Hi Everyone,

Just an update for those interested, that although I was expecting the Cinema 11a here mid Sept, Cary are behind schedule by a couple of weeks. That being said, I still expect to have the new Cinema 11a stock in my hands before the end of the Sept. The Cinema 11v will arrive approx 2 weeks after the Cinema 11a, as they are concentrating on the 11a production first.

Hope everyone is still keen. It's been a while.

Once we have both here, I will do a GTG at my showroom for those who are interested.

Regards,

David Moseley
Wavetrain Acoustics Pty Ltd

Thanks David on the update ; been following the avs forum thread methodically

Good news. Cinema 11a's will arrive here next week. The units are shipping straight from the factory in Hong Kong, so we will have stock before the USA, rather than having to wait for them to freight from HK to America and back again.

I will be meeting the person responsible for the Cinema Series development next Tuesday, so I am sure I can bring you all up to date with any product queries, inc the Cinema 11v and how it works.

I will let you know as soon as they land.

Unfortunately, with the drop in the dollar, I have had to ammend the RRP. There is an increase of $200 from $4,999 to $5,199 for both the Cinema 11a and 11v. For those that are updating the Cinema 11 to the new 11a, I will not be changing the uprgade cost. It will remain as agreed. That is only fair after so long.

Regards,
David Moseley
Wavetrain Acoustics Pty Ltd

Great news David ; many questions on the 11v ;in particular how the lip sync is dialled in if needed and whether one remote will operate the 11a/v for programming my pronto

Hi David,

Any update on where the 11a/v are and when they will be available?

The Cinema 11a was supposed to leave yesterday, but I am still waiting on the tracking numbers to confirm they have left. Hopefully I will get an answer overnight. I expect them to get here quickly, as there is no internal freight and HK to Australia is a direct flight. I will pick them up at the airport when they arrive to save time.

My contact in Cary Audio has had a family incident, so I am not surprised I did not receive an email. That incident, also means that I will not be meeting him tonight, as he needed to remain in the USA.

I will let you know as soon as I have confirmation they are in the air.

Regards,
David

Hi Guys,

I am sorry I posted now, as the Cinema 11a didn't leave when they said they would (the last thing I want to do is provide false info). Latest is that they are all built and going through Quality Control. I have been told that they should be ready next week, but I will let you know when I have a tracking number.

Sorry, when they started asking me about how I want them sent last Thursday, I assumed they were ready to leave as planned on Friday or Monday.

Regards,
David Moseley

David
Any updates on ETA?
Cheers
A

Yes, but I don't want to post until I have tracking numbers that they have left.

David

I wouldn't be too worried about programming your Pronto to work seamlessly with 11a. Barry Gordon has said he'll be writing a Pronto TCP/IP module for the 11a, and knowing the vastness of his other work there is no doubt it will be the real deal. For me it was the deal maker knowing there will be a ProntoPro TCP/IP module available for the 11a.

I intend however to stick with my DVDO VP50Pro video scaler (despite its long list of bugs) instead of the 11v, but it would have been nice to have both units in my setup. I'm virtually decided now on changing my loyalty from Parasound to Cary, I'm just waiting on the first reviews of both offerings to come out.

Thanks beejay thats good news ; got 4 blank virtual buttons ready for the lossless decoding on the 11a ; the rs 232 comms port between the 11v and 11a could mean an extra page of programming I can see a few macro's being settup soon Its great having a remote with such a large memory..

One reason that made me go a vp was the poor dvd upscaling of current bluray players and source direct output available on certain models so 1080i/30 video/concert blurays could be properly converted to progressive . My sony projector isnt the best deinterlacer either.

Quite frankly I'd be holding off on the 11v until it's had some time in the market. If DVDO are still having big trouble getting VP's right, despite being recognized by many as the best in the business, chances are the 11v isn't going to work completely as advertised out of the box. Again I think it's quite unrealistic to expect perfection on 11a and 11v and they should just release them to the market as is. Particularly given the hardware design and build is done and presumably any changes from here on will be in the updateable firmware only.

Yes ;theres the rub ; if they do release and there are problems ;after the c11 kerfuffle ;they wouldnt hear the end of it Maybe why the quality control issues [even with hdmi which could be sorted with a firmware upgrade] are delaying things presently.Dont mind waiting if there that fastidious
Certainly with a new faroudja chip unknowns exist and its wise to wait ; at least there upscaling dvd players are very good ; so some experience exists ;and the chip itself has been adopted by others including Harman Kardon I read.

Hi CWT,

The units are built, but even just yesterday, Cary received some changes from Cirrus Logic. None of the delays have had anything to do with Cary. They are the ones breaking ground and working with Cirrus. The 11v can't have final testing until the 11a has had its finally firmware update (for obvious reasons), which is why they have stated a 2 week test period before the release, after the 11a becomes available.

Shouldn't be long, but the delays are frustrating for everyone. It will be nice to start selling Cary again as it has been almost a year. It will also be nice to update my cinemas to HD audio. I am concerned however that it is getting too late in the year to start my training courses. I may only run 1 this year in Sydney and then do VIC/Qld in February.

I will let you know as soon as I have tracking numbers.

Regards,
David

Another good sign David ;the manual has surfaced

http://www.caryaudio.com/products/cinema/cinema11a.html

According to my contact they are done. Still don't have a tracking number however .

Will let you know.

Regards,

David

Manual says zone 2 digital out is toslink optical only (no coaxial), bummer. I want to run zone 2 digital out to an AVR in another room, just not practical to run a toslink optical that far.

Identical to the 11 in that beejay ; if you dont want the zone 2 stereo rca's ;this could help

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product....=1&format=2

Hi guys,

You can buy exactly the same unit as this from Jaycar.

Regards
Paul

Hi Everyone,

The tracking number got lost for a week (all I needed), but the good news is that the Cary Audio Cinema 11a has landed in Australia! Finally! I will pick them up on Monday.

The first order of business will be to get the units reserved for the previous Cinema 11 owners out the door.

The First shipment is sold. I actually only received half of my 1st order. I should get more in shortly. The RRP has increased with the dollar and is now $5299 inc GST for both the Cinema 11a and Cinema 11v. I will not be altering the agreed price change over for those who are returning the Cinema 11 and who have waited patiently. I appreciate your loyalty.

For those of you not aware, I am clearing out the returned Cinema 11's in a one off special deal, which Curious posted on the Home Theatre page.

Hopefully we can get some people posting first impressions soon, as Cary have promised some pretty big things with this unit. Just make sure you run the units in for approx 50hrs to let it run in. I can also now finally update my cinema rooms.

Regards,
David Moseley

Great relief David ; was a bit incredulous that a few avs members had recieved their's Cant wait to hear some lossless; apart from dvd audio Barry Gordon has allready offered the hex codes for the 11a to program pronto's

I agree. I made the same point to Cary on Thursday after the order seemed to disappear. Huge relief that it is here. Even earlier this week, Josh was betting me we wouldn't see them to Christmas.

This is good news. The long wait is nearly over. I look forward to hearing from Josh when he get's his batch.

I've been very pleased with the 11 as it is an excellent audio processor and would be a great pick up when re-sold by Josh or Wavetrain. I'm looking forward to hearing what the 11a can do.

Great news David. I am back in Australia later in the week and I will be in touch.

Tony

Just a very quick one - installed the 11A in my theatre last night - replacing the 11.

Initial impressions are very very good -

There is a noticeable, albeit minor improvement in both top and bottom end on Dolby Digital and DTS, most noticeable as cleaner top and bottom end. Such listening tests are always subjective, but I am pretty familiar with the sound of my theatre and the cinema 11 and certain tracks so feel confident in this statement.

Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA however, are another story - these produce a very significant increase in top end detail, warmth and spaciousness. The bottom end has even more significant improvements with far greater slam, and more control. Both of these formats are extremley impressive and remind me of the quantum jump from CD to SACD. This improvement is far greater than I anticiapted and to say I am very impressed with the Cinema 11A would be an understatement.

From my limited listening tests so far I can sat that the Cinema 11A is an immediate improvement over the 11, by way of addition of the HD formats - Cary have taken what was already a stunning processor and made it even better.

Was it worth the wait?

You BET.

For the record - the I.R codes are exactly the same between the 11 and 11A - with the addition of the 11A's HDMI switching.

Have you noticed any of the bugs being reported on AVS?

Not as yet, but have not had a chance to do much more than a preliminary listen as the kids have both been sick over the weekend :-(

Have read about a reported issue on AVS, which seems to be specific to some units, but havent seen/heard the 'issue' myself as yet - hopefully I don't and its just something peculiar to some units or set-up etc.

Hopefully will get more of a chance to do some more thorough testing in the next few days.

hope so

Had some feedback from another customer this morning who purchased a Cinema 11A off me last week and had a good listen over the weekend - they have reported no ongoing issues to date and loving the sound - quote "damn it sounded great! Amazingly great! I love the ease of use with this processor. The menu system is very well laid out and logical."

Hoping to get more feedback from other customers who have had a chance to listen to theirs over the weekend.

From what I gather Josh ; hdmi problems with directtv sat boxes is an issue . No surprise those boxes were very flakey from hdmi ver 1.1 times . Its good the room eq can be applied to multichannel as well as 2ch now .

Looks that way - I got a chance last night to read through the AVS thread and issues being reported seem to be related to early generation directtv sat boxes and /or poor set-up.

There are quite a few posts there that make me think there are more than a few ppl who have purchased cinema 11A's who havent got a clue how to set them up - judging from their posts - particularly when it comes to the EQ.

My kids are still unwell :-( So no chance to do any more listening myself as yet....

Hehe, that was me. I am very pleased with the new 11a. Got a sexy black one by surprise and I love the look of it. It has allowed my first ever audition of a trueHD audio soundtrack and it was damn impressive.

These are so easy to set up and dial in too, which is great. Had it un-boxed and dialled in in under 10 minutes (of course having the 11 for so long was a big help).

Since I recently sold my stereo pre I've been using the 11 and now the 11a as a pre too and while not as resolving as my previous Moon pre, the 11 & 11a can hold their head high in this area. Damn good for a HT product.

Having the dual HDMI inputs is fine for my requirements.

I've had to re-learn the new remote for adjustments in the dark, as the buttons have changed.

I highly recommend this unit and I plan to make some advances to the HT system through 09 around this processor.

Thanks to Josh for great service he gave me with this purchase, even if the wait from Cary was a little on the looong side!

Received my Cary 11a a few days ago and have a similar view of the number of hdmi inputs as Phil . When you only have one source [possibly 2]that can avail itself of the lossless codecs [bluray] it makes sense. I also appreciate the ability to seperate not just video processing but also low level pre amp signals from noisy power amps.

What can I say but the surround processing prowess of the cirrus logic 49970 dual core 32 bit chipset with lossless from my pio 51fd is the best Ive ever heard . When I cued up the start of 3:10 to yuma the crispness of the crackling flames sounded natural [thats the best compliment I can think of] .Sound steering was top notch;delineation of even the most incidental foley effect just draws you in.Even the dd 5.1 of 'black sheep' was very good. Apparently theres a scene that goes under 20 hz ;almost up to it. Compared to the dd decoding of my old integra dtr 10.5 its more transparent.

Ime not into 2ch music as much as multichannel but the analog passthrough was certainly appreciated . I played back a piece of music Ime familiar with 'The who live at leeds' with the pios wolfsohn 8740 dac analog outs being fed through the cary to a rotel rmb 1077 then to my timberwolf ribbon /cone speakers . For a recording that dates from about 1970 I heard discernible words that were mush to me last time [pretty transparent throughput ;though Ive not heard a good pre with h/t bypass I must add] . I can only imagine how good a dedicated cd player would improve things

Ile list a few things the cary has in its favour

1. It has the processing power to apply PL2X to DTS HDMA 5.1 decoded by the cary ; no worries there

2. It has extremely comprehensive crossover options ; full 40/60/70/80/90/100/110/120/130/150hz ; and that is for all speakers including the subwoofer.

3.It uses a cascading system for its bass management . This means the subwoofer doesnt have to handle the .1 lfe + all the redirected bass below other speakers hi pass filters. For example the frequencies below your surround x overs can go to the main L/R speakers if they have low bass extension and share the low frequency load. This is how Ive set up mine so the sub only has to handle frequencies under 40 db . And my transmission line speakers can soak up discs like 'the orphanage'

4. When you look at the price of the 11a plus say a dvdo edge [which has a dedicated hdmi audio output ;for synergy]and the price of the opposition ;nuff said.

5. Lets you save up for a superior standalone audessey unit please pm Wavetrain for some good news if interested

6. It has an intuitive settup process with better options than the old c11. No on screen display though so dont think its got buckets of options/ bells and whistles .

7. I should add its got full bass management for analog inputs so if you add a pioneer 91 its like the equivalent of 3 hdmi inputs if you dont want a vp .

8.It does take a second to lock on to a hdmi signal and that doesnt bother me as Ide rather it lock on properly ;but others may have different views . Mine has the new ver1.02 firmware and cary were very quick with it too

9. Its got balanced inputs/outputs . Just the thing for long runs and low noise/ emi cancelling runs. Just because a component has xlr's doesnt mean it has the proper +/- phase cancelling circuitry .
10. Just cause I like even numbers ; the cary can accept a pure dsd signal through its dacs .

If Ive been too positive about the cary you understand Ime hard put to ascribe negatives as it applies to my requirements;as allways its what works for you. Its been a long wait but worth it in the end

New firmware up on the cary site

http://www.caryaudio.com/support/update11a.html

How are you finding the unit after upgrading to the latest firmware?? any issues?
As I'm looking at getting one soon.

Ime still on 1.02 Scotto ; from what I read at avs its an improvement for locking on to hdmi signals; my programming guy can do it ; dont want to brick it

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread....315&page=40

I look forward to individual per source speaker settup in the future ; Barry Gordon has shown its possible . The firmware is restrictive atm in this respect but can be switched between movies/music .

Hi Everyone,

Just an update that FW version 1.04 has been released. It appears that this update has resolved all issues that had been reported (I am sure something else will come up or someone will want some new feature in the future). You can download the FW on the Cary website or return the unit to your dealer for the update.

We have also received the HDMI update kit, which should resolve any handshake issues that may exist (although most of these issues have not been reported in Australia). The kit will be sent to the relevant dealers, for updating any existing client units. New Cinema 11a's will already have these updates applied. I will have the kit in the short term at least, so any NSW clients please contact me to organise. Melbourne will most likely be next.

Last report is that the Cinema 11v is due for release next month, as was announced a few months ago. Fingers crossed .

It was a long wait for Cinema 11/11a owners, but it looks like we finally have the outcome we were waiting for. Thank you for your patience. It might have taken a while to get right, but Cary have showed a steady commitment to addressing every issue.

Regards,

David

Hi any update if the 11v is released yet?

I'll be looking to do my HT later this year and may look at the 11a/11v combo.

Also the pricing of this combo would be appreciated.

Cheers
AD

Its a long wait AD ; PMed JoshH the other day as I was half expecting the 11v a few months ago ;no reply as yet .PM Wavetrain for price ; the 11a maybe around $5000+ ?

Should have an update on the Cienma 11v later this week. This unit has been undergoing rigorous testing by ISF calibrators and had redesigns based on the feedback.

Pricing on the Cinema 11a is $5,399 and the Cinema 11v will be $4799.

Regards,
David

Seems to be a recurring theme with Cableman. I've had to chase them almost every step of the way whenever I've asked them about something. The latest is "So and so will get back to you to confirm the dates for Projector installation in the next couple of days". That was last Wednesday (24/06) and still no confirmation. Whilst Josh's replies have always been relatively consistent / helpful I can't say the same for the rest of the company. I rarely take days off work so I have to organize this carefully (As I do with all things). In direct contrast to this experience I had some fantastic work done by A1 Audio (Scoresby) recently and I could not fault their communication, professionalism & standard of work.

Now one day I will be spending updwards of $250,000+ on a dedicated HT so it behooves companies to treat every customer query with the highest regard whether they are buying a power cable or building a dedicated room. I tend to have a long memory when it comes to these things. 2 days means 2 days to me - it doesn't mean 4, it doesn't mean 6 - it means 2 days. You can have all the fluff in the world about Customer Service on your website but if it's not put into practice it means quite frankly - jack *&it to me.

The number #1 thing I look for with any company is Customer Service - the rest should just follow. I absolutely hate having to chase retailers after you have made a query. Audio Trends in Melbourne are notoriously bad for this as well (Others experiences might be different) - chase, chase, chase.

Sorry for the OT.

Blade

P.S Maybe I should move to Toorak and buy a Million + dollar house in order to get some service