Cary Preamps

I might have an AES DJH Super Preamp for sale in the next couple of days. With Pope NOS tubes, it is outstanding. With remote. Probably $1300.

I use a Cary CAD-5500 that was upgraded by Cary. These include:
a. paper/oil caps in the signal path
b. Multicap polypros everywhere else
c. Rubycon high-speed photo caps in the power supply (which is separate from the preamp)
d. high speed, soft recovery hexfred diodes in the power supply
e. "standby" switch

This unit is from the early 90's and it was designed not as a preamp but to take the digital edge off early CD player output.

As a preamp it is warm and liquid-something I prefer- with a very clean & slightly forward character. It is not "neutral" but makes me smile when I hear it.

I think for the most part Cary makes fine products but they do have a "house sound".

I have had ringing problems with Cary as well. It's their uninspired tube choices. You know what fixes it? Better tubes and a couple of racket balls under things. You don't have to spend a fortune on vibrapods or anything. The basic thing with ringing is - if you have a lot of bass or a bright room - you can get some shaking of your tubes. Hal-O's will stop it if the first two suggestions don't. I actually think a little bit of microphonics in the right spots - not to noticeable - can add a little sweetness, but it's better to get it as dead as possible first to hear if and wear you want it.

I'll second going the NOS tube route on the SLP-98. However, I had no problems with the Chinese tubes other than they sounded flat. No ringing problems but then again I use Halos and my preamp sits on a suspension rack.