2. amps-preamps
  3. 185548-3802

Cary slp-98p owners!

Hey everyone who’s owns a Cary slp-98p, I was just interested to hear what your thoughts and opinions are about the built in tube phono stage in the preamp? Also how would you compare it to other tube mm phono stages on the market? Like the ear 834p, modwright ph-9.0 and Manley chinook phono stages. Would it be worth the upgrade? I’m currently using a Music first step up transformer with my Cary slp-98p but I just wonder dose it get any better than the built in one??

128x128jakecanada
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 

I too formerly owned the SLP98P some years ago.  I also felt the noise floor was a bit high and the overall sound was on the lush side, sacrificing detail, articulation, and slam.  The Leben RS30EQ MM tube phono I use now is substantially better to my ears and pairs wonderfully with an A23 SUT ( I use the version configured for EMT carts). 

decooney
1,973 posts
 

I chose to keep the phono stage [delete] outside of my SLP-98L

jakecanada's avatar
jakecanada OP
80 posts
 

I know what you guys mean by noise floor when I first bought it like first change the tubes to a tested set. And I was able to lower the noise floor by changing the power cord which helped significantly plus power conditioning. Found the best power cord for the preamp to Lower noise floor was a shunyata alpha analog. But just got a used shunyata sigma analog and made an even profound difference. Plus moving the preamp closer to the power amp brought up the noise floor. I’m currently using a music first audio sut for my Cary since it has a mm phono stage in it and has 3 different grounding options via a switch which helps. I would like to keep the sut in the system if I bought another phono  preamp not a wasted expense.

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