Tube rolling in Cary SLI 80

I own the SLI-50 (Little brother to the SLI-80). Like the others here I agree the gain stage is where the "rubber hits the road" as far as sound goes. Change the 6922's first. Then move on down the line. The other tubes just won't have as dramatic effect on the sound.

Can't recomend Kevin at Upscale enough. He knows his stock of NOS tubes and has a SLI-80 playing in his office. One problem with UA (only a problem if you didn't orig. buy from him) is that most of the 6922's (SLI-80 gain stage tube) are in his "private stash". Not available to those who didn't get thier gear new or demo from Upscale. I'm lucky... The 12au7's my SLI-50 uses are available from UA to everyone. Even with all that, it is worth the call.

As for cost...
Gain stage tubes will run from $40-$150 each. Just depends on what flavor your looking for.

Let us know how it goes. Tube rolling is a great way to satisfy the upgrade bug at a relatively low price.

Cheers

Start with the 6922 tubes (the stock Sovteks are crappy)
THen do the 6sn7, then the Rectifiers , then the power tubes last. I like the ELectro Harmonix 6550 power tubes.

CHanging the 6922 and the 6sn7 should make a big difference.

I have bought from vintagetubeservices.com (you can RETURN tubes if they don't suit you, but they are SLOW) and Upscale Audio, and I recommend both highly.

good luck!

Joe

Gthirteen, I found your old post, great stuff there! What has really improved the soundstage for me is the use of Virtual Dynamics Nite power cords, HUGE improvements, My next step is to replace the stock tubes with NOS. Where should I start here?

I'm not sure of the thread name, but it's basically something along the lines of "Rogue Tempest/Cary SLI-80 SIg shootout". I did a whole comparison about 9 months ago.
Went thru the whole thing, documented it pretty well. Good luck finding it, it should contain some useful info.
Also, guys, the reason that I decided against the Cary (THE ONLY reason, as it was superb otherwise with $500 in NOS tubes) was the soundstage. I never was convinced that the sound was coming from a fake stage somewhere in the space between the speakers, whereas with the Rogue, it was obviously so. What do you guys think about the stage on the Cary?

Thanks for the info, what did these changes cost?

I swapped my tubes about 2 months ago. Ediswan vintage for the preamp, Raytheon nos 6sn7 , and lastly Svetlana kt88. It made a world of difference in every respect! The bass was tighter and deeper. The soundstaging was much fuller. It was like getting a completely new amp. Talk to kevin Deal at upscale audio. He knows this amp better than anyone else and has several tube options. Go for it! You'll be happy you did.

I swapped the stock 6922's with NOS Amperex 7308 green label input tubes ca 1968. The change was staggering with the mids & highs "growing huge" while the bass did not suffer appreciably after break in. Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio is fair and honest...beware someone wanting to sell you "the best frigging oh my God tube they've heard in their 190 years of experience in HiFi". It's worth a few extra bucks for the real thing, with a real resource after the sale.

I've heard from numerous sources to change your tubes in the following order, stop when you like it. 6922, 6sn7, 5au4, 6550.

I am pleased for a while and will change my 6sn7's later in the year to satisfy my upgrade habit.

Good luck with your quest.