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

@immatthewj 

OK, so I went back and read this thread. Interesting for sure. It would appear that not quite "full open" might be best? Hard to say for sure but listening to how each one behaves is probably the only real solution. There are so many variables with upgrades and even tube choices. I am not using the phono stage in the 98, haven't tried it yet so I have to consider the values of cartridge choice, SUT and the tubes in the Cary PH301. I usually have 5751's in the 12AX7 slots and they are lower gain than AX7. I just like most of the ones I've used. All this stuff comes into play.

So far, I notice a little bit of graininess at the high end at times when things can become shrill. I mostly attribute this to new crappy tubes but time will tell. Overall, I'm very pleased.

One question that I have is "Are the L&R input controls doing the exact same thing as the main volume pot or is there something different going on here"?

Many moons ago, I had a Crown amp that had attenuators on it. I learned that running them about 3/4 up, gave me the best performance. For typical loud listening for me, everything came to life when the preamp volume knob got past 12, usually around 1 sounded best to me. I found this also to be true in a later system with Parasound preamp and amps. No attenuators on the Parasound amps but volume on the PLD 2000 preamp brought life to music from 11 to 1. With the Cary, it is considerably below that, using the same Parasound amps. I have had not had it much past 10 even with the input levels only halfway up. It seems to sound very good in this range but I am still evaluating, still burning in tubes etc. 

I am not sure what went wrong with the link I pasted, but since it is too late to edit, I’ll try to paste it again:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/too-much-gain-cary-slp05-question?highlight=cary%2Bslp-05%2Btoo%2Bmuch%2Bgain

Anyway, @billpete

,One question that I have is "Are the L&R input controls doing the exact same thing as the main volume pot or is there something different going on here"?

that is a great question, but it is one that I cannot answer. What I THINK is that they are essentially all doing the same thing, but that the L & R input level pots are not as good a quality as the main volume pot which is why (I THINK) that on paper, or in theory, performance would be best if they were set to maxed out and the main volume pot was the only adjustment used to adjust volume with. But I am unclear on that, so maybe we could get some clarification from @harpo75 on this, as he has been quite generous with his time providing SLP-98 and SLP-05 answers.

So, @harpo75 , on the SLP-98 (and presumably the SLP-05?) are the left and right input level pots doing the same thing as the main volume pot? And would the signal be compromised or degraded if the left and right input level pots were adjusted down from fully maxed out to compensate for all the gain of the SLP-98 (or the SLP-05) and allow for more available real estate using the main volume pot?

So far, I notice a little bit of graininess at the high end at times when things can become shrill. I mostly attribute this to new crappy tubes but time will tell. Overall, I’m very pleased.

. . . my own experience with my preamp probably is not applicable to this. I have had back and forth discussions with @decooney related to Cary preamps and Cary amps, and from him I definitely have gotten the impression that the SLP-98 is voiced for a "sweet" sound (which I would think would be on the "warm" side) which should be on the opposite end of being shrill. The JJ tubes were previously discussed a bit in one of the previous threads and they generally get a bad rap, so I suppose that they could be the culprits. I’d still say if you can be patient enough (and I have always had a hard time with that, myself), give the tubes you have in it a chance to break in/burn in/mature and then see which way you think you need to go.

Although I think my own experiences are not applicable to the SLP-98, my SLP-90 is/was quite warm sounding and it made nearly everything I played sound fun and happy. So perhaps it was more forgiving of sub par source material (and with that typed, my source is strictly CDP). When I replaced that preamp with my SLP-05, what I noted was that with real good source material, the SQ was dramatically better--wider, higher . . . more/better detail and air and imaging and sound stage . . . but with poorly recorded/mixed/mastered source material . . . yuk. There are CDs with music I like that I don’t bother putting in my CDP anymore.

From what @decooney has said about his SLP-98, I would tend to think (but I may be reading into it) that the SLP-98 would lean tonally in the direction of what I found with my SLP-90 (but way more refined) as opposed to the direction I feel my ’05 goes.

@immatthewj 

I am not listening to the JJ tubes. I should probably just box them up as it's my understanding that I don't need them as long as I'm using a different phono stage. I should just be hearing the EH 6SN7 tubes which are not big favorites either. Two of mine are gold pin, two are not. Assuming the gold pins are better, I don't know which slots to put them in as I don't know which slots do what. I do not have a book on this preamp but will try to find one sooner or later. I have about 20 hours of listening/or at least on warm up, so far. Pretty much sounds the same at this point, not really burned in yet so I don't expect it to. I am not unhappy with anything and I appreciate where it can go from here. Nothing is so much as unpleasant, quite the opposite. I just get little details here and there that remind me of why I would seek out better tubes in the past. 

I did find your thread even though the link didn't work. It's easy to find by the subject matter. Someone suggested that halfway on the input pots was a good start, which is about where I had them in the beginning. I tried dropping them down some to be able to increase the main volume but I don't think it improved anything and may have gotten worse. Not that any is bad because it isn't. 

Having what seems like too much gain (maybe), I may remove the SUT and try without it. The only specs I can find on the Linn LOMC that I'm using, says that it has an output of .1mv which seems very low, even lower than my FR which has an output of .14. I think this may be wrong but I don't know. I suppose it could be 1mv and not .1mv. That would explain a lot. I almost always found that I would find more gain with Cd than I would with phono and now I am at around the same so something is different. I'll keep fiddling around til I figure it out. Thanks to all for all of the input. 

I do not have a book on this preamp but will try to find one sooner or later.

@billpete , if you go to Cary Direct’s site, you may be able to find a manual to download. It might take some screwing around and navigating if they are not showing a SLP-98 that you can click on, but if all else fails, I am about 99.9% sure that if you call them on the ph and speak to the sales dept (they will actually talk to you on the ph if you want to buy something) they would sell you one.

It slipped my mind when I posted that you were inquiring about the 6sn7s. I recall that on a 6sn7 thread that a member, @mulveling , had some good things to say about the re-issued TungSol 6sn7. I am not trying to start a separate discussion or argument, but the only reason I have not tried them is a personal one. Again, not that my ’05 experience is applicable, mine came with EHs and it was still a better sounding pre than my SLP-90 was with more expensive 12AU7s. As I am pretty sure I have already mentioned on one of these threads, I am running with a pair of vintage 6sn7s (or variants) for my balanced inputs (one of the differences in our preamps) and am combining that with four more JJ 6sn7s in the other slots and I THOUGHT at the time after I made the switch that I liked the JJs better than the EHs, but that may have been because I WANTED it to sound better. Regardless, as I think I have also previously typed on one of these ’98 threads, a quad of better, probably vintage, 6sn7s is on my short list.