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Cary SLI-80 tweaks and improvements?

Hello all,

I have an older Cary SLI-80 that I'm trying to find a path forward to a wider sound stage and improved dynamics.  In comparing it to my Decware Taboo, yes, it has a boat-load more power available, however, the Decware has a much wider sound stage, better channel separation and decay from instruments like cymbals, compared to the Cary.  The channel separation is much better on the Decware and this is especially apparent with songs that feature heavy panning from left to right and back again.

The Cary is running vintage Bugle Boy 6922's, vintage Sylvania 6S7N's, and Ruby 6550's.  

I have been looking at a couple of different paths forward:

Moving to EL34's or another power tube?

Upgrading the internal capacitors such as upgrading to the F1 mod?

A combination of both?

Any other ideas to try to capture the performance of the Decware are welcomed.

Thank You!

paradisecom

Showing 2 responses by carlsbad2

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,983 posts
 

Your comparison achieved the results I would have predicted.  Cary is a swiss army knife with high power.  Decware keeps it very simple, touches the signal as little as possible, and stays lower power.  

I suggest instead of working on the Cary, you shop for more sensitive speakers and maybe even go SET.  I don't even do push pull any more.  I had a ZMA, it was excellent, but couldn't match an SET.  push pull is a compromise but many make it because it is better than SS and their speakers don't support SET.

Jerry

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,983 posts
 

Swiss army knife is my own term for amps that do everything.  The circuit gets complcated, lots of switches and selectors attached to it and each one degrades it a little.  You lose your tube magic and start sounding like a printed circuit board based SS amp.  

It isn't nearly as bad as a few other propular brands.  It is perhaps a the medium swiss army knife that you can carry in your pocket as opposed to the giant one with everything including a fork that just barely fits in the glove box.

I'd like to see a circuit diagram as there are quite a lot of components in the photos I'm seeing.  

Jerry

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