Cary SLI-80HS modifications

decooney they are listed as MCap SUPREME EVO SilverGold.

Hello all, I too just recently took delivery on a new SLI80-HS. I am blown away. I opted for all the upgrades. With the sale it was hard to resist. I have only had limited listening time at this point, and no doubt I'm weeks away from things really burning in, but wow!. I also opted for the cage, its very well done. 

I sold Cary back in the early 90's and let me say the modern version shows/sings it's constant improvement and evolution. Going by decades old memory here, i find the sound to be less syrupy. It sounds more focused and tighter, no loss on the sweetness of tube highs and mids. SS rectifier to thank for this?

@doyle3433 It sounds more focused and tighter, no loss on the sweetness of tube highs and mids. SS rectifier to thank for this?

Different new production stock tubes, yes ss vs. tube rectification, different coupling caps, hexfred upgrade, all contributes to a less "tubey" and faster and more modern sound.

Fortunately the Triode/UL switch is still there from the old design to enjoy that too, provided you have the right efficiency speaker with the lower wattage in triode mode. Some of us put the stock EH tubes in their boxes, replace from there. 

@decooney Thank you for the feedback. I haven’t yet listened in triode mode. I do enjoy female vocals, so I’m looking forward to it. My speakers are Volti Razz, with sensitivity in the low to mid 90’s. (part of the reason i really sought out the SLI-80 is due to hearing the Razz/Cary combo as my first experience, the spell was cast as it turned out..)

You mentioned some tube rolling.. I’ve enjoyed doing so in my old Mac240. I think the SLI-80 has the ability of more tube variety, so I’m keen to roll so to speak.

Any advice on what you’ve found to be nice pairings? Everyone else feel free to suggest as well.

@doyle3433 Any advice on what you’ve found to be nice pairings? Everyone else feel free to suggest as well.

While I stupidly parted with my own Cary SLI-80 a few years ago, I’ve followed along with others since. Cary bought it back from me, paid FULL price for it wanting to see/hear the mods I/we did with a local industry tech friend who’s now retired. The customer who bought it from Cary called me and really likes it a lot. He wanted to buy all the GL tubes and all of the vintage tubes I still had for it too. Good fun.

Following some of my history, a buddy [tube nut] received his new SLI-80 two weeks ago and while he swapped out the large stock KT88 output tubes for PSVANE EL34s (his preference), he’s been reminding me how swapping out the front two small 6922s makes the most difference. Its crazy, he’s already trying 5 different 6922 pairs he had on order, some new, some NOS vintage. This tube change kind of depends on what you are looking for in terms of more/less detail, or midrange, and such. He runs horn speakers too and hears every 6922 tube change.

imo, yours is a bit more of a special case with those Volte horns you have. Change matters, and select tubes well. As you let it break in, feel free to send me a PM/DM and I can share his my/notes with you. He did not like the stock EH at all though, and same experience I had. Depends on what you hear from your Volte’s.

His last two sets of 6922 this week [new production] were JJ gold pins, and vintage he’s really liking the [vintage production] Amperex 6922s. He’s got more burn-in required on his SLI-80 though. He rolls more tubes than anyone I know, to an obsessive degree. Problem is those old Amperex [matched pairs] are getting to be ridiculously expensive. I would only recommend getting those from a very reputable tube seller with a guarantee/return policy if you go down the vintage rabbit hole. I had Gold Lyon KT88s/6922s in my SLI-80 and they worked better than some vintage tubes i tried. Your situation could be different and call for different tubes - again, depending on what you are looking for from the sound.

I see you have the Cutest dac paired with GR cables. I’ve never tried that dac, but I did recently pick up the Border Patrol SE-I DAC, same dac that BorderPatrol / Volte / TriodeWireLabs uses a the shows. This BP SE-I dac is soft and gentle, i.e so picking a soft 6922 with this BP dac NOT be a good idea, as an example. Whereas I understand your Chord Cutest is a bit more detailed, so balancing things out matters and you may decide to lean one direction or the other with 6922s.