Any experience with CA 5300

[spykids777]

Hi,

I have never had a Classe Amp. Currently own Denon 5308CI receiver. Am considering the CA 5300 - anyone has any exp with this Amp. Will be using it with my 803d, HTM4 and Atlantic Tech Surrounds.

Thanks

[wettou]

Hi,

I have never had a Classe Amp. Currently own Denon 5308CI receiver. Am considering the CA 5300 - anyone has any exp with this Amp. Will be using it with my 803d, HTM4 and Atlantic Tech Surrounds.

Thanks

Love them very clean, use CA-5200 the CA-5300 sound nice as well and should be a major upgrade from your DEnon :T

[hifiguymi]

There was a thread about the CT-5300, which only differs in chassis, a little while ago.

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=36567

Eric

[spykids777]

Does anyone know if CA5300 are that popular that they are backordered?

[wettou]

Does anyone know if CA5300 are that popular that they are backordered?

Selling like hot cakes:T At $10,000 ouch

[spykids777]

Well that is what my dealer is telling me!! Backordered for ~ 1week?

[wettou]

Well that is what my dealer is telling me!! Backordered for ~ 1week?

Back-ordered for ~ 1week?

Well that not bad at least your will be hot of the press

Let us know when you audition

[spykids777]

So NO-ONE here has had a Classe 5300 Amp till now!! I am wrong to think of buying it for my 803D speakers??

[hardy]

CA-5300 on Saturday

Today my dealer called me, that my CA-5300 arrived in his shop. will pick it up on Saturday. Maybe then there´will be my 4 CA-M600, too. Will let you know my experience next week

Peter

[spykids777]

Will definitely wait for your input.

Thanks

[spykids777]

Hi Hardy

So did you pick up your Amp? What was your impression?

[hardy]

In germany we say: an old man is not an express train.

Picked it up on Saturday. Installed it on Sunday. Starts it on Monday.
my first impression is that tere is more power in the bassand the soundstage is wider and deeper than that of the CA-5200.
Will tell more in a few days, when the break-in period is over.

Hardy

PS: This week I will receive The first 2 of my ordered 4 CA-M600.

[spykids777]

Will wait for your input Thanks

[ukwildcat]

I've had my CT-5300 since just before Christmas.

HUGE upgrade from my old Proceed HPA2 / 3 amps. Even though on the surface it's not MUCH of an upgrade (300wpc versus 250wpc) it was INSTANTLY obvious that this is really a GREAT DEAL MORE power than the spec suggests.

I've played it a few hours a day since and it shows no signs of breaking in. My dealer says AT LEAST 500 hours. It sounds a bit veiled at the moment.

One thing this amp does is it's VERY GOOD at telling you if something goes wrong. The bad part is it shuts off and blinks it's light at you (in that reddish-orange color it uses) but there are error logs, etc. if you have it connected up via CANBUS (and there's no reason you shouldn't). It has shutdown TWICE, for overvolt. Sure enough, there was a loose connection on one channel (first shutdown) AND a loose connection when I swapped the center channel.

So far, it's great. It is a HUGE unit - I should have paid more attention to it's sheer size than I did; I had to reroute all my cabling.

[style]

hi ukwildcat,

sorry what do you mean with "reroute all my cabling"?

I had the same problem with my old ca5200. It has shutdown TWICE, for overvolt: with a software from Classe was a to much "low frequency"?!?!?

with the protection is not a problem but was strange. a ampli expensive with this "problem". (with a old Rotel 5 x 500watt / Rb1090 mono 5 pc. . never had this problem)

Classeaudio told me that it was possible to reduce the level of protection software. Only problem: the low level passes more electricity that reaches the speakers. first of all the breaking point more fragile tweeter!

than , I dont know why (nothing changed) all worked very fine.

now I have a CA3200 for center and rear and a ca2300 for L&R. :T

a "big" and multi channel amplifier will be never purchase from me.

[ukwildcat]

hi ukwildcat,

sorry what do you mean with "reroute all my cabling"?

I had the same problem with my old ca5200. It has shutdown TWICE, for overvolt: with a software from Classe was a to much "low frequency"?!?!?

with the protection is not a problem but was strange. a ampli expensive with this "problem". (with a old Rotel 5 x 500watt / Rb1090 mono 5 pc. . never had this problem)

Classeaudio told me that it was possible to reduce the level of protection software. Only problem: the low level passes more electricity that reaches the speakers. first of all the breaking point more fragile tweeter!

than , I dont know why (nothing changed) all worked very fine.

now I have a CA3200 for center and rear and a ca2300 for L&R. :T

a "big" and multi channel amplifier will be never purchase from me.

I am not a rich man, so I don't live in a big house..

I have all my gear in a nice Salamander cabinet, but because of the sheer size - and depth - of the CT-5300, in order to give my cables enough clearance in the rear WITHOUT moving the cabinet (possible, but then I would have to move everything for viewing / listening distance, etc.) I had to reroute cabling in the back. I probably should have done it ages ago.

I agree that it is really - at first - VERY frustrating to have a $10K piece of equipment suddenly shutdown, and almost always shortly after powering it up. However, I give it credit - in both cases, it was CORRECT. It was not a good condition for it to be operating. Your Rotel would never have failed for a loose connection, true.. But it should have.

I use Arcam gear in my downstairs system (also with Aerial speakers, like my main system) and I have blown a $3K pair of bookshelves because it overvolted. Aerial fixed them for free (and just this once, they said - they seem to have known what blew them).

Both times the CT-5300 faulted I had company, so it's embarrassing, but it was easily fixed and a good time was had by all.

Even though I do have to save, etc. to afford such gear, I don't regret it. My HPA2 / HPA3 was a FANTASTIC combo for oh.. 11 years, I think I had it? In fact, I was VERY reluctant to upgrade all those years because I didn't really think you could do better for a "reasonable" amount of money.

Well, I was wrong, but only recently.

FANTASTIC amp.

I bought the CT-SSP (I auditioned the SSP-800 when it came out) because I thought it was absolutely the best multichannel I ever heard, it equalled my two-channel Mark Levinson separates, it was CLEARLY superior to my Lexicon processor, it looked good, and it was very easy to operate.

The latter cannot be overstated, in my opinion. Complexity is fine - I'm an Engineer by trade - but there's a limit. Also, others could not enjoy it without me because there were too many components, etc. etc.

MUCH easier now, and it really is a joy. It needs more breaking in, but it does sound as good as I think is possible now. It's just as good with two-channel as multichannel, and not only is it a remarkable achievement, it makes my life SO much easier in terms of ease-of-use, space it takes up, power, etc.

Now, if it had faulted WITHOUT cause.. Well, then I'd just be upset. So far, it hasn't.

Oh, but be careful.. Don't unplug it BEFORE reading the error codes. It doesn't seem to retain them after a power cycle.