Reliability of Cary Audio Products


I'm considering adding a second (all tube) system for my home office. Amongst the integrated amps that are being considered is the Cary SLI 80. A friend, who is also a long term retailer of audio products, suggested that Cary has a poor reliability record. He hasn't sold Cary for a long while, and from what I've read on Audiogon, he may be out of touch with Cary products. Comments from Cary owners would be appreciated.

John
johnrob
I've owned 3 different Cary products. 2 never malfunctioned at all. My SLAM-100 monoblocks blew a ton of fuses at which point the dealer changed a resistor or something (for free). A capacitor went after a few years, at which point I upgraded to the previously unavailable copper film caps (nice improvement!). The dealer did that upgrade for pretty cheap. Since then, no malfunctions except the rare blown fuse. And these are on at least 4 - 5 hours a day, sometimes way more. I guess I'd say that if you buy from a dealer you can expect very responsive customer service should it be necessary. I don't know what people's experience is dealing directly with Cary (if they bought used for example).
You'd think that after all these years Dennis Had probably knows how to design tube equipment! If their stuff was that unreliable - and I've heard the charge too - they wouldn't still be around. IMHO.
I would disagree. I've owned Cary amps and cd players and I've never had a moment of trouble with any piece of equipment. I would take the comments of any former Cary dealer with a large grain of salt, who knows what axe they may have to grind. I think you'd be thrilled with Cary gear for the office or anywhere else. Good luck!