outputs: 1 balanced (XLR), 1 unbalanced (RCA). Protections: full short circuit, thermal, ultrasonic, RF signal muting & current limiter. Communication: Ethernet RJ45 full remote configuration interface, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n. Digital outputs: coaxial, TosLink (16–24 bits, 44.1–192kHz). Digital input sample rates: USB (44.1–384kHz, 16–32 bits, DSD64/128/256). Digital sampling rates:…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi tonearm, Music Hall MMF-7.3 turntable; Denon DL-103, Goldring Elite MC, Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridges.
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook computer running Audirvana Plus; Halide DAC HD, PS Audio NuWave DACs; Western Digital T2 Mirror Drives (2).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Heed Audio Quasar phono stage, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Integrated Amplifier: Heed Audio Elixir.
Loudspeakers: DeVore…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on the Cary SI-300.2d using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Usually, I precondition an amplifier by running it with both channels driven at one-third power into 8 ohms for 60 minutes. After just 20 minutes, however, the temperature of the Cary's internal heatsink, which can be touched, was 192.8°F (89.3°C); that of the top panel, just behind the faceplate, was 120.6°F (49.3°C). After another 20 minutes, the SI-300.2d turned off its outputs, and "PROTECT" appeared on its display. I let…
"Our production line was stepping on its own toes," said Boulder Amplifiers' Rich Maez, Director of Sales and Marketing, as he welcomed me into the company's new, massive 23,000 sq. ft. manufacturing and testing plant in Louisville, CO. The move to a huge, brand-new building on 3 acres of land outside Boulder, in an area devoted to light industry, was greeted with sighs of relief by a team that had formerly found itself squeezed into an increasingly over-packed 10,000 sq. ft. facility.
The company was lucky to find the land when it did. It seems that there is almost no warehousing space…
Last week, Paul Messenger and I represented Stereophile at a Marantz press conference announcing the New Reference Series: the SA-10 SACD player/DAC and the PM-10 amplifier. The conference was held at D+M's European Headquarters located in Eindhoven, The Netherlands (footnote 1). Josh Bizar of Music Direct, Andy Quint of The Absolute Sound, and I were the only Americans present at this session. (And naturally, the most severely jetlagged.) We were joined by nearly two-dozen international audio journalists from a handful of countries.
The day-long conference began with heaps of coffee and…
Photo: Jim Austin
Although I've never tried one, I think "lifestyle" audio systems are a bit of a joke. My in-laws' decade-old Bose Wave Radio sounds good for what it is, although its obvious flaws—boomy, undefined lower mids masquerading as bass, a frustrating lack of sonic and musical resolution, etc.—become grating fairly quickly. These days, there are far more accomplished and expensive lifestyle systems out there, but because I haven't tried them I won't comment on them, except to say that I'm not really interested.
Yet my aversion to lifestyle systems masks a serious…
Thursday December 8, 2016, 5pm–8:30pm, Hi Fi Sales (1732 Route 70 East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003) invites Philadelphia-area audiophiles to meet Gary Dayton from Bryston, who will be demonstrating a wide variety of Bryston equipment, including the BDA-3 D/A converter (above) that got a rave review from Larry Greenhill in the December issue of Stereophile.
Saturday, December 10, from 12pm–6pm, and Sunday, December 11, from 1pm–4:pm, Gary Dayton from Bryston will be appearing at a two-day open house presented by Wolfsong Audio (220 Indian Cove Drive, Dawsonville, GA 30534). Wolfsong Audio will…
Now there's a Magneplanar speaker to fill the price gap between the $2000 MGIIIa and the $1225 MGIIc. The '2.5/R is priced almost exactly midway between them, which explains the unusual model number.
Like all the other single-panel Magneplanars, these are attractive enough in appearance to be surprisingly unobtrusive in the room, despite their imposing 6' height. Apart from the wooden endcheeks, they are covered with fabric grille all the way around, which could be a cosmetic liability as well as an asset: Domestic cats love to climb up fabric stretched tightly over wood (as at the bases…