I really, really liked the Cary SLI-80 sig, and I have to disagree with Joe T. on the Darkness issue.
WIth the Stock (crap sovtek) 6922 tubes, it was REALLY, really anything but dark.
Once I got soem decent tubes in there, it was MUCH better, but I never found it to be dark.
None of my electronics are considered "bright", so as to offset the reputed darkness of the Cary, such that I wouldn't have noticed.
That being said, I wondered why Cary stuff was rumored to be so dark, as my experience was anything but.
The reason that I didn't keep the Cary, was that I got a much more believable presentation from the (not as sexy) ROgue Tempest integrated.
I think the Rogue is the Cat's meow, so to speak. I'm tough to win over, and I've had that thing since August/2001. That's pretty long when you're constantly auditioning new gear.
I couldn't get believable placement or depth from the cary.
I never replaced teh Rectifier tubes, but everything else was replaced with high $$ NOS (well, not the power tubes) but I tried 3 types of those, too.
In the end, it was VERY pretty music, unfortunately, Very obviously coming from the 2 speakers.
WIth the Rogue, it was as if they were just boxes on stands, and have nothing to do with the beautiful music hovering all around them.
Good Luck!
Oh, I'd love to hear the Jadis, (I'd also like to have bass and treble controls, sometimes, but don't tell anyone)
WIth the Stock (crap sovtek) 6922 tubes, it was REALLY, really anything but dark.
Once I got soem decent tubes in there, it was MUCH better, but I never found it to be dark.
None of my electronics are considered "bright", so as to offset the reputed darkness of the Cary, such that I wouldn't have noticed.
That being said, I wondered why Cary stuff was rumored to be so dark, as my experience was anything but.
The reason that I didn't keep the Cary, was that I got a much more believable presentation from the (not as sexy) ROgue Tempest integrated.
I think the Rogue is the Cat's meow, so to speak. I'm tough to win over, and I've had that thing since August/2001. That's pretty long when you're constantly auditioning new gear.
I couldn't get believable placement or depth from the cary.
I never replaced teh Rectifier tubes, but everything else was replaced with high $$ NOS (well, not the power tubes) but I tried 3 types of those, too.
In the end, it was VERY pretty music, unfortunately, Very obviously coming from the 2 speakers.
WIth the Rogue, it was as if they were just boxes on stands, and have nothing to do with the beautiful music hovering all around them.
Good Luck!
Oh, I'd love to hear the Jadis, (I'd also like to have bass and treble controls, sometimes, but don't tell anyone)