Hi there,
I bought a new preamp recently, the
Cary Cinema 11. It's really quite a piece of simplicity and sound quality.
The Cinema 11 is not exactly an A/V pre/pro. It's more of an "A" pre/pro. There is no video switching at all, and no output for an on-screen-display. There is no HDMI input either. Cary's solution for HDMI 1.3 and video processing is an upcoming separate video processor that will work with in conjunction with the Cinema 11. There is a proprietary input to the Cinema 11 that will handle the audio processing for HDMI-based signals, as fed from this other device. As I understand it right now, they are going to call them the Cinema A11 and the Cinema V11 (mine is then considered the "A11"). The combo would then be called, appropriately, the AV11, as it would handle both the audio and video parts. The downside is cost, of course, as I think the V11 is going to cost about $3k. On the other hand, if you only want the A11, you don't have to pony up the full cost of an A/V processor that includes all the video features that you would never use.
Currently, only having the A11 part works fine for me. I only have two DVI/HDMI video source, so I just bought the
Monoprice HDMI switch. The change I was really looking for was in sound quality. I believe that if my system sounds good for music, then the sound for movies will follow.
Feature-wise, the Cinema 11 (C11) is simple but intelligent. All set up is done through its front panel display. At first, I thought I would miss an OSD, but I found that I don't. It's also nice to be able to make changes to the preamp settings without either turning the TV on or changing from what being viewed.
The C11 has balanced inputs and outputs. Aside from my Sirius receiver, all inputs to the C11 are digital. My PC and Dish 622 DVR both employ a Toslink connection, while my Denon DV-1910 uses a coaxial connection. I'm currently using the single-ended outputs to my amplifier, as it's easier to bi-amp my main speakers that way. My amplifier has two sets of RCAs for each amplifier input. One of these sets can be used to daisy chain to another input for quick and easy bi-amping. If I wanted to bi-amp using balanced cables, I would have to make a splitter, and I have not yet done that. I might suggest to Cary to add an ability to assign the SBL/SBR balanced outputs to be the same as the L/R outputs, such that anyone with a 5.1 system could bi-amp with the two otherwise unused balanced outputs.
Initially, I wanted to simply swap this unit out for my previous preamp, the Outlaw 990. I did that, but I found quirk in the C11 that didn't allow me to fully compare the devices, at least from a "bass" point of view. In the past, I'd allowed my Vandersteen 3A Signature main speakers to run full range. I then integrate my IB sub using either the built-in bass management low-pass filter, or the Behringer BFD to create my own LPF. When using the C11, if the mains are set to "FULL" (full range, no high-pass filter), then the sub is automatically disabled. The C11 offers independent crossover points for all speakers, including the sub. That means that if I set the mains crossover point to 40 Hz and the sub's crossover point to 80 Hz, bass will redirect from the mains to the sub from 40 Hz. Additionally, since the sub is set to 80 Hz, it will also "grab" bass up to 80 Hz as well. There is then an "overlap" of bass from 40 to 80 Hz. Cary calls this "Enhanced Bass," and it's up to the user to determine if it's desirable or not. In my application, I just wanted to run full range on the mains, and apply a 40 Hz LPF to the sub. Since when setting mains to "FULL," I lost the sub, I wasn't able to do that. I think this is a problem in their firmware, as I believe that the overlapping "Enhanced Bass" should be applied whether or not the mains are "FULL" or crossed over at some other frequency. I've stated such at AVS, where the Cary rep has had some presence in the past, so we'll see if anything becomes of it.
Continuing on the bass theme, in full analog "bypass" mode there is no subwoofer output at all. Of course, this seems somewhat logical, as the analog input is only a two channel signal (unless you use the 7.1 input, which I did not). However, I did get accustomed to one nice feature of the Outlaw: when in analog bypass mode, an exact copy of the input signal is available at the subwoofer output as well (a full-range signal, no digitizing or filtering applied). Although it's then incumbent on the user to apply an LPF to that sub signal (easy to do with the BFD), at least it's there so that the user doesn't have to do any cable switching to get the L/R signal at the sub output. In the end, it's OK for me, for now...
Since I'm not terribly interested in crossing over my mains for two-channel listening, I was somewhat forced to use "FULL" mode for music listening, thereby forgoing the sub altogether. What I discovered was a pleasant surprise! Bass in full-range mode on my mains had increased and improved. All of a sudden, the Vandersteens sounded much more like what I remembered in the showroom: full and deep. Of course, they're "only" rated to 30 Hz, so there's some lack on organ music and such, but I found things greatly improved, and I was very happy to listen to music in this new, subless fashion.
To be continued...
(comments welcome in the mean time)