Cary SLP98L Tube Rolling

I had an SLP98 with phono. My advice to you, unless you have the direct version, is to change your capacitors from the Kimber or the Cary oils to Teflons, REL TFT recommended (that is what I used so my recommendation). Will take a while to break in but when the do, great. This is a world class preamp crippled only by the caps used in the stock versions. To me, the improvement here was much much greater than changing tubes. For tubes, I used Sylvania chrome domes and was very happy with the combo. Better than stock but not better than changing the caps. Good luck.

can anyone suggest a reputable vendor for the tubes? i see a lot on on-line dealers, but i don't know who offers good service and good quality.

Vintage Tube Services - Andy Bouwman
Tube World - Brendan Biever

I have had excellent results getting 6SN7 tubes from both these sources.

i received more than one email from people who told me that tube rolling on this pre amp is not worth the money. they said that the difference in sound quality is so minimal that it is not worth the time and the expense.

anyone have an opinion on that?

In my system it was well worth the time and expense. As I said in a previous post, the Cary is most likely voiced to the Chinese 6SN7s, so they won't sound horrible, but in my system when I swapped in excellent NOS 6SN7s it was clear to me that there was more than a minimal difference.

There is only one way to find out. Give it a shot and hear for yourself.