Cary Audio CAD-280SA V12R

6L6 cheapo EH valves, broke in a bit  and sound really good now...
4 so so valves, sound great, Last 6L6, unit that sounded this good was a fresh MC240 with really good caps and PS upgrade. Couldn't get cheap valves to sound as good though. The Mac liked quality, well matched valves...

This amp, not nearly as picky. 6V6 next on the agenda.

What's the monoblock version like? Anyone have or had a pair?
Not a lot of those floating around.

 A second I or R would be a nice A/B after component swaps...and 
a great addition to another house system.

Patience..ya never know.. Any V12s collecting dust out there?...

Regards

They all pop up for sale periodically, particularly during summer time and function even better over the winter season. 

With twelve power tubes and four input/driver tubes, the collective sixteen tubes in a V12R also functions well as a great room heater. 

The el34 run the coolest, the KT88s run hot for sure.  I'm thinking 4 EL34 during the summer days, (ran cool actually) and I can add a quad or two for the evening hours, if  the occasion should arise... 

Yes wonderful heaters in the winter months, for sure. 

Now for a summer special. Someone's on the fence with an I or R
just waiting to find a new home....Probably in someone's closet as I type...

I'm patient... usually..

Regards

re: Heat, my local tech-friend (40yr Mcintosh tech, Repair/Modifier guy) was adamant I did not need to run the bias up to spec, had me running it as low as 200ma per side. Felt it was a waste of energy and extra heat for no reason.  I tried it at lower bias and it actually sounded great, ran cooler for sure. Extends tube life too!  

You know there is a a lot of talk on bias, cool leans out the sound thin, quack quack , to hot shortens tube life and runs hot . I've found that there is a sweet spot for biasing valves. It actually SOUNDS better. Again not just a little.  I use these from 300hz UP, no bass duty at all.

A Mac TEC, usually doesn't bias stuff after it's set up. Set it and forget it, its one of the good things about a Mac,  BUT I have a 240 you can.  AB (push pull amps) not so critical, Class A, it makes a BIG difference, AB too, if you really listen, just not as dramatic.....

So The R has the better transformer and the 12XXX. 

What about the monoblocks? same. Ver 1.2.3 ? Kinda rare for sure.