Cary slp-05 tubes rumor or fact?

My experience with Cary’s service was so bad I never unboxed my unit. I could never recommend this brand.

I tried the octal extensions with the Treasures in my Cary slp98 and did not like them at all. Try the Psvane CV181-TII aka 6SN7, these fit and are much better tubes than the Treasure, in my opinion. 

I second Tango tilingo's opinion, I also went from the '98 (now in office system) to the '05, and though the former is a great value the '05 is on another level altogether. Mine has NOS Sylvania 6SN7s in the four critical positions (for single-ended operation) and metal base Philips 5AR4 rectifier. Superb!

I bought a new SLP-05 preamp about a year ago it came with the stock tube, it sound fantastic and no

issues with tube durability, the best preamp for the

money period.

I upgrade from the cary slp-98 to the beauty and beast slp-05 I had it for about a year and it sound fantastic with the stock tube and so far no problem whatsoever the best preamp for the money period.

Dminches - mine has been on almost continuously for 2 years using stock tubes. I have not seen reports of short tube life.

Regarding different tubes in the SLP-05, has anyone experienced short tube life in the pre amp? A friend of mine had a pair of NOS Tung Sols which lasted only several hundred hours. It is possible that the tubes weren't NOS, but I am curious if there is any pattern here.

Unfortunately I can answer the question regarding the fit, or lack thereof, of the Black Treasure tubes to a Cary SLP-05. I just today received six of the original ceramic base Black Treasures from Parts Connexion and I can report first hand that they will not fit my Cary SLP-05! I am awaiting a response from their returns department to see if they will either take them back or swap me for the new Psvane model with the smaller metal bases. Parts Connexion already suggested the socket saver solution but I am not willing to add another contact, and more metal, in my critical signal path. Granted it is my own fault for not checking here first but, seriously, why the he'll would anyone make a new production 6SN7 tube that does not fit a standard 6SN7 socket? Anyone want a good deal on six brand new Black Treasures? These may show up in the For Sale section here on Audiogon real soon...

The Slp-05 at the show has been seriously modified by Chapman Audio not Cary. Many mods were done both physically and electronically. He even drilled the chassis in order to fit those Black Treasure Tubes.

Sorry for the repeat post. I was deleting old windows and while deleting it somehow posted another copy. Sorry.

I found this interesting explanation of Psvane tubes and its relationship to Shuguage and Black Treasures.

Psvance and Grant Fidelity

It seems that the Psvane 6sn7 is out of production while there new facility is coming on line. And, from the link, Black Treasures may not be available going forward in the US, or if they are they may not be up to the quality of the originals.

The tubes in the Cary newsletter look like they are ST tubes and might be Psvane from the Shuguage plant. Obviously, you can't be sure from the picture.

Kiwi - thanks. So Psvane's 6SN7s made at the Shuguang factory should be pretty much the same, but with smaller bases, if I understand correctly. Guess we will have to wait and see what the new Psvane's are like. From the Grant Fidelity website, it seems that the Black Treasures can vary very widely in performance. Hopefully the new factory will tight that up.

Dtc,

The tubes in the Cary newsletter are CV181-Z Shuguang Treasure tubes. I asked. BTW, the SLP-05 in the photo was privately owned and the owner had to modify the chassis to fit the tubes.

I found this interesting explanation of Psvane tubes and its relationship to Shuguage and Black Treasures.

Psvance and Grant Fidelity

It seems that the Psvane 6sn7 is out of production while there new facility is coming on line. And, from the link, Black Treasures may not be available going forward in the US, or if they are they may not be up to the quality of the originals.

The tubes in the Cary newsletter look like they are ST tubes and might be Psvane from the Shuguage plant. Obviously, you can't be sure from the picture.

Sophia sound like the EH ,but with much better definition and detail.The Psvane is even more detail and very organic.Very smooth from top to bottom.I would recommend having a quad of the Psvane on the 4 left first then a pair of Sophia at position #3 and #6.

Thanks Jtran.

I currently run four Hytrons and a pair of Cryo'd gold pin EH. But you now have me considering buying a quad of the Sophias and Psvanes and trying various combos. This could be fun!! How would you characterize the difference between the two?

Regards,

John

Psvane 6sn7 is the same as the black treasure tube .But the tube base is a little smaller.I did try the Pope 6sn7 tube from Upscale audio and still preffered the stock EH 6sn7 tube .I'm now using Psvane 6sn7 in the 4 left and Sophia 6sn7 in the balanced and very happy with the sound.

Thanks for all the good info everyone.

Kiwi_1282001:

I've taken the BT's off my list. Thanks

Right now I am using CBS Hytron 5692's which I feel do have an enjoyably deep soundstage. But the bug in my ear keeps telling me that there must be an even better tube out there that meets my criteria. Any recommendations from other previous Hytron users in the slp-05 that have moved on to greener pastures tube-wise?

Thanks

John

Kiwi - thanks. Let us know if you find out what tubes Cary used.

Hi Dtc,

Referring to tube positions as outlined the SLP-05 manual, Tubes 3 and 6 are the Balanced Input Buffer Tubes. These are in the signal path for any balanced input so the preamp was probably being used single-ended in the photo or at least with single-ended inputs.

Hi all,

Cary definitely do not recommend the tube socket extensions. They have talked with customer’s that have used them and they report a very dramatically reduced their sound quality. When removed and the tube they were using was directly inserted in the original socket the sound quality returned. One was on a SLP-98 and the sound change was said to be dramatic.

Please note the CV-181 can not be used in the SLP-05 without enlarging the holes in the chassis.

It looks like they only replaced the 4 left most tubes. That might go along with what I remember that you only need to replace 4 of the 6 when using single ended inputs. Kiwi - maybe you can ask them about that issue also.

Hi John,

Perchance did you see Cary's latest newsletter? Looks to me that they replaced stock Cary tubes in the SLP-05 for the Rocky Mountains show. I am asking them what they used.

SEE HERE

If you find something that truly does depth, resolution and dynamics please let me know :-)

Regards

Has2be/Kgturner,

Thanks for the idea. I'll see if I can get some dimensional info on the octal savers, then decide

Raquel,

NOS options are in my auditioning plans. Just heard such good things about the Black Treasure that they made the first cut of my choices. Thought if confirmed that they will not fit, that would eliminate them from further consideration.

Kiwi_1282001,

Looking for that elusive combination of 3-D soundstage (particularly depth) and great dynamics.

Markus1299,

I have NOS pope 12ax7s and really like their effect on the sound. Best ones I used. Just didn't want to spend the big $$$$ for (6) 6SN7s.

Jtran,

Thanks - maybe an option

Jtwrace,

Thanks for your kind advice. But I am still in tube roll mode and not yet in unit replacement mode.

Dtc

I replaced it with a Dodd Buffer at the time and now have the TRL Dude which is amazing.

I read somewhere that if you are using single ended inputs rather than balanced, 2 of the tubes are not used. Can anyone confirm that and if so, which ones? Replacing 4 rather than 6 tubes would be cheaper. Obviously the headphone ones would not need to be upgraded unless you are using headphones, which I am not.

Jwtrace - what did you replace it with? Or did you go passive?

I found that the Pope Holland's sounded best but in the end what really made it sound better was to get rid of the SLP-05.

Psvane 6sn7 will fit.I'm using them in my Cary 05.They sound much better than the stock tubes.

I spent considerable time and dollars experimenting with NOS 6SN7's in my Cary SLP05 preamp. I found that the Pope 6SN7GT,s were far and above the best sounding tubes in this preamp.

What type of sound are you looking for John?

I have tried quite a few different 6SN7 tubes in my SLP-05 (but admittedly not the Black Treasures). While changing the tone and character of the music the different tubes almost without fail saw a loss in dynamics and air and sometimes resolution too.

I'm curious as to why you are so anxious to try new production 6SN7's given that the 6SN7 is one of the few tubes for which there are still tons and tons of excellent new-old-stock available at reasonable prices. The better production out of Shuguang is indeed good stuff - I'm not trying to diss the Black Treasure tubes - but it hardly seems necessary.

Has2be has a point BUT I'm betting you will know if the tubes are better or not even with the extra connection.
Tyi them with the sockets. If it indeed sounds better, you could consider something more drastic as Has2be suggests also.
If they don't sound better, don't even think about if it's JUST because of the sockets (it won't be), sell the tubes and move on.

The spacers may give you the ability to try the tubes but how would you ever know the real gain of them by adding another large connection that surely would have some negative effect.

Cheers

You could try to purchase an "Octal saver" which is an adapter that would raise the height of the socket. Not sure how deep Cary's sockets are so you might not be able to easily retrieve the adapter once you put it in place. Good luck.

http://www.vacuumtubesinc.com/Products/SocketsAdaptersParts/AdaptersandParts.aspx

If the openings on the SLP-05 for the 6SN7 tubes are as I would suspect the same as on an SLP-98P they will not fit. No more than a 1/16 of an inch clearance for a standard tube base. Cary designed them for estetics so the tube is seen not the base. The sockets can be swapped out (and upraded at the same time) to be flush with the top of the pre so you could use the black treasure tubes but if you cant perform it yourself it would make trying the tubes more costly. I doubt very much if its a matter of removing the stand offs in between the socket and the top of the pre without actually changing the socket for its different mounting design.
Cheers