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The SLP-05 Ultimate Upgrade

I saw that Cary is offering an upgrade package for the SLP-05.  I love this pre.  Stock as a rock, but with 6sn7w and RCA greyglass vt231.  Has anyone heard an upgraded SLP05 or might anyone have an opinion on the likely sonic result from the upgrades?

Thanks!

From Cary's site:

We have had numerous requests from customers for many years regarding possible upgrades to the SLP-05 preamplifier. For the past couple of years, we have made it a project to find the appropriate combination of components to take the SLP-05 to another level. Finally, we believe we have achieved our goal. We are incredibly happy with the results of these upgrades which can be installed in any SLP-05, no matter the vintage. The “Ultimate Upgrade” consists of changes to the power supply as well as the line stage circuit.

The power supply portion of the upgrade consists of “maxing out” the filtering capabilities along the entire power supply chain, all the way into and including the preamplifier. Purifying DC voltages is extremely important to providing a clean, clear, smooth sound quality that is free from grain, noise and strident artifacts. This also improves imaging qualities as it provides a much blacker background. The type and quantity of capacitance are important as we are not just adding an extra 1200uf of UCC electrolytic capacitance into the main B+ (high voltage) supply but also an additional total of 125uf of Polypropylene capacitors throughout the B+ line. This includes a huge 100uf Polypropylene capacitor right at the line stage PC board. The rest of the additional capacitors are used as bypass capacitors across each UCC electrolytic filter capacitor. This provides a dramatically smooth, sweet sound quality.
In the line stage circuit, we change the resistors to high quality 1% Vishay metal film plate load and cathode resistors. This parts change improves the midrange and bass substantially for a fuller, more textured midrange. You will notice more body and texture to vocals and acoustic instruments, etc. Bass is more authoritative and tight. Highs are smoother yet detailed.
And finally, for the pièce de résistance. We are removing all of the coupling capacitors and installing (10) Mundorf MCap coupling capacitors throughout the entire line section. This is the final addition that completely allows the sound qualities of the SLP-05 to shine through, resulting in a sweet, fluid, full bodied yet delicate delivery of every single instrument and natural vocal detail. It is done without adding brightness, and yet delivers an amazing amount of air and detail revealing the acoustics of the room and instruments with breathtaking natural realism. There is body, texture and fullness to instruments that break through with such ease and delicacy no matter the complexity of the music.
The “Ultimate Upgrade” is not just an upgrade. It elevates the SLP-05 to a whole other level of sound quality. It retains the attributes of the SLP-05 that you know and love but gives you more of everything.
The complete upgrade is priced at $1,595 which includes all parts, labor, and FREE shipping back to you. If you purchase a new SLP-05, you will be able to add this upgrade during the checkout process on carydirect.com


stfoth
lwin's avatar
lwin
215 posts
 

OK after a couple glitches with one of my amps not powering up & one preamp tube suffering the travel; I finally got my system running properly 2 days ago. It is still breaking in but I like what I am hearing.

Let me back up a little before I get into the nuts and bolts. I have looked at other upgrades for this preamp but my concern is the voicing. In my opinion Cary has a house sound whether it is their tube or solid state gear. Going to a third party might change the Cary sound that I like so much that  I never did try a third party. When Cary announced the upgrade, I was delighted. It is one thing to plug in parts and maybe measure performance but you also have to listen to what you did. I trust Cary to do this and they delivered.

The upgraded unit has deeper and more accurate bass. The width and depth of the soundstage increased. On the top end properly recorded cymbals sound exactly as they should with no smearing. Vocals are spot on. Every recording I listened to was better.

My preamp was about 10 years old and the technician replaced a bad resister. Also the upgrade includes new capacitors. Capacitors have a life span. What I am driving at is if your preamp has some years on it ,you are going to have it completely checked out as part of the upgrade. The way I look at , my preamp sounds better and it should be good for another 10 years.

Some of you probably want me to quantify the improvement but as I said it is still breaking in. I am happy with what I am hearing and I think for me it was definitely worth the investment. You may disagree especially when companies like PS Audio are giving away wonderful software upgrades for their equipment.

Shredder , the 6f8g tubes I settled on were the Kenrads. For those of you not familiar with these tubes, they were the precursors to the 6sn7 tubes. I hope this write-up proves useful to you . Larry W


jond's avatar
jond
3,400 posts
 
Great that your hearing a definite improvement and that should get even better as the new caps break in as well as the preamp overall. And as I started earlier its very unlikely you could have spent $1600 any other way and gotten the same improvement so well done!
nyaudio98
158 posts
 
Iwin..fabulous info..thanks
shredder's avatar
shredder
93 posts
 
Thanks so much Iwin, very helpful. I am going to do it. Mine is also 10 years old, at a minimum, it probably needs a little tune up.
nanotweeter
51 posts
 
Hi All,

So I too went ahead and had my 8+ year old SLP05 ugraded.  Got it back yesterday along with a set of (6) RCA tubes from Cary.  Tubes were matched on selection and then adjusted prior to initial burn-in check at Cary Audio to optimize gain match.

I am currently running it in using standard fuses and my emergency backup jj rectifier rather than my NOS Mullard.  Also have my Golden Ear sevens hooked up during this run in rather than my Harbeth SHL5+ speakers.  So the sound may not be optimized for my tastes yet.  FYI, my system chain is a music-dedicated MBPro running JRiver MC21 > ISO  Regen with LPS-1 power supply > PS Audio DS DAC > SLP-05 > Pass XA-30.5 amp.  Running fully balanced from DAC to amp.

Of course I have l Listened a while to get a quick first impression of the sound.  And I must say that I am impressed and extremely pleased with what I am hearing.  Even with a few second string components in place the sound is much better than it was previously with my regular lineup.  I would echo the description by Iwin.  Immediately obvious was the lack of speaker hiss.  Much more quiet than before even though I then had in a new set of Sophia Electric 6SN7s which I have found to be the quietest tubes of all the many that I have tried.  Of course a little of the other sound attributes I'm hearing may be due to the new set of RCA tubes,  but considering that I have tried eight other sets of NOS tubes along with four sets of new production ones, I think I have a reasonable feel for what the preamp upgrade brings to the party.

Therefore, in no particular order, these are the "improvements" I hear over the original SLP05:
          1.  Deeper, tighter and more impactfull bottom end.
          2.  Soundstage is somewhat deeper and wider with great image specificity and stability.
          3.  Tone density improved while maintaining transparency of individual instruments.
          4.  Very smooth, organic sound yet with excellent dynamics. 
          5.  And most pleasingly noted by me is the sound wave impact and decay which is now much closer to that heard in a live performance.  That is to say the notes now start and stop faster which is so much more realistic to me.  Not sure what is the reason for this effect.  Maybe added capacitance, type of resistors used or changes in power supply.  All I know is that I really like what hearing. Percussion whacks are now really exciting.

Hope to hear a bit more improvement over time and with my normal configuration.  I will look forward to hearing others impressions.

John


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