Cary SLI-80 bias voltage

Px, I spoke with Kirk this morning at Cary, and he explained that in the heady early days of the triode/ultralinear position switch, before things were standardized, they configured the system so that flipping the switch towards the back of the amp would select the triode mode. Their rational being that triode was laid "back." He said that once the engineers got to standardizing the switches across their amplifier line, this charming colloquialism disappeared.

No problem, P. If the amp clearly plays louder in the down position, that is indeed the ultralinear mode. Enjoy your amp. Cary makes wonderful products.

Thanks for the fast response! While I have a physical manual for the amp, and I downloaded the one from the Cary website for good measure, there is no reference to the triode/ultralinear switch other than to say you can switch between the two positions. The Rocket 88 manual does make reference to the switch, however, and its positioning is the opposite of what I would have guessed for my amp. According to it's manual up (or towards the back of the amp) is ultralinear and down is triode. The SLI-80 clearly sounds louder when the switch is down, which leads me to believe that is the ultralinear position. Thanks again!

P, straight off the Cary website, the correct bias voltage for the SLI 80 is 75-100MA per channel. While 75 MA will preserve the life of the tubes, 100MA will sound a bit sweeter. I am unsure of the switch position, but the louder position will be the ultralinear while the triode position will sound sweeter and more three dimensional. Hope this helps