Cary Audio Design CAD 200, CAD 500 User Manual

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CAD 500 MB

Pure Balanced Mono Power Amplifi er

CAD 200

Stereo Power Amplifi er

OWNER’S MANUAL

NOTE: Before installing your new component, please read this manual carefully
as it will inform you of the product specifi cations, proper installation and correct
operating procedures for your unit. Also included in this manual are guidelines
on how to service and care for your new Cary Audio Design product.

CONTENTS _________________________________________________________

Welcome............................................................................................................................3-4

Introduction..........................................................................................................................5

Specifications ...................................................................................................................6-7

Features..................................................................................................................................7

Installation ........................................................................................................................8-9

Operation .............................................................................................................................. 9

Service and Care ...............................................................................................................10

Awards..................................................................................................................................11

Troubleshooting Guide..................................................................................................12

Warranty.......................................................................................................................13-14

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WELCOME__________________________________________________________

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 multichannel 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
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
Award from
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 multichannel power amplifier for Peter Moncrieff of

Screen Review

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

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.

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

The Perfect Vision

magazine and it unseated a very famous foreign made $11,000 multichannel power

magazine, 2005 Rave Award for the Best Amplifier (Cinema 7) under $3000. The enthusiast

Home Theater

magazine! It repeated as a Best Buy Award from both of those prestigious

Magazine featured our new monster amp on the front cover along

The Absolute Sound

magazine and a Multichannel Amplifier of the Year

Wide

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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 CAD 500 MB and the CAD 200 are audiophile quality power amplifiers. In
addition to awesome power delivery, the CAD 500 MB and the CAD 200 power amplifiers deliver flawless
reproduction of musical detail.

Cary Audio Design 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 CAD 500 MB mono balanced power amplifier

The Cary Audio Design CAD 500 MB and CAD 200 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 CAD 500 MB and CAD 200 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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