Price Paid:  $8900.00 from Westchecter, NY

Summary:
Cary 805C's scared me when I first powered them up. The bass was so thin I thought that these amps were useless. I thought it impossible that bass could thicken up enough to be listenable given how lousy it was when brand new. I was wrong. After a bunch of hours, maybe 100 (factory bass ETA), the bass began to unfold into the warm, solid low end it's supposed to be. All in all, the amps are sweet, smooth and songlike, with vast, open soundstages, and curvasious depth of field. These amplifiers are meant to play music, not for headbanging though. If you "love the music", you will love Cary 805C's.

Strengths:
Power, strength, soundstage, depth, low end, and warmth that only a Single -ended triode can afford. Although they are only true SET's up through maybe 20 watts total, you'll never know when the change comes in. The extra power is worth the integration of technologies.

Weaknesses:
They weigh too much, bad for your back! Kidding around here, but they are weak if you want to listen to heavy crunch. These are NOT made for loud rock, in my opinion. They are meant to hear the music. They are musical microscopes.

Similar Products Used:
Cary SLP98 Preamp, Acarion Systems Lotus speakers.

Price Paid:  $4800.00 from Used

Summary:
These amps are amazing: rich and liquid midrange, excellent tonal satration, very natural and lifelike midrange. The palpability of female vocals has to be heard to be believed. These amps are tonally rich but never overly sweet. Actually the extension and detail in the treble is very very good. Very deep and wide, enveloping soundstage. The bass is pretty good too especially with Sylvania 6sl7's (much tighter than with the stock 6sl7's). These amps can drive my Watt/Puppies 6's with no sweat.

Strengths:
Palpability and naturalness and immediacy, great imaging, tons of detail.

Weaknesses:
Bass a little soft with certain speakers, but this can be eliminated by replacing the stock driver tubes and using the right power cords (Elrod EPS 3 work great for me).

Similar Products Used:
VAC 70/70, CJ Premier 12.

Price Paid:  $8500.00 from Hi End Store

Summary:
I''ve lived with the Cary 805-C amps going on four years now and have a very good understanding of there sound. This amp I know is still one of the greatest if not the greatest amps of all time period!! It has the most opened and fullest sound you can get. Its so transparent from top to bottom, and I do mean it breathes transparency like no other amp can. Its a great communicator of the music in which it plays and if you can''t hear it then I can assure you, you have problems further up the chain in your system. I will never sell mine because I know you can''t do any better than these. This amp will become a classic in time and will go down in history as one of the greatest musical amps there is!! Dennis Had is the "KING OF AUDIO" period..

Strengths:
Great SET Transparancy

Weaknesses:
Are you Kidding " NONE"

Similar Products Used:
I''ve tried them all and none come close to the Cary 805-C amps!!

Summary:
I have no idea what amps the person below used, but either he has some bad tubes, which is always possible, or the problem is in his other equipment, in my opinion. The 805C amps in my house neither lack bass nor have any grain in the high end, or any place else, and every professional review I have since read supports my findings. They sound beautiful with music, from symphony, to voice, to rock sounding as real as is possible. I know guitar and piano first hand. What I hear with the 805c is exactly that. The notes are perfect with very good imaging and liquidity that only a few other amps can match. They are never over detailed to the point of sounding unreal, but just to the point of saying , “I feel like I am in the fifth row center, ” and that is exactly right.

If you are looking for dynamics that aren't there in real life, they aren't here either. This is wonderful sound that is conservatively rated at 50 w / ch. Yes, maybe they are a little overdone in looks and bells and whistles, and maybe they are heavy, and maybe would sound even better if you used Western Electric or NOS tubes, but the music is what counts and it is there, as real as it could be, many times over. Pure and simple this is very definitely a monoblock amp worth auditioning if you have the space, money and love ... I mean really love music.

Kimber Kable throughout
BAT VK30se pre-amp
JMLab Mini Utopias
BAT VK-D5
VPI turntable
Rotel tuner

The overall rating has to be 5 stars. The value can not be marked down either. You get what you pay for, and maybe even more.

Strengths:
True musical sound that is accurate.

Weaknesses:
size and heat given off, but nothing in the way of sound

Similar Products Used:
Carry 300M, VTL, Classe, Krell, and a host of other tube and solidstate amps

Price Paid:  $5800.00 from EasyWin in Hong Kong

Summary:
I bought the brand new 805B in 1995 based on all the good comments heard, its look & the theory(some gimmick such as some beautiful terms like single-ended, interstage transfomer coupling, oil-filled caps, Class-A amp etc..)employed in this amp. I guess all other owners would at least have one of the above impressions when they decided to buy this amp.

The Cary 805 was originally designed for the use of 805 tube which could give you nearly 50 watts of undistrored power. When 211(805B) & 845(805C) were employed it can only produce approximately 30 watts of undistroed power under the measure of an osciliscope.

In fact, 30 watts for an amp can still perform very good through out the full frequency range(for example ARC classic 30). However the Cary 805 really lacks bass control and bass definition. I have heard some other SE amps that could produce reasonably good bass definition.

If you can get rid of all the non-related factors of sonic performance(such as 1.beautiful appearance 2.gimmick technical terms 3.good comments that somebody said). Trust yourself! Go to compare with the other tube amps side by side. There are many other tube amps in the market can perform similar in 805's mid and high but much much articulate on bass and overall dynamic with much less money.

Being an audiophile, we need to have sonic resolution in all the respects, not its look or gimmick terms.

For the parts used(not the sound) in Cary 805, I can still give 3 stars for its value rating. For sound vs. price, it only earns 2.

Without regards to price, it holds 3 stars.

Strengths:
Very attractive look, Wonderful, natural and 3 dimensional Midrange, pretty good and extended high

Weaknesses:
Very weak Bass control & definition, overall speed, a little grainy on high, very pricy !!

Similar Products Used:
Many - including 7 different brand of 300B & 845 amps, all model in ARC classic series, VTL, SF, Golden tube etc.