"upgrade" from Cary SLI 80 F1 edition

Vdg,

Before you sell it, you might try this, by the way I am on my 3rd SLI-80. Get rid of the Jensen oil caps and put in V-caps. Call Chris Vanhaus, he is great to work with
It's a cheap, but substantial upgrade. You will get more bandwidth, both ends, more detail, better sound stage, clarity, transparency, and speed! I always felt the Cary was slow and overly romantic and lacked detail...NO MORE! You will probably have to do more tube rolling... I did. I had some nos ediswans in the frontend and once I got the V-caps, they where too much of a good thing. The only downside to the V-caps is the long break-in period...minimum 500hrs, but more is better.
Best, cheapest upgrade you can do. It makes the Cary "world class" to me.
Hope that helps.
Mike

Thanks Mike!
Unfortunately I am in Canada, so I cannot send the amp for mods:(

I just got a pair of VALVO E88CC red printing NOS from 1961 and those tubes seem to make quite a big difference in the detail level.

I'll see if I can get some Ediswans.

michael

Vdg,
Just find a local tech to switch the caps. It's not a big deal. Just order the caps from Chris and take the unit to a local tech that can solder and you will be good to go!
It's really a very simple mod, but with big time results.
Mike

I'd also look towards changing out the 6550 tubes in favor of a quad of EL34. In my opinion, the EL34 really walks away from 6550, KT88, and KT90 variants in terms of musicality and that flesh and blood sense of being alive. The amp might really spring to life, presuming the change can be made, and you get the bias settings correct for the EL34.

Call Steve Deckard at Decware Audio. I was in your position a few years ago. Cary Audio is very commercial. Decware has great products.