Cary Audio CAD-280SA V12R



Anyone heard one of these? from R to I series upgrade? I'm looking for an amp
that sounds great, but able to use 6L6s - KT90s.  Single Ended or Push-Pull.
This seems to be pretty easy to swap drivers for signature change, currently
has EL34 valves, Red Rubies? stockers. 
FR from 20hz - 23KHZ, really great specs, fully balanced.
Anyone know about these V12s
oldhvymec

Showing 2 responses by 1extreme

I have a V12R I've owned for a number of years and would like to do the Hexfred Rectifier installs.  I already replaced the coupling caps but wasn't sure about where the Hexfreds go so I left it alone. Could someone shed some light on which of the existing parts should be replaced with the Hexfreds and how many? Do you happen to have a pic of the Hexfreds after they were installed? Thanks.
A couple of the posters above had mentioned they had the Hexfred upgrade done so I was hoping one of them could shed some light.
I replaced all the electrolytic caps with generics of same values and replaced all the non-electrolytics with Mundorf MCAP ZN 630VDC caps of same values.
I have always biased each side at 210ma. Below 210ma the sound degrades but above I don’t hear any improvement. Above 250ma and you will start blowing fuses.

You MUST get a digital multi-meter that measures milliamps as that analogue looking dial meter Cary sells is not precise. You have to wire one of those larger headphone type jacks to plug into your amp and connect to your multimeter. Cary advises that you disconnect everything from amp before biasing, even the speakers. You will not damage CARY amps running them without a speaker load connected.
Also, the 3A Filament Fuse should be a 4A slow blow. Cary printed the wrong value on the back of the unit. In the schematic for the V12R is confirms it should be a 4A slow blow.