Cary 805 AE-do they go low?

I can't find damping factor info about the Cary.

Damping factor at 8ohms is a product of output impedance.

In table one the output impedance at 20hz is at best .51ohm  from the 4ohm tap which equates to a damping factor of 15.6 which is not great.
But you can see in the frequency response graphs that anything below 100hz and it's a tone control rolling off severely, and also above 10khz peaking badly, showing either poor transformer design and stability problems.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/cary-audio-design-cad-805-monoblock-power-amplifier-measurements

Cheers George
 

but do need the frequency range at the bottom to not be rolled off.

Frequency range down low and control at those frequencies are two different things that an amp has to have. Just because an amp goes low, doesn’t mean it has control.

Control in the low bass with speakers that have low impedance and high negative phase angles at those frequencies, means an amp that not only goes low in frequency, but one that has to have good wattage, high current ability, and low output impedance/high damping factor, as to keep the bass drivers cone under control.
Some Class-D’s excel in this department, but to me that’s where it stops with them, for now. Maybe in the future when technology catches up and the switching frequency triples, they will be as good if not better in the other areas as well.

Cheers George

They have a questionable "magic" to the mid-range, but I believe that’s highlighted at an expense of the bass which is a little bloated and which adds body to the lower mids. And the highs are not as immediate because of the diminished extension and harmonics which gives a perceived smoother upper mid especially on some not so well recorded female vocals.

What I can say with all the tubes I’ve had Se or PP, I eventually try to improve them with circuit changes/mods, and the better I made them with these changes the closer they got to really good linear solid state amps with plenty of Class-A bias.

My hypothetical tube amp that would maybe blow my socks off would be an OTL that can give the current of a Krell ect, and drive any load down to 2ohms staying flat without becoming a tone control..

Cheers George

It all comes down to the output transformer quality, and how the 805 is driven, best is with an inter-stage transformer.

I had some real 805 SET 40kg monoblocks (with variable feedback), not 845 called 805's. I built these up with 13D3 input, 12bh7 pre driver, 300b driver into inter-stage transformer which drove the 805 (900v anodes!!), The output transformer was the highest quality I could get wound (by an output transformer god).
Bass was OK? with the highest 30db of feedback.
A good solid state is more dynamic and blows it away in the bass.
And a good solid state Class-A equals it in the mids and is more extended in the highs.

Cheers George