Charles1dad, I will reiterate what a Cary "insider" told me. Cary had taken the 805C as far as they could, but the marketing department wanted an "Anniversary" edition of their fabled 805. Cary did not want to change the 300B driver nor the 845 tube as they found the 300b to be the perfect driver for the 845. Cary decided to change the 6SL7 for dual 6SN7 and added a switch to increase filament voltage for use of a 211 tube. Some will argue that the AE sounds better than the 805C and vice verse, but both are definitely within the same family of sound, which is excellent. Marketing departments within audio companies seldom loose arguments.