Cary Audio CAD 280sa V12i Power amp

I had a V12R...awesome amp, hooked up to a Cary SLP98P pre Ruby EL-34's 12ax7 EL-84's. Electroharmonix. Mine ran hot enough to cook hamburgers. I have the CAD 120's now. Good luck.

Thx, Polk432, was the v12R ever drove you crazy at some points during your ownership? I never used a Cary before, all my current setup are McIntosh with c22 Pre, MX132 and mc275, dual MC2100s. Thx again.

Cary's 98L is a good match for obvious reasons.Dump the cheap Chnese El34 Rubys in the V12,funds permitting look for Tesla's or Svetlana's.

Just received the amp. Looks so pretty. Hooked up to power and a preamp. All Tubes lit up, But hear nothing, double checked all wires are connected correctly. Anyone knows what could this be happened? At one point, got it work but very low sound with distortion, I am confused now, was it the bias issue ? I need help !! thanks

The amp has all 12 KT88, Russian tube.

Are all 12 of the LED's lit up? Is there a switch on the back for balanced and rca inputs and is it set to the correct one? Are the Standby and Power switch on the faceplate both in the correct positions?

No, all 12 LED not lit up when power on at the first time and after. Are they supposed light up during normal condition? input selector is set on RCA. power switch is set on position, standby switch is set on operate. I tried to adjust the right channel bias level slowly started from 0 counterclockwise to about half, noticed that all 6 kt88 were lit up for short while and hear low level distortion sound and then all LED is off. I turned off the unit, wait for while before turning back on, nothing happened. LED not lit up no matter how precisely turn the bias level. all 16 tubes lit up though. hope this will get you more understanding its current working condition. thanks for helping.

sorry, I meant turn clockwise.

Have you checked your fast blow fuses?

I am assuming you do not have the manual for it. You can download it by searching their website, Caryaudio.com, it has very detailed biasing instructions.

Check your fuses as Markwatkiss suggested.

I am away from home at the moment. Will check the fuses again when come home. In fact at the very first time connected to power, all tubes lit up but no sound at all, I did find a AC 3A fuse blown on left channel but not sure if it already blown before arriving to my door or after I connected to power. I replaced a new fuse, thus 3 blue LED on face plate lit up, Tubes all lit up but NOT the tube red bias indicator. Wiring are connected properly. Still not hearing nothing. I think adjusting bias level has nothing to do with no sound issue. Incorrectly set the bias level can affect the sound quality. I have the menu, but little confusing to read. At one time I do hear a low level distortion sound while adjusting the bias level, until the red LEDs turned on and went off. from there I have not checked for blown fuses. Gotta go out on business trip until next Wednesday. I sure will post what I might find out. Thank you, guys. Happy holiday!

Ok, guys, Problem has solved! both tube fuses were blown somehow when i adjusted the bias pots too much to the limit without help of VOM. Now over the x'mas weekend, I replaced the tube fuses and began to adjust both bias pots slightly clockwise until about halfway from the minimum. All" good health LED" lit up one after the other and Music begin to play with no sonic issue or distortion. Thanks all for the helps and reminding of possible factors. Merry X'mas and Happy New Year!!