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REVIEW: Canary Audio CA-706 Amplifier (Tube)

209.29.170.116


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Model: CA-706
Category: Amplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price: $2200
Description: Push Pull Ultralinear 4 x EL34, 4 X 6SN7 GTB
Manufacturer URL: Canary Audio
Manufacturer URL: Canary Audio

Review by PureTone ( A ) on November 11, 2002 at 17:26:03
IP Address: 209.29.170.116
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I had the opportunity to purchase a Canary Audio CA-706 amplifier at an excellent price recently and thought I would briefly comment on it's performance. Canary Audio is small company out in California which take a thoughtful high quality approach to their equipment. The amplifier is very well built and quite heavy due to the size of the transformers employed.The look is minimalist and attractive.
The stock tubes are EI "Fat Bottle" EL34's.
Within my current system the amplifier performs flawlessly with a sound quality which can be best described as "rich" and "expressive". The sound stage is large bordering on huge depending on the recording. Stage depth is quite satisfying giving recordings a very appealling third dimension. Instruments are nicely delineated and distinct.

Classical and jazz recordings are beautifully presented with rich instrumental timbre and tone. Piano has weight. Voices are rendered very convincingly. Strings are lush, perhaps bordering on sweet. Drums are present and have impact. Dynamics particular to each recording are rendered beautifully giving a sense of "there-ness" to large orchestral pieces. Mozart's Requiem (MAozart: Requiem, Philippe Herreweghe, Harmonia Mundi)was grand, lush and full with orchestra and voices.
With more intimate jazz recordings (Patricia Barber: Nightclub, Blue Note/Premonition) the sense of space between players can be quite amazing. On good recordings you can sense the intimacy and emotion of a performance and you can hear the interplay of delicate instrumental overtones. This was quite beautifully portrayed with Arvo Part's "Fratres for 8 cellos". (Arvo Part: Fratres, Naxos) where the slight tonal differences between cellos playing the same notes were nicely portrayed giving a very eerie reality to the performance.
Sometimes tube amps are criticized for their less than convincing rendition of popular music. I did not find this with the Canary Audio CA-706. In fact pop and rock recording were very satisfying. Bjork's excellent "Debut" album (Bjork: Debut/Elektra) was beautifully presented with lots of air and solid percussion. Everything had a satisfying balance. With harder rock things were just as good. The song "LOW" from Cracker's "Kersone Hat" (Virgin) was raw with attitude, guitar riffs nicely balanced with percussion, the performance had energy.

A note about tubes:
The stock EI's are OK...a little grainy in the highs and slightly less airy...but I would recommend changing the tubes asap. My favorites are the Valve Art EL 34L's (best price/performance ratio) followed by the Electro Harmonics 6CA7 (a large bottle version of their popular EL34) and the Svetlana's although these were slightly cooler in presentation. Substituting either of these in place of the EI's improved things nicely.

Faults ?
This amplifier is self biasing and my understanding is that you lose a little power with such a configuration. Pairing with reasonably efficient speakers should resolve this though (90db plus).
The mid to high registers may be slightly forward. Chose your preamplifier carefully.
The bass can be somewhat full on certain recordings as such careful speaker/cable pairing is a must for best results. The TMC does a great job here.

Overall this is an excellent product. It has definitely increased the enjoyment I get from listening to music. When paired judicously with components of quality the sound is excellent. It's main strengths are it's ability to render a very credible sound picture that satisfies and is musical, it's handling of dynamics and it's rich way with tone and timbre. I recommend this product to a person looking to get into tubes or for the serious music lover. I think it may be a bit of a sleeper at the price.


Product Weakness: A touch forward in the mid/highs. Tube rolling a must. Bass can be a little full with the wrong speaker/cable combo. Needs a good preamp to shine.
Product Strengths: Musicality. Rich and expressive. Very good dynamics. Highs are not "flashy". Handles all kinds of music very very well.


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Canary Audio CA-706/ 40WPC
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Sonic Frontiers Line 1
Sources (CDP/Turntable): EAD Ultradisc 2000
Speakers: Audio Note AN-E/L
Cables/Interconnects: TMC Yellow IC's, TMC Gold Reference speaker cable
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Radiohead: Amnesiac: EMI Cracker: Kerosene Hat : EMI/Arvo Part: Fratres for 8 cellos: NAXOS/ Francine Kay: Ravel Satie Piano Works: Analekta/ Pierre Boulez: Sur Incises Messagesquisse Anthemes 2: DG 20/21/Bjork :Debut, Elektra
Room Size (LxWxH): 20 x 15 x 9
Room Comments/Treatments: None
Time Period/Length of Audition: 6 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): CCPC Model 11, Wireworld Aurora, Zu Cable Birth
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Canary Audio CA-706 Amplifier (Tube) - PureTone 17:26:03 11/11/02 ( 0)