Official Cary Cinema 11a/11v Owner's Thread

Welcome to the NEW Cary Cinema 11a/11v owner's thread!

Special thanks to mrmike186 for his permission to close the old thread and to markrubin for all his help with the logistics.

Click here to jump to the previous Cinema 11a thread.

Click here to jump to the original Cinema 11 thread.

Please feel free to offer suggestions for posts 1 and 2. I hope you find the new thread informative and useful!






MSRP $4000.00 (as of Jan 1, 2009)
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Cary Links

www.caryaudio.com
11A Owner's Manual
Cinema Series Brochure

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Cinema 11A Specs and Features



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FAQ


Yes. This feature now available with firmware v1.02

No. The 11a is an audio only processor. All HDMI video signals will pass through in their native format.


Yes. Firmware updates can be installed by the user with a PC via 9pin rs232 connection. See "Misc Links" below for latest firmware update available from Cary.

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Reviews

Music in the Round #25 - Stereophile's Kal Rubinson's Review of the original Cinema 11

KNOWN ISSUES/BUGS

When playing back a movie in bitstream or analog PCM; if you pause, rew or ff and back to play, the bass is gone. If you hit "SETUP" and select "MOVIE MODE" the sub comes back and everything sounds as it should. It's clear reselecting the movie mode profile is re-engaging the sub but it could also be re-engaging the crossover and every other setting under the profile. Our first thought was that it was possibly switching to music mode on it's own but that is not the case as I had all speaker set to OFF under the music profile. It appears it's just bypassing or losing the profile settings during playback. This doesn't seem to happen with all discs but we were able to duplicate the issue with Iron Man, Dark Knight, Transformers and a few others. I was also able to duplicate this with my Velodyne SMS1 sub EQ. No output from the sub but after pressing SETUP, Movie Mode, the subwoofer returns. What's also important is this happens in HDMI and analog DSP. Issue can be replicated with multichannel analog in DSP mode.
Corrected with firmware v1.04

Users have claimed the Cary has trouble locking onto a DD signal but when changing the HDMI setting from bitstream to PCM, the Cary locks on pretty quickly. Not sure why this setting exists in the Cary since it should automatically determine bitstream or PCM.

Still a reported issue after firmware v.104

Some static and popping still occurs when locking on to an audio format. This will happen when a disc initially starts and when the disc changes audio format during playback.

Still a reported issue after firmware v.104

Cary default is Prologic IIx rather than the native format. You need to press the Dolby iix button to return to the native format. This did not occur before v1.03.
Corrected with firmware v1.04




Cinema 11a Features Wish List

-Speaker distance settings in .5ft increments. Currently only 1ft.
-Indepth Operations Guide. Current manual if very basic and lacks detail.
-Ability to assign "Music" or "Movie" profile to specific inputs.
-DialNorm or Dolby Volume Feature
-Independent trigger assignment. All 3 triggers assignable by input and by zone.
-HDMI Inputs 1 and 2 should be assignable to a specific input/s in the Input Setup Menu.
-The Lip Sync adjustment should be assignable and adjustable on a per input basis.

Misc Links

Firmware v1.04
Cinema 11a RS-232 Commands

from Mike Lavinge's post http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...29&postcount=6

ok, it's here.



time to replace the MC-12



excellent packaging; double boxed.



all the stuff; 2 remotes, mic and mic chord, manual, etc.



Cinema 11a, in black.



11a--rear.



11a on the shelf.



set up microphone....



above from Mike Lavinge's post http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...29&postcount=6

from Mike Lavinge's post http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...72&postcount=7

First Impressions

my first concern was; will the Cary Cinema 11a pass the HDMI 1.3 video signal thru to my Crystallio II without any issues?

so far; a big yes to that most important question. after comparing the Sony BDP-S350 straight into the Crystallio II and then thru the 11a; no difference we could see.....which means spactacular picture in both cases.

room set-up. we had some issues with getting any signal to the subwoofer. eventually we got it working.....and we think the problem had nothing to do with the 11a. as we are not sure wha the issue was i cannot really explain it.

once that was resolved the auto set-up was easy. the only glitch was that initially it would not play any test tones. we discovered that we needed to switch the input to a non-HDMI digital input; then it worked great.

my Home Theatre room is untreated acoustically. it's not that i don't believe in treatment; my dedicated 2-channel room......

http://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/663.html

......is designed acoustically from the ground up. i have just not been psyched enough about movie sound up till now to bother with treatment for the HT room.

after the set-up we played some discs. WOW! i am impressed.

we started with the Blue Ray 'Master and Commander' (DTS HD Master Audio 48khz); the first 10 minutes or so. scary good. layers and layers of rich natural detail....there is nothing quite like a large sailing ship for interesting sounds.

dynamic range and clarity that makes your hair stand up. the first battle scene came alive and it was almost too much realism. even with so much bombast nothing was hard or screechy......it all had a natural balance and foundation.

i was very impressed that my room held up quite well to high SPL's and a very complicated and energetic soundfield after the room set-up program was run. it is too soon for any conclusions but i think that the set-up process paid some dividends for sure.

we then played 'Live Free or Die Hard' (DTS-HD MA 48khz)......and more of the same stuff. natural, real, no edge.

so far the 11a is everything i hoped it would be.

we are now experimenting to see if we can send the HDMI 1.3 first to the Crystallio II and then to the 11a. we do get sound but not the top level bit rate stuff.

how does the 11a compare sonically to my Lexicon MC-12 v.2? there is no contest; the 11a kills it from what i have heard so far.

i have not tried any 2-channel analog and i never intend to use it that way. OTOH if i get the chance i'll take it down to my 2-channel room and compare it to the darTZeel in the 'big-rig' to see how it does.

my HT system; Toshiba HD-XA2 HD-DVD, Sony BDP-S350 Blue Ray, Comcast HD, JVC D-Theatre, Cary Cinema 11a, Lexicon LX-7 power amp, (2) Velodyne 12" Servo F, Revel F-30, S-30, C-30, Paradgim Studio 20's. JVC RS-1, Crystallio II Video processor, ISCO III, Dalite 115" x 49" 1.5 gain 2:35 screen. the room is 19' x 16' x 9.5' and light control is very good but not perfect.

From Jason Barbour's post http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...0&postcount=63

Nice to see a dedicated thread to the new Cinema 11a! I thought I would offer some answers to some questions that have been posted so far.

The auto-setup feature on the Cinema 11a is FAR from perfect. Basically this setup feature is a stock auto-setup that comes on the Cirrus Logic chip we use. We did not design it or anything similar. We simply left it in place so that it could be utilized if someone wanted to use it. We seriously debated on completely turning this feature off, but in the end decided to leave it on since it was there already.

I recommend that most people perform a manual setup. As some of you are finding out, at times the auto setup can give some off the wall readings depending on your room. On most occasions, it works as it should but it is really not continually reliable. Simply put, it is not perfect and we do recommend using an SPL meter and performing a manual setup.


As far as the unit not recognizing dts-HD and Dolby TrueHD, this is almost certainly an issue with the Blu ray player or the disc itself. I have found in my testing that many discs (I Am Legend & 300 are two) that the default audio codec is standard Dolby or standard dts. On the remote of your Blu ray player there is an "audio" button. Pressing this will advance the unit to look to the next available audio codec which is the high resolution version. Also, the problem with Blu ray, the high resolution audio and the technology in general is that it is continually changing. Some times, there may be an update that needs to be installed on your player in order to get the high resolution audio formats to play properly. This poses a problem to almost everyone who is getting involved in building or purchasing these products today. As soon as you buy something, there is an update you have to download.


Someone also mentioned RS232 control. We are finalizing the RS 232 codes for the C11a now and should have it finished next week. We will post it on the website as soon as it becomes available. Do not use the RS 232 code from the original Cinema 11. Though this will certainly not hurt the unit if you try, it simply won't work as it is code for the older unit.

Oh, as far as the Iron Man Blu ray, something is definitely fishy with this disc. This is one of our test discs and it does, in fact, sound like the "late" function has been engaged when you watch it. This is very frustrating as I was very much looking forward to the release of this disc, but the Dolby TrueHD soundtrack just doesn't sound right. Being TrueHD, the dynamic range should be incredible like the TrueHD soundtrack of all other movies, but this one in particular sounds very compressed. Too bad.


I will try to check back in here every so often to answer your questions, but I can't promise that it will be on long-term, regular basis. I will try to do it once or twice a day.

All,

Looking to expand on the wish list on page 2 of this thread. Please share reply with your "nice to have" features for the 11a so I can add them on.

Good one. I think that was added in the original letter... I'll add it above.

Good one.. added.

Added.. I wonder if there's a Dolby License involved since Dolby lists specific receivers with this feature. Would be nice to have but I bet it's more than just a software update that would be involved.

Gostan - a link to the previous thread is posted in post #1 and available for reading and any related research. We felt a new thread and an opportunity to consolidate specs, issues, known bugs and other related information on the first and second posts was necessary and keep things organized. Reported issues, feature requests, etc were all over the old thread. If anything, that would be hard to follow. We attempted to do this on the original thread but it wasn't technically possible.

I'm not sure why you would feel there was a dis-service done here? If all the posts are still intact and available to everyone, what's the difference?

Glad to see some non current owner's on the thread..

cyclecrazy - I'm with you.. there is something funky going on with the decoding both in DD and TRUEHD. However, another update is scheduled next Fri, according to an email I just received from Cary so I reserve final judgement until then.

All,

Just received an email from Jason. He wanted to confirm a couple of the reported issues and also informed me another update will be available next Friday. He also indicated the engineers are also looking into issues that they have identified above and beyond our last list of issues.

This sounds promising and a third update in just a couple of months is pretty good response if you ask me. I hope this is the mother of all updates..

From Jason;

"Thank you very much Anthony. We are working to resolve these issues and I hope to have the revised software available for download by next Friday. I know this is certainly a process, but rest assured we will get it right. Our engineers are working day and night to remedy all of the software related issues."

"We are currently working on the software problems you sent over as well as looking into a few other issues that we have found ourselves. We will post a revised version of software to our website as soon as it is finished."

That would be a function of an amp not a prepro. If you have a spare pair of outputs in your amp, you would just run another pair of speaker wire to the main speaker's second set of terminals. Some receivers offer this ability to use the rear surround power to use for biamping the fronts.

Tommy - Did you get your unit back from Cary yet?