Cary CAD 805B Monoblock Power Amplifiers
The warmth, sweetness, sheer reality and absolute realism of a very well designed single ended triode tube amplifier make these monoblocks worth every penny of its cost. Like all single ended amplifiers, the CAD 805B suffers from a slightly weak bass and slightly restricted high frequency reproduction, but within the range it reproduces, nothing else can produce sheer music like them. A healthy power rating of 50W/channel, means that there is enough power to drive most moderately tube-friendly speakers. Compared to the smaller Cary's, the 805 has tighter and better bass extension, but I think at a slight cost in sound-staging. I decided on the 805's for their stronger bass and speaker friendliness. I also preferred the overall sound of the 805B to that of the 805C.
Other amplifiers auditioned were Mark Levinson 33H, Sonic Frontiers Power 2, and a Krell (I do not remember the model, it was an old used one). The Levinson is awesome. Fantastic bass performance, and a silky smooth sound. The Levinson was very easy to fall in love with (except for its price). The only down side was that vocals, especially male vocals have a very slight boxy, hollow character. The Krell was very well broken in, but it found it too dry and neutral for my liking. The Sonic Frontiers was a big disappointment. For a very well respected company, I found their performance hard to live with. They seemed to be producing hollow bass, and horribly bloated and hollow vocals.
Some day, I may decide to go ahead and buy the single ended OTL amplifier that I found while browsing on the internet. It is certainly a very intriguing proposition.