Has anyone compared Rogue RP-7 to Cary SLP05 and / or Audio Research Ref 5se?

I just did a quick search & I guess that is a nonfictional work?

Did Hongo get into which tubes it was that he used that screwed his amp up?

@testrun I don’t have any Rogue experience to compare to, but the SLP 05 had been on my last-request list for quite a while. About a year ago I did pull the trigger and make the upgrade from my beloved & modded SLP 90.

The SLP 05 was quite a bit over the price range I wanted to get into, but I saw one on Cary Direct’s preowned page that I felt was doable, and I used "free shipping" to justify adding The Ultimate Upgrade.

I am using the balanced ins & outs (Marantz SA10 & CAD V12) and a couple of months ago, with the help of a good friend who had several pairs of vintage 6sn7s he no longer needed, I discovered that by rolling just the two 6sn7s in the balanced input buffer sockets, I could make significant sonic changes. I wound up falling in love with a pair of black glass RCA VT231s for the detail & imaging that I heard, and that was even with using the four stock EHs in the phase gain buffer sockets. Due to that experience, I bought more of the black glass ’231s and I pretty much thought that I might never change another tube in that preamp until one of the RCAs was on its last gasps, but then an extrtemely generous benefactor turned me on to a pair of vintage Ken Rads and I have been going back & forth in the balanced input sockets and loving making the comparisons. I seem to feel that whichever pair of tubes (between those two) that I am running at the time are my favorites.

I have found this preamp to have a lush (which, unfortunately, is a subjective term and may be in the ear of the beholder) tone, without being overly warm, and being quite detailed with its presentation. I actually felt that these characteristics were present before rolling tubes, and with vintage tubes I have found it to be more of the above.

There is a lot of gain, and I once posted a question/thread inquiring about that subject, but as I reflect upon that issue, I am now thinking that I actually recognized this increase when I switched digital front ends and I just seemed more cognizant of it when I upgraded preamps. I would also say that Cary could have made access to the rectifier tube easier by providing an access panel in the side of the power supply, as opposed to having to remove the bottom of the power supply to gain access. Lastly I will say that: Cary no longer provides the customer service that made me a true & loyal believer in them back in the mid-’90s, but I will say no more on that factor as it was not enough to discourage me from making the SLP05 purchase a year ago.

As far as finding a used one,maybe keep an eye on Cary’s preowned page, like I did, and make the move when one comes up. Over all, I have been quite pleased with mine, although to your OP, I cannot make the comparison you were looking for.

I had my SLP05 about almost a year before I started re-tubing.  I actually wish I would have started a lot sooner. 

I have an UK Amperex (so I understand that it is a Mullard that was manufactured for Amperex) 5AR4 as a rectifier tube right now (but I don't know if it would be a F31 or f32), but I still have a couple more to try out. This isn’t a bitch, but Cary could have put an access panel in the side of the power supply to make things easier.

I have been going back & forth with some RCA black glass VT 231s and a pair of vintage Ken Rad 6Sn7s that a very generous person bestowed up on me in the balanced input sockets and both pairs sound fantastic in those positions. I’ve got 4 more of the RCAs in the other sockets (no headphones yet) . . .

and . . .

you are absolutely right--it sounds so much better now than with the stock EHs!

I missed it.  I'll read it.

@xcool   good to read that you got your preamp back!

@ghdprentice  is this book nonfiction?

I thought that the reason that Cary sent them out with EHs was because they were readily available & affordable. 

Okay.

I mean I wasn’t saying that mine sounded horrible with the EH tubes in it, I’ve always thought that it sounded quite good. It was just that when I got a chance to roll pairs of 6SN7s & VT231s in the balanced input sockets I did hear some differences, and depending upon which pair I was rolling, the differences were dramatic. Air and detail (which, if I am not misusing the term, made the imaging better). However, I am cognizant that this may not be what everyone is looking for in a preamp, but in my smallish listening room combined with the stuff I like to listen to, it seems to be my cup of tea. For right now, anyway.

Way back when I got my V12, Cary was sending them out with Ruby tubes.

Thanks @garyalex  and @ghdprentice  . That does sound like an interesting read and that's also interesting about the KT88/6550 swap.  A while back ago I retubed my v12 via Jim McShane.  He steered me away from KT77s.