What is it about the Cary SLI-80?

They are there because they sell a lot of them and you know we want strawbery one day chocolate or vanilla the next.I own and EAR 40 watt but think my buiddy has a much better amp in his Cary 80 which he has upgraded to F1.There are really good integrateds out there from hybrid companies like Pathos and Unico or iof not into same old same old and need lot's of current that new Wyred looks good based on reviews of amp and pore (6moons doing Int review soon).But for tubes Cary is great,I just wish like VTL Cary had a matching amp to go with to bi-amp.VTL and a Marchand x-over makes VTL something to look for but for power for dollar Cary has it beat.My buddy runs his 89 db B&W's just fine in triode.Wish my EAR had a pre-out and triode option.If it's one piece you want with right speakers some decent output tubes and maybe some NOS drivers it's great.I want to go SS for a while but if I do go back to tubes might swap my EAR 834 for the Cary.
Chazz

The Cary SLI-80 is a gateway drug. Proceed with caution. I had one with all the F1 upgrades and a set of upgrade tubes from Upscale. Heck, the HEADPHONE AMP was almost worth the price of admission...
I ran it with the 306 SACD into Triangle Celius's for a year and a half. Extremely musical. Fed the system all Nordost Valhalla, I liked it so much (I don't know why more audiojunkies don't do this. Used high-end cabling SO maintains its value...). Made the mistake of upgrading the speakers to Coincident Super Eclipses. This opened the floodgates. I bought a pair of Frankensteins, and that woman wouldn't let me keep the Cary.
I still miss it; but its the 300 SEI that gets me salivating these days. Imagine the headphone amp THAT thing would have.

Any time I stop by a local dealer, I always have to pause and listen
to the Cary SLI-80 driving the booksheld JM labs and always have an urge to order one. Clean, clear and musical..yes, the Cary SLI-80 could be very addictive as Azaud said, indeed, it is a very good drug. Dunno why they are on the used market but if you are not a headbanger type of listener, you will appreciate what the gem it is.

Azaud
YOU sound as if you were happy with the Cary what caused you to switch to the Frankensteins and how do they compare?

Hello Gentlemen,

I too had a sli-80, and had no intentions of selling it. One day I had a Mcintosh 2500 power amp walked into my room. It was a friends who wanted me to sell it for him. Out of curiosity I hooked it up with some sub par speaker and power cables I had laying around. It sounded amazing, ( I had an old c-30 preamp as well) the most "real" sound I had yet to hear out of my Spendors (my then speaker) so I had no choice but to sell the Cary. But, I used that money to buy a slp-98 preamp. I owned another Cary preamp long ago, and I have always liked their sound. I think some speakers ( like my Vandersteen 3a's) might need a bit more power then what the sli-80 is capable of, or it may just be a synergy/voicing thing. If you like the Cary sound and your speakers are fairly efficient, I'm sure you'll love the sli-80. If you have been thinking about sli-80's you will definitely see more of them around. They are beautiful.