Cary Audio SA 200.2 SE power amp (latest version)

@yowser 

Just want to recap and follow up with you regarding my Cary SA 200.2 ES power amp. I sent it in for repair to Cary Audio in early Dec and just got it back over a week ago. They replaced the transformer and the input board and it kinda solved the humming/buzzing issue in the right channel but not completely and Cary also claimed that the buzz is still present but very faint and we literally have to put our ear right up to the speaker to hear it and didn’t get louder when the amp was left turned on for a day or so with no music playing. that’s what they said.
 

And when I received the amp back over a week ago the buzz/hum is faint and I literally have to put my ear really close to the speaker in order to notice it. I left the amp on with music playing for some 9 to 10 hours continuously and after 9 hours or so I think the buzz/hum in the right channel (right speaker) became somewhat louder and was slightly audible from my listening position which is about 8 feet away from the speaker but my listening room was very very small and very quiet at the time (it was around 1 am at night), but it isn’t as loud as what it used to be before I sent it in for repair, nothing like what it used to be at all. It’s much better now but doesn’t completely go away.
 

And at least now seems like the occasional dropouts in the left channel has been resolved and I haven’t experienced a single dropout in the left channel anymore since after the repair. 
 

Yowser, try leaving your Cary SA 200.2 ES amp on with music playing for 9 hours straight and see if the humming or buzzing would get noticeably louder. 
Thank you.

I'm using very well shielded interconnects and speaker cables and power cables. My speaker cables and interconnects are Cardas Clear Reflection and as all my power cables are Shunyata Research Delta NR. 

@decooney 

The slight fain hum is there when all my equipments are turned on. Haven’t tried with everything else turned off but the power amp. But the faint buzz is only audible when I put my ear right up to the speaker and isn’t audible from say 2 feet away. But the other night after the amp was turned on for some 9 to 10 hours straight with playing music most of the time, and after 9 or 10 hours I noticed the buzz became a bit louder.

@yowser

I received the Cary SA 200.2 ES amp couple days ago. I noticed there’s a slight faint buzzing/humming sound coming from the right speaker (right channel) only when I put my ears really really close to the right speaker but not audible at all from a listening position. The left speaker (left channel) is dead quiet. But as the amp warms up after the amp was put to use for several hours of playing music non-stop the buzzing from the right speaker became louder and became really loud and was distracting from listening to music. So I turned the amp off for couple minutes and turned it back on and the buzzing became somewhat faint again, but an hour or two later it became really loud again. Again it’s only on the right channel (right speaker).
Mine is the SA 200.2 ES (newer version), not the original SA 200.2 one.

The amp is plugged into my Shunyata Research PS 8 AC power line distributor with the Venom Defender plugged into the PS 8. Did you have your SA 200.2 ES plugged directly into the wall? I’ve been working with Cary and they told me to plug the amp directly into the wall and see if the buzzing goes away. I will have to do that later and see what happens. For few years I’ve had my Classe Sigma amp plugged into my Shunyata Research PS 8 power line distributor with the Venom Defender and never had buzzing/humming sound from a speaker.

I gave the serial # of the amp to Cary and they told me that my amp was manufactured in 2018. FYI, I bought it used here on Audiogon. So I don’t think it’s dried caps since the amp is only less than 3 years old. But otherwise the amp sounds great very musical and better than my Classe Sigma Amp2 class D amp.

What do you guys think? Thanks in advance.

@yowser

Did the buzzing eventually become louder with yours? Try running your amp for several hours like some 6 or 7 hours of playing music non-stop and see if the buzzing gets louder and becomes really loud to the point where it’s audible from a listening position (8 to 10 feet away from speaker) and was distracting from listening to music. That’s what happened to mine couple days ago but only on the right speaker (right channel). The left speaker remains dead quiet. It’s bizarre. It started out as faint buzzing on the right speaker (very faint) almost inaudible unless if I put my ears right up against the speaker. I literally had to get super close to the speaker (right speaker) in order to hear the buzzing.
I’m going to send it in to Cary Audio so that they can take a look at the issue and will hopefully address it.

I never had buzzing issue with my Classe Sigma class D amp. I’ve had this amp for almost 5 years now and not a single issue. I’m keeping this amp just in case if the Cary SA 200,2 ES amp keeps getting me buzzing issue.
But I like the SA 200.2 ES better, more musical than my Classe Sigma class D amp. I would love to upgrade to the new Classe Delta Stereo power amp (class A/AB amp) but it is $14k to $15k. it’s way out of my price range and will be overkill for my speakers. I’ve heard the Classe Delta Mono monoblock amps (class A/AB amp) before and they are stunning but cost $25k/pair.

@avanti1960 

I always use XLR balanced analog interconnects throughout.

@yowser 

was the buzzing/humming in both channels (both speakers) or just one channel? 

@yowser

If the buzzing/humming are in both speakers then you might have a ground loop issues. In my case it’s only in one channel (right speaker) and that says something. I will experiment more by disconnecting the XLR interconnects from my Classe preamp to the Cary power amp and see if the buzzing/humming goes away. If it goes away it means that it isn’t the power amp, it’s somewhere up the chain. But I never had any buzzing/humming issue with my Classe Sigma Amp2 class D power amp. Or perhaps class D amp isn’t as sensitive to noise as class AB amp? Who knows?

@yowser  

While the left channel is quiet but it has its own different issues. On occasion the sound in the left channel is cutting out and at times the output in the left channel is significantly lower than the right channel. It only happens every once in a while and randomly. 

This amp needs to be repaired and serviced. I have shipped it out to Cary Audio for repair / service. 

@mitch2  

I did. It is the power amp.

@decooney

It isn’t a transformer hum. There’s a slight faint buzzing coming from right speaker and only audible when I put my ears really close to the speaker but would progressively become louder after several hours of use and became really loud and audible from listening position like 8 to 10 feet away from the right speaker. And when I hooked my Classe Sigma class D power amp back and the buzzing went away completely. So gotta be the Cary SA 200.2 ES power amp, not my preamp, not my speaker and not my CD/SACD player.

While the left speaker is dead quiet but it has a completely different issues of its own. Occasionally the sound in the left speaker was cutting out or sometimes in and out and all of the sudden the sound would disappear completely from the left speaker. It happened randomly and intermittently and only happened every once in a while. Doesn’t always happen. Very bizarre.

I recently purchased this amp used here on Audiogon. When I gave the serial # to Cary Audio they told me this amp was manufactured in late 2018 so only couple years old. This is the newest latest SA 200.2 ES version, not the original SA 200.2 version. And this amp weighs in at 65 lbs, not 87 lbs.

@garyalex 

Yours is different. Yours is the original version of the SA 200.2, mine is the newer current SA 200.2 ES model. I sent it back to Cary and it’s quiet there when they put the amp in their listening room, so they couldn’t figure out what went wrong and so there’s nothing to be fixed and repaired. So they sent me a brand new SA 200.2 ES and they took my other amp in on a trade and they made me pay $1500 plus shipping towards a brand new amp. 
 

I have received the brand new amp 3 weeks ago and so far it’s been working flawlessly, no loud buzzing. It’s quiet. Wierd huh? 

@decooney 

Yes, my new amp is plugged into the same plug.