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Cary 805s or Atma Sphere M60s?

Currently have a pair of 805s with an SLP-05 preamp, and 91db Vienna Acoustic speakers with silk tweeters coupled with anti-cable autoformers (all SET amps should have these autoformers-do yourself a favor and try them out). Thinking about an OTL amp. Are they everything they're cracked up to be, or what about push-pull amps? I'm just like you guys I love tube sound, dynamics, soundstage, richness, air, and detail. Is one configuration outstanding above another? I want to hear your thoughts and experience.

Eric.
erfranke
weseixas
519 posts
 
Dennis Had ( Cary) 805's are fantastic amplifiers, highly recommended .

regards,
weseixas
519 posts
 
Pubul57, IMO the 805's does deliver such an presentation.

Regards,
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
That is a good thing:) Might be part of what is special about SETs as well.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
I agree with Xronx opinion regarding some OTL amps, They certainly do have their good points, but ultimately come off on the thin and lean side of reality. I listen to live un amplified jazz quite often, and in my experience a very good SET amp gets closer to the true natural sound of instruments and the human voice. There`s an undeniable fullness and organic bloom/warmth the live music presents that seems watered down, at least with some OTLs(the diet coke version).SETs preserve more of the fundamental tone as well as the beautiful overtones present with acoustic instruments, at least to me.

I have`nt heard the Tenor OTL, just the Atmasphere models. I understand in theory, removing the output transformer should be an advantage, however SETs with good transformers just sound more real.
Best Regards,
onemug
784 posts
 
Very happy with my 805 AE. Pretty versatile with it's power rating. Had it on my Maggie 3.6's last night.

Charles1dad, I know we share our love of 300b amps. I use them on my hi-eff system. The 805 was an experiment to see if I could get that SET magic with the Mags. Works for me. I thought Cary used the 300b tube as just a driver tube for the 845/211 output tube but found out the 805 is really a 300b "amp" driving the 845/211 tube thru an interstage transformer. That's probably why I like it so much. Kinda like a Cherry Coke? :-)
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