Cary SLI 80 or Conrad Johnson CAV 50?

Marc Audio,

Your room is pretty big...1200 x 13 = 15,600 cubic feet. I am surprised that CJ CAV 50 with 50 tube watts could fill that room with good sound. In addition to that you are not even using a sub woofer. Wow..cool. Looks like a good option to check out. May be I should try CJ CAV 50 and cary SLI 80 and decide... starting with CJ.

Grakesh

Grakesh,

I am lying a bit, the entire aprtment is 1200 sq.ft. the open area where the Totems are measures some 700 sq.ft. That being said, you do hear them in the other rooms and in the main room the sound really goes wall to wall to wall. Listening to Brahms Concerto no.1, the orchestra tuttis do come across very vividly and the piano is, there, between the 2 speakers. Having heard the same piece in a concert on Monday from the 15th row on the parterre, I'd say the illusion is very very good.

The Cary SLI 80 has a headphone output and can be had with the remote control as well as a sub out. In the real world of living with gear, and other folks,those two additional things may be a real factor. Having said that, I would love to have either, perhaps the Cary more for the above reasons.
Good luck.

I also have Legacy Protege speakers (10+ years). Recently I bi-amped with solid-state to woofers and Tubes for tweeters. Currently I'm balancing with a passive pre-amp in between pre and power(tweeters). The Legacys need Hi-Current which the ss delivers. Go with the amp with highest current delivery. Bi-amp if possable (a decent used ss w/Hi-Current and good tubes [10 watts will be plenty] will beat just real good tubes alone, IE 2 lesser amps will beat 1 greater). My tubes are Harmon Kardon Citation II (known for Hi-current), totaly rebuilt (McShane), with KT-90's running in triode. SS was rotel bx-870 now Van Alston MOS-220. Soon a Marchand Electronic Crossover will separate frequencys and balance the amps.