Search the Community

Item: Cary 303/200 HDCD/CD Player 230vac Location: Gosford Nsw Price: $1175.00 Item Condition: Good Reason for selling: Retiring audiophile Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal plus fees COD Only Extra Info: This player has been highly modified by our own George Stantcheff with the addition of triple stacked AD844 as I/V, as per the thread here on DIY Audio - http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/227677-using-ad844-20.html "Couple of days ago we compared my Cary 303/200 using just the I/V of the AD844, up against the Thorsten Losetch designed AMR CD77 (TDA1541 double crown) that uses Thorsten's special designed I/V stage which I believe is tube based, output impedance <100ohms, so a good match with the Lightspeed as is the Cary. I was expecting the AMR to be better, just by it's reputation and the designer behind it. 3 of us within 20sec thought the Cary was a clear winner, top to bottom, front to back and side to side, and it remained that way for the rest of the session, the owner of the AMR was mute and stone faced and said nothing for the 1.5hrs of A/Bing, and probably saddened by the result, the listening session which went for 4hrs, the last 2.5hrs was the Cary only. The system was my Lightspeed Attenuator feeding 2 x Halcro DM-78 monoblocks (input impedance 100kohms) pushing a pair of Wilson Watt puppy 8's This proved what I've been hearing that this AD844 as an I/V is something very, very special when used as I've done with no feedback" This player is as close to "State of the Art" (if there's any such thing) as I've heard under $20k. Due to the mods, the balanced connectors no longer operate. Only being sold due to the owner of the last several years retiring from the hobby. Complete with orig remote & manual. Will pack & ship worldwide at buyers cost. Photos: Advertisements without photos of the actual item will not be approved.

I thought I would share some of my extremely amateur pictures and videos from the recent Bangkok Audio Video show. Apologies for the quality but it is all just recorded poorly on my phone but something is better than nothing right? There is a really good scene here in Thailand for high end gear and some really good retailers. It has exceeded my expectations of what is here and surpases Aus in some respects. Anyways here is a few pics and vids and I will try to talk about each a little. The rooms at the show were really well sized and a lot better than in videos we see from the states etc (not just hotel bedrooms). The rooms where all conference rooms and decently sized for the majority. My favourite room roughly 8x14x3.5m Equipment is Proac Response K8, Rel No.25 array @Sime, Acoustic Arts Mono 3 Amps, The Beast server and an Audioquest Niagara. TT was unfortunately not used. (The speakers were meant to be the new top Elac Concentro but they unfortunately weren't there. The Proacs were very impressive regardless) This system was incredible and was demo'd by a Rel representative who did comparisons of sub vs no sub, 2 sub vs 6 sub array. The sound with no subs was seriously good but with the array was something else. It gave the feel of a live concert with the benefits of a HIFI system. It was never over powering at low volumes 60dB or at over 100dB and made it so much better at either volume level too. The subs filled in effect and made it so much more appealing, natural with a soundstage that was just amazing. They really transformed it into something other-worldly. My next project at home is to integrate my SVS into my system and after this it is a must. I will be buying a second if anyone is considering selling theirs though I wish I could afford the Rel array........ It was great speaking with the Rel guy alone and picking his brain. I have videos I will attach at the end of this post. Next is a room roughly the same as above though with no room treatment whatsoever. Equipment is Focal Grand Utopia 3 (roughly $260k AUD), Esoteric Grandioso stack with Fidelizer server, VTL Siegfried Series 2 monos and TL7.5 pre, Entreq Tellus 2 and more, In the pic is Stirling Trayle who did a talk on system optimisation and another on speaker positioning. The speaker positioning was really good and gave a scientific method rather than just constantly shuffling in semi bling hope. The optimization was good too. The sound of this system was of course amazing especially at higher volumes. At lower it was just so different to the Proac Rel room. It was what you would expect from a >500k system though and was something very special. Stirling travels the world setting up peoples speakers and believes in minimal room treatment after the speakers have been positioned. Got to speak with Stirling for quite a while and learnt quite a bit. The loom with more Entreq This room was about 6x5 with a lot of room treatment including little timber dots everywhere EDIT...Wilson Alexia with some Serbian Nat amps with valves as big as a football, Bergmann Galder TT This was a really nice room but didn't grab me. This next room was roughly 7x9 and had both a Wilson and Avantgarde setup EDIT...Wilson Alexia, D'Agostino Progression, dCS Rossini and Fidelizer server. This was incredible and from memory the monoblocks are a decent step up from the system presented at Audio Connection for their dCS launch which had the same DAC/clock, speakers were Sasha and used the Momentum integrated. I just wish this had it's own room because it was amazing. The other in this room was Avantgarde Duo Mezzo XD and Cary CAD 805AE it was beautiful though played a lot of music that wasn't really my taste and I don't think it was the best recordings. Classical on the Focal Grand Utopias gave me goosebumps but this didn't. Another good room Cessaro Alpha 2, Ayon S10 and Vulcan Evo amps. This was really lovely and the Cessaro rep enjoyed having someone to speak English with. The speakers use TAD drivers and were really special to listen to. He said there is a pair in Sydney and he travels to every customers house to set them up. Bad pic sorry Tannoy Westminster Royal SE and Kengsington GR, Sun Audio and Esoteric Sounded good but didn't grab me. ML ESL 15A and Burmester 911 MK3 This was really really nice and I think the ARC did really well. Burmester amps have always sounded really good everytime I hear them This room had black Focal Sopra 2s. Red Sopra 3s and Orange Sopra 1s (not shown) I was amazed at how the little naim all in one sounded on the Sopra 2s and would happily live with this system. The Micromega all in one amps were pretty crappy on all 3 sets of speakers. The Naim stack with Sopra 3 was beautiful and the best attainable system (for most) that I heard there. Naim really is incredible. 7.3 Elac Unifi, 3x Rel 2 12/SE Rotel RA1580 and 2x RMB-1585 This was pretty cool and I think the Rotel processor is brilliant. A few other systems Stealth 25th Anniversary Karp Horns. Claiming to be the best home theatre speakers in the world. These Daniel Hertz M7 were pretty good. Unsure... There were some other really good systems especially a Stenheim and Vitus room though I don't have pics. A locally made 300b amp for $800 AUD was absolutely beautiful with his own homemade speakers for roughly $3000 AUD One room had Magico bookshelves but he didn't want to set them up same goes with Avantgarde Zero1s The new Paradigm Persona Bookshelves sounded pretty average but had a little amp and not a good space It was a good show with a decent turn out and I was very impressed with the room sizes. I think all shows should try to use conference rooms and not tiny little hotel bedrooms. I'll try to add some videos soon EDITED.. Wilson speakers are Alexia not Sasha S2

Item: Cary Cinema 11a Home Theatre Processor and Cary Cinema 11p Multi Channel Power Amp - both are black. Location: Grafton NSW 2460 Price: $2,400 for both. Postage Paypal etc. are negotiable. Willing to split if I can't sell both separately. Edit: Lets say $800 for 11a and $1,200 for 11pp Together $1,800 Item Condition: Used, but good. Looks new from the front. There are scratches on both sides of the 11p. Reason for selling: I need $ and my HT room will not happen. Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only. Have packaging and will post. Extra Info: These are amazing products. Best to refer to the links for full info. I always wanted to own a Cary product. Very important - the Cary products do not do anything with video - it is all about the sound. The Cinema 11a is a legendary product which at about US$3,000 was Stereophile's multichannel product of the year in 2007. The 11a can handle HDMI v1.3. I have corresponded with Cary and it can be upgraded to HDMI v1.4. I bought the 11a from a SNA member and paid more than the Graysonline link. It is in a very good condition. The Cinema 11p is not well known in Australia. It is better known in China/Russia/the East. The 11p can be configured to drive up to 12 channels. At the moment most of the hardware has been installed for 12 channels, but the configuration is for 7 channels. I have corresponded with Cary and they have confirmed that the configuration can be changed. It was a demo item in a HT shop and has scratches on both sides (not visible from the front). I bought the 11 p as per the Graysonline link. More info here: http://www.graysonline.com/lot/0001-2088426/audio-tv-and-home-theatre/cary-audio-cinema-11a-home-theatre-audio-processor-black http://www.graysonline.com/lot/0002-2088426/audio-tv-and-home-theatre/cary-audio-cinema-11p-multi-channel-power-amplifier-black They came in the original boxes with some of the original packaging material. I have the remotes, microphones etc. The items were bought for a HT in our new house in Grafton which did not happen and will not happen as I need funds for other purposes. Since I bought the items in 2014 I have just tested them. Have been in storage since. Regretfull sale. Pictures: Here are photos of the 11p

Item: Cary 303/200 HDCD Player Location: Geelong, Vic. Price: $1500 Item Condition: Very nice. Reason for selling: Upgrade Payment Method: Pickup - Cash. Extra Info: Ok, so my Cary 303/200 player is up for sale. Its probably not the best day of the year to advertise but I’m putting it out there. Very, very capable player and I have enjoyed it for quite some time now. Only selling as I have upgraded. Cosmetically the player is in very good condition and operationally everything works as it should. 240V conversion was done by a technician. Remote control is present (as seen in pictures) and fully working. This metal controller weighs a tonne! Many questions please PM me. See pictures for further details. Merry Christmas. Forgot to mention, the unit has been modded with an extra AD844 as per georgehifi's DIY thread. Thread is easily found for reference. Mod can be reversed. Pictures:

I have been prompted to post details of my home theatre. I had hesitated to post to date as I spend much of my time overseas and I have limited DYI skills and little inclination to apply these limited skills to developing a HT when I am home. My approach in developing my home theatre was to seek the best available supplier to design and build the theatre. I realise that this approach is not for everyone but I think there is value in sharing my experience. I am not super-wealthy and have always had to work hard for what I have. However I love music and I am willing to invest in equipment such that I can enjoy listening to music while I am home. About 10 years ago I had moved from a stereo system to a 5.1 Rotel AVR and was really enjoying live music concerts. I was a member of DTV and keeping an eye on new developments and in 2007, largely on a whim, I bought an Elektra Theatron amp in a GB run by Prior. I then realised that I need to look at pre-amps. Not long after I bought a Cary Cinema 11a in another GB on the forum. I realise that there has been a lot of controversy about the Cary but I quickly began to appreciate the quality of the sound from the Cary, despite the clear foibles. In buying the Cary, I became acquainted with David Moseley at Wavetrain Cinemas who is the Australian distributor for Cary’s AV equipment. Over time I developed a close friendship with David and have valued his advice and assistance in trying to get reasonable sound in a room with rendered brick walls, a slate tile floor and seating against the back wall. In 2008 my wife decided that we needed a new house and found a good sized block about 800 metres from our home of 25 years in Mount Ousley in Wollongong. This started a long process to get architectural plans prepared, planning approval and a new house built. As part of this process David Moseley introduced me to Matt Doble at Home Control and Audio, one of his dealers. This evolved into an arrangement where David designed the home theatre and Matt designed the home automation system and installed the home automation and the home theatre. David sourced the carpenter for the home theatre and much of the equipment that Matt installed was distributed by David. Matt later described the whole arrangement as me designing the new house around the home theatre and although the house is very nice and has features that I now regard as essential, I can understand where he is coming from. At a key stage we had to cut back the design to make some attempt to keep to a budget, but I did not compromise on the home theatre dimensions that David had specified, so perhaps Matt was close to the truth. The build took longer than anticipated – as most do – and we moved in late in March 2013 and had the theatre up and running in late 2013. In the initial installation I largely moved to a new set of equipment – an Oppo 105au and Kaleidescape system as sources, Cary Cinema 1 and 2 power amps, an Audyessy system, a dbox platform, Triad speakers, an SMX screen and a SIM2 Nero 3d-1 projector. The installation benefited from buys on DTV – a masking system from Prior, a scope lens from Mark Techer, and a cineslide from MarkH and a second hand Kaleidescape server from Beejay76. About the only major piece of equipment that I kept was the Cary Cinema 11a. I spent many hours in the theatre enjoying a new level of AV quality. Late last year David had the offer for the Trinnov Altitude and with additional Triad speakers I moved to 3D sound. Every time I go into the room I am astounded at the quality of the sound. I realise that it has cost me, but I appreciate the value that I have received from my investment. I attach a couple of photos that show the room in the early stages of construction – note the recess in the floor for the dbox platform. I attach a photo of the utility room and a couple of photos of the final room. I will post a floor plan, reflected ceiling plan and a schematic of the equipment racks on new posts as the files are larger than the upload limit. I realise that I have invested a lot in the room - more than I had originally planned – but this is the same for the house. However, I am continually reminded of the quality of the system. Two weeks ago I received advice from Matt that the theatre had picked up 2 CEDIA Asia/Pacific awards at the Integrate expo in Melbourne – ‘Best Home Cinema over $150k’ and ‘Best Audio/Video Documentation’. I am glad that I have independent advice that my money was well spent.

I have bought a used Cary multichannel (Class D) amp and it can be connected via RCA and XLR. I know it is normally connected to a Cary multichannel processor, but I am testing it at the moment straight from my Audio Aero cd player/preamp. Interconnects are Straightwire Rhapsody XLR and Neotech Silver RCA. Power cable on the Audio Aero is Nordost Vishnu and on the Cary it is a JPS Labs.I have not tried different power cords or different XLR cables yet. The Audio Aero simultaneously provide output via RCA and XLR and I know both works well as I have tested it via a Luxman Headphone amp with Sennheiser headphones. My problem is that with the Cary the XLR interconnects has a hissing noise which it does not have with the RCA intercnnects. The noise is consistently there, it does not come and go. I will appreciate help please.