Cary SLP 98 users, past and present, are there any left?

The first time I tried the new Cary, I had the umbilical crossed up and only the phono stage seemed to engage. The PS got quite warm. It still runs warm and that is the question. How warm should it run? It's certainly not too hot to touch

Sorry, @billpete , I have no experience with the SLP-98 to relate to you; however, with my SLP-05, the power supply gets VERY warm after a couple hours of playing.  Not hot enough to burn the palm of my hand, but still, quite warm.  I got the impression from other previous '05 threads that other owner/operators experienced the same thing.  (With that typed, I realize that the '05 utilizes a 5AR4 rectifier tube withing the power supply that the '98 does not, but I am still thinking that all of that warmth is not coming from that tube.)  And I am afraid that when I was running my SP-90 I never did check the power supply to check how warm it was (because I had the power supply on that set up located out of sight/out of mind).

I am not overly crazy about what Cary Audio customer service has devolved to (although it may just be industry standard, and in the old days Cary had me spoiled) but you might try giving them (Cary) a call and asking about that issue.  I'd bet that they will probably tell you to send an email with your question, and (in my experience) it may take a couple of emails before they answer, but that would probably be the route to go.

@billpete do you recall how the power supply looked when unpacking it, and was the umbilical cord pinched or jammed inside the cardboard box or anything like that? Was the shipping box in good condition when you received it?

Checking my own, yes the power supply gets warm.  However, it does not get to be excessively hot. Next time I have mine powered on for a day, I may have to use a meter and measure how warm it gets and others could do the same.  

@decooney 

I have to say that everything was very well packed and I don't see how anything could have been damaged in shipping without throwing it off a building. Box was not damaged at all, preamp and PS were individually wrapped very well in large bubble wrap, double boxed and padded with foam. The umbilical was neatly coiled in about an 8 or 10 inch circle and on top of the components, padding above and below it. No damage to anything. I'm sure of that. It just runs warmer than my other Cary PS but it has twice the work to do, more or less. The other one is phono stage only, this is preamp with MC phono. Probably makes the difference. It isn't scary hot, just warm. 

The umbilical seems to be non-directional, has no arrows and both ends are the same. My Cary phono stage is directional with two different ends. Any thoughts on that? I started a conversation about directional cables and it lasted for a long time with no real conclusions either way as far as I can tell. Some huge arguments on both sides. So much so, that I lost interest in the whole idea. :)

To @billpete ,  I fired up the system later today and checked after work.  

Results, on a scale of 1-10, and 0 being room temperature at 68 degrees, and let's say 10 is scorching hot to the touch where you can't leave your hand on more than 10 seconds without feeling burned - this is what I can share.  

Rear/Back, 1

Top Rear, 1

Top Middle, 2

Top Front 3

Front Face, 7-8 

The front is where the umbilical cord gets plugged in. The face does get pretty warm. About as hot as my Pure Class A 50w solid state amp gets and it's biased up pretty good.  Hopefully that helps. If not let me know and I'll get temp gauges out this weekend.  

@decooney 

Thanks for this. I think I'm comfortable with it after what you say. It gets warm, not what I'd call hot. I could leave my hand on easily without discomfort. 

Where do you normally have your separate channel volume controls? I've been tying to figure out what sounds best, channels up, main volume down, etc. One thing for sure, I have plenty of gain.