The Rogue Tempest is every bit as good if not better.I auditioned the SLI-80.I went with Rogue seperates instead. |
I absolutely love my Cary. I have also been playing with NOS tubes (with great advice from Kevin at Upscale Audio and other Cary owners from this site.) The Cary has several advantages including a headphone jack driven off of the output of the amp. I have a pair of Senheiser 600's that I had not been using very much until I plugged them into the Cary. The sound is some of the best I have ever heard. There are quite a few Cary SLI-80 owners on this board that can also answer any questions you have! |
another vote for the Cary. a GREAT amp. Yeah, tube collecting is kind of addictive huh? As a matter of fact, I just got two more pair in the mail this afternoon- some Amperex 7308's, and some RTC (French) E188CC's, which I just plugged in. I think I'm all set with pre tubes for a while... With the integrated, it's nice to just have to wory about one good pair of interconnects. I picked up a used pair of HT Pro silwayII's for a good price a couple weeks ago here at Audiogon. Krocdoc is right about there being several sli80 owners around here. I've gained some useful info re: tubes & wires etc. via the dialogues. Soon I'm going to do a serious comparison of all my 6922 type tubes in my amp. I've wound up with quite a few- Tunsram, Ediswan, Mullard, Seimens, Amperex, RTC... Good luck making your decision, have fun. |
Jay, please take the time to post your thoughts on the 6922's. I think there are a bunch of us that would appreciate your comments. Thanks. |
It is good to see all of the great feedback on the SLI-80. I am looking to buy a Cary integrated, but I was leaning towards an SEI 300. I have not heard the SLI-80, but have seen all the great reviews. Has anyone heard both? Does the SLI-80 have the ultra-liquid 3D soundstage of the 300B. Any input is appreciated. |
I can't speak for the SLI80, but I owned the predecesser, the SLA80 power amp. The whole design might be different and I might be deaf, but I can tell you that in no way could you mistake this thing for a single ended triode design. The SLA 80 was a very "competent" 80 watt tube amp, but lacked the magic of single ended sound or even the magic of EL84 push pull sound. I like Cary the company, but feel that their best efforts result in SE amps. |
I've been playing with NOS goodies in my SLI-80 as Jay states. There are a bunch of us (SLI-80 owners) and we are all overwhelmingly pleased with not only the amp, but the professionalism and great advice we get from the dealer we all bought them from, Kevin Deal.
The only thing we haven't agreed on yet, is which speakers are the best match with this amp. Though, Jay has just convinced me I need to go a pair of Meadowlarks (Shearwaters of Herons). So I'm going to do just that as soon as I can unload my Silverline and Soliloquy monitor/sub setup here on Audiogon.
The Rogue isn't in the same ballpark IMO. |
There's a Cary SLI-80 for $2300 here on A'gon. The guy states that it is only 3 weeks old and getting rid of it because of his 11 month old.
Check out:
http://gonmain.iserver.net/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstube&995830146 |
The magic of the SLI-80 was lost on me. I spent a few days with one and felt the CJ CAV-50 was much better at $2500.00 and the Quicksilver seperates at $2095.00, bettered it too.No question NOS tubes would have made a big difference. I did like it's looks, nothing better then turning the lights off and watch those tubes glow. Thinking back it was probably the 6550s that didn't do it for me. Has anyone tried some Tungsol 6550s or Genelex KT88s? |
Longplate, I put in a pair of Svetlana KT88's soon after I got mine, and they are quite a bit beter than the 6550c's. That, combined with some good NOS 6SN7's, and 7308's made my amp sooooo nice sounding compared to the stock tubes. Those power tubes you mentioned are a little too much $ for me, and I've found the 7308's give the biggest improvement over all, although of course I've never heard those classic power tubes, I'd love to some time... |
Longplate: I don't think you gave the SLI much of a chance with the stock Sovtek garbage. We've all been playing with NOS goodies and exchanging our impressions.
I think I would be safe in saying that we all agree the Siemens 7308's are KILLER. Maybe the best 6922/6DJ8 for this amp. On the 6SN7's we're a little split. While I prefer the early 50's RCA 6SN7GT others prefer the Raytheon's. We all like the Svetlana KT88's.
Granted, this is an additional $500+ worth of tubes, but it makes all the difference in the world. And you can never have enough NOS tubes lying around. :-) |
Marchman,have you heard the Rogue.You dont state you have.I heard the Cary for 10 + hours on 7/8 seperate occasons.Had the dealer allowed me a home demo i probably would of bought it.In the end things worked out for the better because i got a chance to Audition the Rogue and went back to listen to the Cary one last time.No contest.
So for you to state they are not in the same league leads me to belive you have not heard the Rogue.Cause if you had you would not make that statement.They are in the same league.Both very well built and both great sounding.
I prefered the Rogue. |
This will seem like heresey but IMHO the mesa Tigris PROPERLY TUBED competes very well with both CARY models (including the SLI50). Two mdoels I would like to hear but have not are the Tempest and the Audiomat Arpege.
I went through several amps for my second system which consits of Proac1sc/tjoeb 4000 modified/ silval oval and kimber select cables. The tigris is the QUIETEST tube amp I have ever owned. Retubed it with Mazda silver plates, Visseaux 6V6's , and JJ el84. Running in 2/3 triode mode with no negative feedback the sound is top drawer with amazing dynamics for 28watts (must be the 6V6 coming through). The fact that this amp can be had for around $1100 to $1200 (plus $400 for mentioned NOS), is a dedicated headphone amp like the CARY, and has two line level outputs one of which is variable makes it a ridiculous steal. If you can get over the lack of prestige in owning an amp built from the professional side of the audio world and trust what you hear you can be a happy camper and save some money. |
Leafs: I don't prefer the Rogue, not even with NOS. My buddy has a Tempest driving B&W 805N's. We both agree that I have the superior sounding system. Sorry that my opinion set you off, it wasn't intended to. Were you listening to the Cary with $500 worth of NOS and Svet KT88 power tubes? You don't mention that you were. Best to you, March
{p.s. If it's any consolation to you, I'm moving on to a S. F. Power 2 (and I'll have to buy a preamp). I get bored with stuff quick, which makes this a VERY expensive hobby} |
March It was a stock unit on the dealers shelf.I would love to hear what my Rogue 120 could sound like with 500 worth of NOS and Svet kt-88.For now I love them with stock tubes.
Have you put your tubes in the Tempest and compered. |
Marchman,
Moving on already? Wow. Well, good luck, let me know how things go. I think if/when I step up again, it'll be another Cary product. Let me know if you wind up with some extra 7308's and/or 6SN7's kicking around you'd like to get rid of :) Jay |
Leafs: The only tubes we could've swapped would be the 88's and (at the time we listened) he already had a quad of Svets in the Tempest.
You should swap out those 12AU's for some 12AU7/6189 Radiotechniques and Tungsram ECC83's. I had some of both of those squirreled away here and let my buddy have a set for his Tempest (he's good to me too).
Although he's only had them burning for about 10 days now, initial impressions are that the two would have been tight. The Tempest has a much tighter bottom end now and a little less glare on the top. Just like I like it.
I won't ever be able to give you my opinions on this matter though. I've got my SLI-80 and CD-303 boxed up. They are on their way to San Fransisco, CA and I've committed to buy a Line 2SE and Power 2SE, which have been set aside for me.
I can't wait. I LOVE THESE TOYS !!! :-) |
Marchman,I tried 2 different sets of the Radiotechnique with the date codes that Kevin recomends.Both where purchased locally and fortunatly I was able to return them.They where just plain noisy.I wnet with Mullards instead.this is in the Rogue Preamp.I have been thinking of trying some in my 120 Mono,s that is 12au7.I have the stock ones in it know. |
one of best tube integrated is unison research s reference integrated one with 845 tubes. |
