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Cary SLI-80 Speakers Recommendation

Hi, Thanks in advance for your opinions.

I am a newbie to tubes, I am in the process of building a tube system. I am considering the sli-80 due to very good reviews and owners comments. Need your suggestions in term of which pair of bookshelf speakers and speaker cables mate well with the sli-80.
Previously, we have the N802 driven by rotel 1095, 1066, rega 2K. We listen to mostly female vocals; jones, krall, monheit, choi kam, lily chen. We liked it alot; but we need to downsize, the new system will be in your bedroom/smaller room. We originally have the N805, we also liked them quite a bit too.

Your suggestions/recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Ken
keny
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
it is always wise to start with the speakers you think you can live with and work backwards. they will have the greatest impact(aside from your room) in regard to your listening.
keny OP
13 posts
 
Chris/jaybo, thanks for the comments.

Chris - just curious if you have experience with the 300sei also, I plan to keep the system for a while, just want to consider all the options. Great reviews and comments on the sei over the sli. I will definitely look into doing a demo with either the Merlin or the decapos i. In terms of the cable, I am assuming you biwired your speaker cables. I plan to use au24 ic btw the source and the amp and au24 biwire speaker cables.

Jabo - in terms of speakers, besides the b&w n805 and the n802 which we both liked, we never audition other speakers. Any particular speakers you recommend to start the search?

Ken
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
proac, b&w, castle
bojack
539 posts
 
You also owe it to yourself to try to audition the Spendor Classic series (SP 2/3, 1/2, etc.) If you like a nice smooth sound, this might be a great combination.
the_kid's avatar
the_kid
465 posts
 
Ken,

The 300SEI is definitely a step up but I think the SLI-80 is more flexible as it can drive a larger number of speakers. My buddy just bought one and he is bringing it over so we can try it with my speakers. We shall see. Anyway, I use a Single Wire Connection on the AU24 which I think sounds best. Even when I used it with a Bi-Wire speaker, I used a single wire connection with thier jumpers which to me sounded better than bi-wiring. There is a whole write up comparison on their home-page on why you should use a single wire and jumpers. check it out and good luck to you.

Chris
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