Cary Cinema 6 AV Processor Review

gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Cary Audio is company probably better known for their SET (single-ended triode) power amplifiers and vacuum tube pre amplifiers. But it seems Cary wants to be considered in the highly competitive home theater market as well. The Cinema 6 is their latest surround processor/preamplifier and is currently the only AV pre//pro in their lineup. It offers audiophile quality surround processing and analog pre-amplification at a “mid price point” above the mass market receivers but below the high end pre/pros. A winning formula? Read the review to find out.

Cary 6 AV Processor Review
 
J

jigesh

Enthusiast
Great review indeed! Not only the "goods" but the "bads" as well; and a list of suggested improvements, which I hope Cary takes seriously for their upcoming Cinema 11 and Cinema 9. The list of "cons" should add "lack of audio-sync (lip-sync)" feature as well, which is common at this price point; and the "pros" should add "dual 7.1 analog bypass input sets," which is not common.
 
G

goldear

Audiophyte
Cary Cinema 6

Yes, a very good review. In fact, after having lived with the Cary for a short time, my perspective is very similar to that of the reviewer...especially noticing the attenuation when engaging post-processing. I don't know if this is an industry requirement, but my recently acquired Aragon did not do this. I would also like to note that you can engage surround processing on the analog inputs. At first, I also thought that the inputs were strictly bypass, but after fooling around with it, you can disable the "direct" function and should be able to engage surround processing for analog sources.

One of the other items I couldn't find on the Cary...especially as an analog preamp, was any input gain adjustment for individual analog sources. While I notice that many newer products do this automatically (doesn't this require some digital processing?), I like the option of having a manual adjustment to fine tune the source. Now that I no longer have the Cary (and can no longer check it), I was wondering if the "preamp" adjustment in the submenu may have had something to do with that? The manual does a terrible job of explaining some of these details.

While I like its simplicity, there were just too many things missing for me; one of them being that you couldn't make speaker/trim adjustments without effecting the overall calibration levels. Things like mode-recall and DPLIIx adjustments are basic functions found on most SSPs these days, yet are missing here. I did like the separate A/V feature that let you switch the audio and video sources independent of their assignments. And while the Cary did default to the coax inputs, I liked the toggle-like feature on the source buttons (remote) that allowed you to cycle from coax to tos to analog just by repeated pushes on the button; at least these gave you some added flexibility. Overall, a nice sounding unit...but I decided to keep the upgraded Soundstage, which I still find remarkable for its age.
 
I

indcrimdefense

Audioholic
thanks for the great review, and i agree with both the good and bad of the review. cary makes great products, but after a lengthy demo with the cinema 6, I opted for an anthem avm 30 after a lengthy demo w/ same. the cary sounds fantastic for music & movies, but the anthem's additional features, greater flexibility, ease of use and the addition of XLR connections are what sold me on the avm 30.
 
F

flyv65

Full Audioholic
I'm leaning in just the opposite direction: I found the audio quality of the Cary to be much better than the Anthem; but since I'm still a while off of buying, I'll wait to see what the new pre/pro models from Cary look like.

Bryan...personal preference, right?
 
J

jigesh

Enthusiast
flyv65 said:
I'm leaning in just the opposite direction: I found the audio quality of the Cary to be much better than the Anthem; but since I'm still a while off of buying, I'll wait to see what the new pre/pro models from Cary look like.

Bryan...personal preference, right?
The previous post says he likes Cary for sound but preferred Anthem as a "whole package" due to rich feature set.
 
I

indcrimdefense

Audioholic
i had the cary cinema 6 for 2 or 3 lengthy demos, and loved the analog audio sound quality. i never had the cary & anthem demos at the same time, so no direct comparison was available. while i loved the cary's analog sound quality, was not so in love with it's DSP, the click click click when switching tv channels (i cant recall if i ever changed the delay for how long it would "hold" the last signal, but then again my demos were without the use of an owner's manual), and i wanted XLR connections, which the cary lacked. the avm 30, after having it home for a few months, is a joy. spectacular analog, would not say that it's better than the cary but at least in my system don't feel that i'm giving anything up sound quality wise w/ the avm 30, a ridiculously low noise floor - which was critical to me as i listen to alot of jazz recorded in the 50's, spectacular DSP and this was truly an improvement over the cary, and any other pre-pro i demoed, and a ease of use and myriad of set up options was what won me over to the avm 30. i am a cary audio fan, i have their dvd 6, and am looking at buying other cary products in the future, but i felt overall the avm 30 had more options, flexibility, lower soundfloor (which is not really a fair comparison as i was never able to compare the 2 pre-pros with the same amp), superior DSP, XLR connections and the AVM 30 is stunning in black w/ the silver buttons.
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top