Thanks. Will check it out.
Cary SLP 98 users, past and present, are there any left?
Recently purchased the above mentioned preamp in Jaguar red, has phono section and Lundahl MC upgrade, also Hexfred rectifiers and is direct-coupled. Most of that means little to me but I know the upgrades matter. I am very pleased to far with what I hear and I am listening to nearly new cheap tubes. I'm going to burn them in awhile before deciding what to look for in tube rolling. I have yet to try the phono section as I use my Cary PH301 phono pre and SAEC SUT. Listening to LP12 with Linn Karma LOMC. It all sounds very damn good to me. CD's are easier on the ears than they used to be. I think the tubes tame them down a tad. Currently listening to them on a very old Pioneer DVD player V7400. I think it may sound better than my 20 bit Denon which is up for repairs.
Cut to the chase, just wanted you guys to know the electronics, front end anyway. 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 but it is warm, I'd say twice as warm as my PH301 PS, which is about the same case. It does sound very good. I'm just hoping that I didn't cause harm in my first session. Was only a few minutes but knew something was wrong and found that the umbilical was the problem. I was shocked that it was possible to put it together incorrectly. Never had that trouble on the PH301.
Anyway, overall, I am very pleased and know that I will likely be looking at different tubes down the road. Only complaint is the remote. 5k preamp and 50 cent remote. Kind of cheesy. Not enough to be displeased with anything, just an observation.
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@billpete , I was going to throw a couple of cents in, but I got distracted by something else; anyway, my SLP-90 also has a standy switch (I am sure the '94 did as well) and I used to leave it off most of the time also. If I remember, when I was going to listen (and I am no longer someone whose system is playing all day long, slthough I miss those days) I'd put it in stand by for a while before I would turn it to 'on'. I am sure this will be debunked, but in my mind it was sort of (sort of are the operative words) a soft start. I say sort of because I think all that happens in standby are that the heater filaments are getting power, so the tubes are already warm to some degree. On the standby subject, and this is probably tmi, in '94 I bought my first tube amp; it was a Cary SLA 70 Signature and it also had a standby switch. I was totally new to tubes (or better end altogether) back then, and I made so many stupid mistakes and called cary tech support up with so many stupid questions . . . anyhow, that little amp has four 6550 output tubes and I left it in standby 24/7 X 365. Somewhere down the road, probably after tubes were worn out and I was trying to figure out what was wrong, I was talking to this great tech guy Cary had at the time (a big shout out to Kirk Owens, where ever he may be now) and he told me that it was not his advice to have my amp always in standby. Ramble on. . . . |
I think Cary says to leave in standby mode 24/7. I don't. Seems counterproductive to me to keep any part of the tubes working all the time. Plus, I'm anal about leaving anything on unattended. Hazards of being a retired firefighter. It doesn't have to make sense to everyone. We don't care what you think. :) So............I run mine as you do. From off to standby for awhile, full on for awhile. Listen and enjoy. |
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@billpete , I take it that this preamp has settled in for you and is sounding pretty good? |
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