Cary Audio Cinema 1 Monoblock Power Amplifiers (pair)(CAD 500MB)

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Item for sale is a pretty immaculate . This is a gorgeous world class power amp that will lift your system to a new level. Works perfectly, sounds amazing.  Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks

Jared's notes: These are the same amp as the CAD 500MB just with "Cinema" silkscreen to match the other Cinema

amps of the time. CES Show Samples that were never plugged in.

Amazing and powerful solid-state monoblock power amps pump out a staggering 500 watts each into 8 Ohms!

Perfect for you rock-n-rollers out ther

WELCOME__________________________________________________________
Congratulations on your purchase of the Cary Cinema 1 power amplifier. The Cinema 1 is the Cary Cinema product lines' equivalent to the CAD 500 MB’s from our Cary Classic product line. We would like to share the background story of how these powerful solid state amplifiers became a part of Cary Audio Design.
Greetings to all of you! I would like to tell you the story on how the mono bloc solid state power amplifiers called the 500 MB came about. The 500 MB’s are a pair of discrete, true balanced 500 watt amplifiers. In fact, these music powerhouses will yield 1,000 watts at a 4 ohm load. What, solid state from the triode tube crazed Dennis Had, some may ask? If someone had asked me 16 years ago when I started Cary Audio, ‘Are you going to build high power transistor amplifiers?’ My response would have been almost in the form of a lecture about how high power amplifiers corrupt. If the first watt is no good than why would you want 499 more of them? Oh, the self-righteous 'tube-o-phile' in me would have kept you listening all night to my design philosophies. Well, if I may, I would like to explain how this high power craze came about. Or how I became corrupted by high current, wide bandwidth, SOLID STATE power amplifiers...
About six years ago, Gregg Dunn, our Cary Audio sales manager joined the company. Although he loved tubes in audio he felt we needed to seriously enter the home theater market place. Gregg convinced Billy and I that with our reputation for having the best sounding two channel tube gear, we could design and become the best in multi-channel solid state amplifiers. Within about six months I completed the CAD 500T, a five channel Cary Cinema amplifier. It weighed in at 168 pounds, measured over two and a half feet deep and contained five individual monster EI core power transformers. The CAD 500T was constructed of all machined aluminum.
The June 1999 issue of Home Theater Magazine featured our new monster amp on the front cover along with a glowing review. We were in the home theater arena. Well, not exactly, the amplifier was sooo heavy, sooo large and expensive (30” x 19” x 14”, $8,000) no one wanted to lift it. We sold a couple dozen and I was back to the drawing board. Two years later I completed the sleek, slimmed down, five channel Cinema 5 power amplifier.
The Cinema 5 became the lead product of our new Cary Cinema line of products. We received both a 2003 Editor’s Choice award from The Absolute Sound magazine and a Multi-channel Amplifier of the Year Award from The Perfect Vision magazine! It repeated as a Best Buy Award from both of those prestigious magazines in 2004 and has repeated for 2005! The Cinema 5 continues to receive product of the year awards around the world. It is now the reference multi-channel power amplifier for Peter Moncrieff of Wide Screen Review magazine and it unseated a very famous foreign made $11,000 multi-channel power amplifier in the process. Did we mention that the CINEMA 5 is made in North Carolina?
Next came the seven by 100 watts per channel model Cinema 7 power amplifier. We have just won the Home Theater magazine, 2005 Rave Award for the Best Amplifier (Cinema 7) under $3000. The enthusiast press and the customers are all singing the sonic merits of the Cary Audio Design solid state amplifiers. It was time for some SERIOUS two channel stereo action with this design.
Once again, Gregg came to me with an idea. I can still hear him.... “High power, full bandwidth and low distortion in a mono amp package”. He had this wild look in his eye as he insisted that we needed a 500 watt mono amplifier. Oh, it also had to play at 1,000 watts into 4 ohms. Since Gregg has had some serious home run ideas in the past, I thought OK, let me do some basic design work. Soon the design work turned into a personal passion: An intense desire on my part to produce absolute sonic excellence in the listening qualities and load handling capabilities of this high power, solid state power amplifier.
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First, I started with the same power supply and power transformer that ran all 5 channels of our Cinema 5. Then I proceeded to implement the basic emitter follower design that was winning all the awards. I chose direct coupled FET inputs driving bipolar Sanken 50 ampere, high current, wide bandwidth bipolar output devices. The amplifier also needed to be true fully balanced design to match some new preamplifier designs that I was completing. The basic prototypes were sounding much too good for our listening room at the factory. I took them home and I was now listening in my own living/listening room. The CAD 500 MB had me on my hands and knees with clip leads, various parts and a soldering iron. My wife knew this was turning into a serious design and listening project. The listening room looked like a parts depot or an electronics warehouse! Picture this scene if you can, a pair of the new raw prototype CAD 500 MB’s along with a pair of CAD 211 Anniversary Edition tube amplifiers sitting in line with a pair of CAD 805 Anniversary Edition tube amplifiers. I was into serious listening comparisons with no holds barred. I almost wore out a few of my records in the process.
To speed up this tale of high power corruption, within a few weeks I had become very fond of the sonic presentation from the CAD 500 MB’s. The final design challenge was to increase the sound stage depth and have the midrange bloom a bit more. Well, I must say I achieved success! The CAD 500 MB amplifiers have a deep sound stage, a glorious midrange along with enough serious, high current output power to shake the house.
NOTE: Let me digress here for a moment about why we choose to make such wide frequency response bandwidth amplifier or preamplifier designs. In the design phase of earlier Cary Audio Design tube and solid state amplifiers or preamplifiers, we always noticed a positive correlation between extended frequency response and sound quality. This could be measured in some ways with test gear but not in all ways. It could be heard always, though, as improved sound quality. When the V 12R and Rocket 88R power amplifiers were modified to include a high gain, extremely wide bandwidth driver tube in the front end stage, the distortion dropped remarkably with the increase of the overall frequency response bandwidth of the circuit. To say this another way, if all other design characteristics are exactly the same but you increase the frequency response bandwidth of the overall circuit then the distortion in the circuit will drop in direct response to this change. We view this as a positive correlation and we choose to design with this in mind in all of our current and in our future circuit designs.
The boys and girls in the Cary Audio “toy” factory have been manufacturing the CAD 500 MB’s since February. I have heard from many satisfied customers from all corners of the world about how happy and pleased they are with their new reference quality solid state power amplifiers. They simply love their new CAD 500 MB’s. My own pair of CAD 500 MB’s has not been turned off in my home listening room since January. They are great fun and such a pleasure to listen to with any type of music.
Oh, get this...... Gregg has some of our custom home theater installers using ... you guessed it ... five (5) CAD-500 MB’s in home cinema surround sound systems! Talk about total corruption. We love It! We have made extensive rated output power, distortion and price comparisons to some of our competitor’s mono power amplifier models verses the CAD 500 MB. I truly believe we offer the best sound, the best power and the best value in a high power, solid state power amplifier in the market!
Thank you for your continued interest in and continuing support of Cary Audio Design. Yours Truly,
Dennis J. Had, President Cary Audio Design
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INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________________
Congratulations!
You have just purchased one of the finest solid state power amplifiers made. Whether in mono, stereo or in multi channel usage, the Cinema 1’s are audiophile quality power amplifiers. In addition to awesome power delivery, the Cinema power amplifier delivers flawless reproduction of musical detail.
The Cinema Series solid state power amplifier features include:
• Remote trigger (works with + 4.2 to + 32 Volts DC)
• Short circuit protection
• Thermal Protection circuits
• DC offset protection
• Matched 50 MHz multiple emitter output transistors
• Soft start circuit prevents “Brown outs” when amplifier is turned on
• Pure Balanced FET input section in the Cinema 1 mono balanced power amplifier
The Cinema power amplifiers have three separate protection circuits to prevent damage to your speaker and the power amplifier.
• AC Fuse - Fused with a 3.5A/7.5A for 240V and a 7.5A/15A for 120V.
• Thermal protection - if a channel overheats its output is disconnected until it cools down to a safe
operating temperature.
• DC offset sensor - If an amplifier malfunction or signal source malfunction occurs, the potential
exists for providing DC voltage to the loudspeaker. If this happens, the channel will automatically shut down. No damage can occur.
In building the Cinema 1 power amplifiers, significant effort has been focused on building an amplifier that delivers outstanding mechanical performance, is easy to use, and has sonic properties that will delight the most demanding audiophile customer. Thank you for choosing Cary Audio Design and we hope you enjoy your new power amplifier.
*Short circuit protection activates if load impedance is about 1.6 ohms or less. Constant tripping of short circuit can degrade output transistors. To reset protection, turn the amplifier off, wait 10 seconds, then turn the amplifier on.
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SPECIFICATIONS ___________________________________________________
This section describes the basic specifications of the Cinema 1 at the time of printing. Specifications are subject to change without notice or obligation. When the following cautionary terms are used in this manual, these definitions apply:
WARNING
Electrical hazard! Misuse or failure to follow instructions properly may result in personal injury or death!
CAUTION
No risk or personal injury; however, misuse or failure to follow instructions may result in damage to equipment.
NOTE
No risk of personal injury or equipment damage; however, misuse or failure to follow instructions may prevent proper performance of the equipment.
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RATED POWER OUTPUT 500 watts @ 8 ohms
1,000 watts @ 4 ohms, Class A/B
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ DAMPING FACTOR >100 @ 8 ohms
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ PEAK CURRENT 70 amps for Cinema 1
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ FREQUENCY RESPONSE 10 to 50 kHz +/-0.1 dB
-3 dB @ 200 kHz ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
INPUTPOWERREQUIREMENTS 117VAC50/60Hzor234VAC50/60Hz,bymarket ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
POWER CONSUMPTION 255 watts – Idling with no signal input 1200 watts 8-ohm load - full power
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ INPUT IMPEDANCE 44k ohms - Single-ended RCA inputs
91k ohms - Balanced XLR inputs ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
OUTPUT IMPEDANCE 4 to 16 ohms rated speaker impedance ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
GAIN 27 dB ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
THD < 0.05 %, 20 Hz-20 kHz ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
NOISE > 100 dB below rated output, A-weighted ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
SENSITIVITY 1.42 Volts for full output
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POWER SUPPLY CAPACITORS 4 - 33,000 μFD @ 80 Volts ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
POWER TRANSFORMERS 1 – Toroidal, 200% duty cycle ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
BREAK-IN PERIOD 100 hours of music playing time ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
FINISH Textured black chassis with silver anodized aluminum faceplate Standard. (black faceplate optional)
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ AC CORD 3 conductor shielded, Detachable ................................................................................................................................................................................................... DIMENSIONS 6.25” H x 17.7” W x 19” D
Allow 2” Depth for speaker binding post clearance ...................................................................................................................................................................................................
WEIGHT 48 lbs. (21.8 kg) ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
FEATURES __________________________________________________________
Front Panel ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
POWER SWITCH Main power switch for all channels
LED 1 Indicates the channel is operating. The LED will not light if the power amplifier is in protection mode or if the fuse is blown
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Rear Panel ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
AC INLET 3-conductor detachable power cord connector ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
INPUTS XLR or RCA inputs, with input selector switch ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
OUTPUT Dual WBT 5-way binding posts ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
FUSES AC power fuse. Only replace with a 7 AMP SLOW BLOW Fuse @ 250 VOLT!
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ RCA/XLR SWITCHES Select single-ended or balanced operation for each channel
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ REMOTE TRIGGER 1/8” mono mini-plug connection jack. Set the front panel main power switch to OFF for use of the Cinema 1 for the remote turn on or turn off
feature with the remote trigger controlled by an external switch ......................................................................................................................................................................................