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Tube Rolling questions from a recent addict:

I recently entered the wonderful world of vacuum tubes with a Cary SLI-80 integrated amp. WOW what a sound this thing produces! The Cary and its seductive little glowing crystals of joy has made the single most dramatic improvement to the sound of my system since I added my Infinity IRS Delta speakers. Now I understand why tube-heads go on about mysterious NOS finds and seemingly magical differences between certain tubes. I’m both happy, and sad, to say that I’m hooked!

 

Anyway, on to my questions: 

  • When tube rolling, what are some recommended strategies when comparing the sound quality of different tubes?

 

  • Is it OK to power your amp/preamp down, switch tubes, and then power right back on a couple minutes later? I know tubes don’t like to be power cycled like that. But how else can one compare the sound of different tubes?

 

  • Generally, is there a bigger sonic difference between rolling preamp tubes, or power output tubes? (I know, I know, YMMV.)

 

  • And my most technical question. The Cary SLI-80 uses a one 6SN7 tube per channel as a “phase inverter”. From the manual, “the phase inverter is a self-balancing split load configuration utilizing the 6SN7”. Is this “phase inverter” part of the audio signal path? Can I expect to hear differences in rolling different tubes in that spot?

 

Thanks in advance for any other Tube Rolling 101 advice!

 

(P.S. – Thanks to everyone on Audiogon that makes it, IMO, one of the best places anywhere for higher-end audio and music fans everywhere.)

 

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mhwalker

Showing 1 response by jaggrr

jaggrr
5 posts
 
Congrats on the purchase, been there done that twice!  She is looker with all those tubes glowing and wanted very hard to make it work.  I had an F1 version and a regular version and no matter what NOS tubes I put into them, I could never achieve your desired sound.  Too modern sounding for my tastes and maybe yours.

I too love the that classic “tubey” euphonic sound – warm, rich, lush harmonics, slightly full bass, extended but smooth highs, etc.  I moved on to Quad IIs and Mac 30s which give me that tubey, euphoric sound in spades.

Maybe a change in speakers will get you closer to the sound you want if you are determined to keep the SLI-80.  Also adding a sub can cure the bottom end issues.  Since it's an integrated, you can take to the store and demo until you find a match.

Enjoy the ride!

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