Cary 120s

There is lots of good info here, thanks guys...
Even used, around $2.1k + is at the very upper end of my budget.
Maybe a rocket 88 at sub $1k pricepoint might be a nice intro into Cary products for me.

If I like the 88,I could always sell it and upgrade to a 120s later with little to no cash loss.

Brf, the classe dr6 has xlr balanced input and output connections on it..... It is the best piece of gear I currently have and was used as the reference preamp by the absolute sound editor for several years in the early 90's when it was a current model.

I just thought if you had balanced xlr outputs on your preamp that it means it is balanced circuitry...... I am new to high end gear so maybe that is wrong??

Thanks,Dave

Another option would be to purchase a Rocket 88 amps and have the caps upgraded to either 1) Cardas Teflon caps or 2) Mundorf Gold/Silver/Oil depending on your preference. Add in some NOS tubes, a few resistor (Riken) upgrades, ERS sound damping material, and you are go to go for well under $2K!

“I just thought if you had balanced xlr outputs on your preamp that it means it is balanced circuitry...... I am new to high end gear so maybe that is wrong??”

Dave, I owned a DR6 and loved the preamp. Never ran it in balanced mode. A lot of manufactures put in pseudo balanced (XLR) output/input options for marketing reasons, but their circuit topography never was truly balanced.

Brf, I found it odd that if I attempted to drive the 120S from my VAC Renaissance with the switch set to balanced output from the VAC, the sound was muted, and picked up noise from the remote volume control motor. It seems to work just fine using the XLR cables with the output set to single ended. Are you sure the Cary is truly a balanced input? BTW, the Renaissance uses transformers for the balanced outs.

Rhljazz, sorry I cannot answer your question as to whether or not the 120s is a balanced defferential design as my friend only runs his single ended and I did not look that closely. Perhaps the XLR pin outs are different between the VAC and Cary, that would cause the mismatch that your heard.