Cary CAD-211AE tube rolling

Hi No Regrets - certainly.

The 211AE comprehensively beats the 805 when it comes to bass, macrodynamics (though not microdynamics), and versatility. Beyond that, it is much of a muchness. The 211AE's bass is more plentiful, and it is much better controlled. Because there is more power on tap, you can use it with more types of speakers. With my speakers, the 805AE always seemed to run out of juice, and it would sound compressed whenever the orchestra reached a fortissimo. The 211AE is a much more impressive sounding amp.

In the midrange and top end, you can take your pick. The 211AE sounds richer and fuller, but the 805AE sounds more transparent, ethereal, nimble, and light. The 805AE also has a beauty of tone that absolutely kills the 211AE in the midrange. Not to say the 211AE is bad, but the 805AE is better. Microdynamic shading is better on the 805AE (provided it is not being run too hard).

With the 211AE, tube matching is critical. If you use a pair of mismatched tubes, you will run into all sorts of weird problems. The soundstage will never sound centered - adjust it to center with a mono disc, and it will pull to the left or right with the next disc. Carefully matching tubes is essential.

Both are fine amplifiers, but for me the 211AE won out because I can listen to more types of music with it. The 805AE is a small ensemble / vocal specialist - if your music is of this type only, the 805AE will slaughter the 211AE. But with anything bigger, the 211AE has it all over the 805.

Thank you for the excellent reply. Your comparison between the two amps was very helpful!

You are welcome, No_regrets :)

For everyone else - I am curious what 300B's you are using in your 211AE's or 805AE's. Surely the sample on A'gon can't be that small. What 300B are you using, and how does it compare to the standard Cary 300B's?

I know this is an older post but I was also hoping for some experience or suggestion on the 300 B for the Cary 211 FE

Hello :-)

I have a pair of Cary CAD 211 AE, which have been fully modified inside, believe me the result is simply incredible, beyong what I imagined !
There were obviously some limitations coming from the caps and power supply. Fortunately the transfos are quite very good so it allows some tweaks without reaching the red line.
I also removed the cat's eyes which draw 1,5A from the power supply, for nothing than just a green light, and put a nice big blue led instead (1500 mcd - 16mm diameter).

The tubes I selected are :

Shuguand 845B
EML 300B (XLS for me but normal version is perfect)
NOS RCA Red base (6SL7)
NOS Siemens EL34 (6CA7)

Biggest improvement on voices comes from both 6CA7 and 6SL7, I have been totally astonished when I change the original EH EL34 with Siemens.
I've made a mistake when ordering the 300B's, I took the XLS instead of the normal ones, XLS can support up to 500-550V when the available tension in the Carys is around 370V, so the XLS are not working at their best, but anyway they work fine.

I did not imagine that a simple current source tube (EL34) could provide a so big analogic effect.