AudiogoN Forums: Best Speaker and tubes for Cary SLI80 Signature F1

Best Speaker and tubes for Cary SLI80 Signature F1

Dear Audiophiles,
I have the beautiful Cary SLI80 Signature F1 amplifier and after connecting it to my spendor S5e speakers, I realized that the sound is pretty forward and bright. The amp was left on for 5 days and is fully broken-in. I also have the Unison research Unico SE in my second system that sounds way warmer with way wider and deeper sound stage through the Spendors. I am using stock tubes in Cary and Mullard NOS 1950 12Au7s in Unico. What might be the problem? Somebody mention in the Stereophile that S5e might be hard to drive by the tube amp due to the Impedance issues and that the upper region of the frequency response could be underlined in that set-up.

So my question is - what speaker would give me large sound stage with very warm, relaxed sound when connected to Cary? (I would prefer Monitors due to the size of my listening room)
What are the best tube options?????

All recommendations are highly appreciated!!!!

Arturgorniak (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

04-15-10

Responses (1-18 of 18)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

04-16-10 Since nobody has responded, i'll just offer up that you cont ... Stereomaniac

04-16-10 I have mine hooked up to merlin tsm-mme's and loving it. Nicodemix

04-16-10 I have the same amp in a second system. i use the following ... Brf

04-16-10 Honestly, i am very disappointed with guys at upsacle audio. ... Arturgorniak

04-16-10 that's the standard upscale audio buyer qualification. if yo ... Tvad

04-16-10 I am sorry but that is a shame.........i do not want to do b ... Arturgorniak

04-18-10 Don't want to turn this into a bashing of upscale, but in my ... Foster_9

04-21-10 Kevin set me up with a cary sli-80 and coincident peii's and ... Brm1

04-21-10 Thank you for all your recommendations...i guess i have to s ... Arturgorniak

04-22-10 There seems to be to sides to kevin, both real. Pubul57

04-22-10 I also tried audio physics with the cary sli-80 and hated th ... Brm1

04-22-10: Arturgorniak
I just got matched pair of Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB and JJ E88CC that I ordered from Jim McShane (pages.prodigy) They are not burned in yet so I will give them couple days of constant run to improve their performance. I got those tubes by Jim's recommendation and so far - out of the box the sound is superb - female vocal is beautifully smooth and rich and the soundstage is well defined and deep. I can hear the big difference already. As far as the power tubes go - I use matched quad of Genalex Gold Lion KT-88 reissues.

I am wondering what sound attributes would changed if I would replace KT88s with Mullards EL34s? Would that help ?
I am also curious if investing in NOS 5u4s would give me any benefits over my Sovtek 5u4s?
Arturgorniak (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

04-23-10 Proac response d2 are a great match. they're my current setu ... Ltodd

04-23-10 Yes, i like rca 5u4g (cokebottle) best for rectifiers but it ... Pehare

04-23-10 Tube amps such as the cary typically have high output impeda ... Layman

04-23-10 Layman - thank you so much!!!!!!!!! now, it is all clear!!!! ... Arturgorniak

04-24-10 You are spoiled for choice...but if you want something that' ... Layman

04-24-10 I owned spendors - several pairs over the years - and they s ... Artmaltman