Cary Audio SLI 80 - Owners Unite!

[rprokop63]

Not enough power from the HP jack? What cans are you driving?

I am running LCD-X and Beyer T1's right now. The amp has plenty of power to do permanent damage I am sure. I was just curious of the "how" to connect to the speaker taps and if it it gave some more variations of sound etc. I love the amp the way it is. Do you still have yours? I see your sig says Cary 300 SEI now. I would love to grab one of those little guys!

 

[ardilla]

Bringing this one back to life again. How do you use the speaker taps on the SLI 80 for headphones? Do you need to build something to go from binding posts to a 1/4" stereo jack?
I love my SLI 80 as a headphone amp and have been running it for more than ten years mostly for cans. It does have a set of Focal 1007BE's attached that sound great.
For a while I had it in a 10x10 room with a pair Klipsch Cornwalls patched in. It was like sitting inside a pair of headphones.
Anyone else ever have their volume control go wonky? Some times mine will not work and I need to power it on or off once or twice to get it to function. It may be time to get it fixed and add a few more tweaks while it's there. It already had some better cams and the better wire on the CD tap.
I just got a set of LCD-X 2021s last week and this pairing has been a new level of fun for me since they arrived. Even in triode mode I need to keep the volume below 9 o"clock!

I've asked Cary. No problem running straight from taps. I use a Hifiman HE adapter to reduce tube noise. With silent tubes, running from the speaker taps takes every headphone to the next level in terms of dynamics. I think this is my favorite amplifier for headphones ever.

 

[longbowbbs]

I have to say the cad-300 SEI is pretty special too.

 

[rprokop63]

I've asked Cary. No problem running straight from taps. I use a Hifiman HE adapter to reduce tube noise. With silent tubes, running from the speaker taps takes every headphone to the next level in terms of dynamics. I think this is my favorite amplifier for headphones ever.

I'll be buying the adapter from Hifiman. Should be interesting to see what it does.

 

[longbowbbs]

A report and some pics would be nice when you get the time.

 

[rprokop63]

A report and some pics would be nice when you get the time.

Will do.

 

[jdmeyers77]

Anyone in need of a sweet SLI-80 F1 (with a healthy tube cache) please PM me? If this is against the rules, please forgive me and I'll happily remove the post!

 

[longbowbbs]

You should post some pics. F1's were sweet.

 

[jdmeyers77]

Here are some and thanks for the tip!

The mazing thing is how rolling the excellent power tubes (small tubes are all NOS) affects the sound. All sourced from Upscale Audio. The NOS rectifier tubes (G.E.) complete the package along with the NOS Sventlana 6550s (Winged C), Gold Lion KT77s, Tung Sol 120s, and Gold Lion KT 88s.

 

[longbowbbs]

I am sure you have had a great time with this amp. It is a classic. Good luck with your sale.

 

[rprokop63]

Very nice. I love the look of the GE rectifiers.

 

[Co93]

I bought a sli 80 years ago as my first foray into tubes. I loved that little guy. Of course, I wound up upgrading to ARC reference gear, but I miss the 6923 tube rolling. My favorite was telefunkens…..

 

[pdreher]

Here are some and thanks for the tip!

The mazing thing is how rolling the excellent power tubes (small tubes are all NOS) affects the sound. All sourced from Upscale Audio. The NOS rectifier tubes (G.E.) complete the package along with the NOS Sventlana 6550s (Winged C), Gold Lion KT77s, Tung Sol 120s, and Gold Lion KT 88s.

Care to share strengths/weaknesses and your preferences of the various power tubes in the SLI-80 circuit?

 

[stormrider]

The very first post in this thread states that output impedance of SLI-80 is 8/11 ohms. There is also 1/8 impedance rule. Does that mean that SLI-80 is suited for headphones with impedances of 64 ohms and above? I see some users connect LCD-X (which I also own) with impedance of 20 ohms. How do they sound with SLI-80? Are there any problems?

 

[ardilla]

The very first post in this thread states that output impedance of SLI-80 is 8/11 ohms. There is also 1/8 impedance rule. Does that mean that SLI-80 is suited for headphones with impedances of 64 ohms and above? I see some users connect LCD-X (which I also own) with impedance of 20 ohms. How do they sound with SLI-80? Are there any problems?

The 1/8 rule is nothing absolute. Haven't tried the X on the SLI80 actually but I can try to do soon as i have both. Feel free to pm if I forget