jjhaz@ont.com Posted April 24, 2002 Share Posted April 24, 2002 In a word, enveloping, in another word, extremely flexible (OK so that was two words). When I first set up the Rocket I was replacing a Sonic Frontier Power One SE that I had own for about 3 weeks. The SF power one sounded great, all matched Svetlana 6550cs Valvo 6928s. I still had the lust for the Cary Rocket 88. I traded in my SFP1 and forked over another 800.00 and waited. It came, I set it up and immediately thought Oh no Ive made a huge mistake. I new in my brain it had to burn in but in my heart it stunk. Fast forward five days of burning in while trying to figure out how to get the SFP1 back and not look like a total idiot. It was getting better but still had a harshness or grainy sound in the highs. I made two calls to Cary, who was very helpful and listened and we ran through cable brands biasing and possible tube replacement. The 88 has 2 bias LEDs that when lit show the amp is within bias tolerance. At Carys suggestion I put a voltmeter to the amp and found the DC/ma reading was about 192. The optimal target for the 88 is 200 DC/ma. Cary told me the under biasing will cause too much brightness and over biasing causes dullness. I made the adjustment to 200 DC/ma and magic all objections were gone. It was musical and engaging. Incredible detail good bass, not as deep or detailed as my modified Adcom SS. At the same time he had me pull my one silver interconnect and replace it with a second copper based interconnect. Not to start a cable war here or anything but he said the silver wire would increase brightness. Anyway with the cables now both monster 850is and the bias set to 200DC/ma and six days of burn in time; the Rocket is all I hoped it would be. Triode mode has a deep smooth sound stage while the ultraleaner adds punch and headroom for wide dynamic pieces. I have found both setting very useful depending on the music. I am using the 88 with Klipsch Cornwalls with the original networks. I have a second set of Cornwalls that have the ALK crossover, which changes the Ohm level to 4 Ohms. The rocket switches between 4 and 8 ohms with the flick of a switch. My pre amp is an Anthem PRE L2 SE. When I used this preamp with my Adcom and with the SFP1 an audible hiss was there in-between music cuts. Now since the Rocket does not incorporate a gain stage, the Anthem is totally silent until the music comes up out of the blackness. (Wasnt that poetic) The only possible change that I might do at this point is to change the Ruby KT88s to Svetlana KT88s or 6550cs. I hope this helps anyone looking at this amp. If you have specific questions just let me know and Ill try to answer them. Happy in Rocket land, Jeff ------------------ Home Theater Room Cornwalls Main fronts ALK Networks Heresy Center run parallel with KLF-C7 Center IW-150 Rears KSW-12 200watt Sub (na) Anthem AVM20 Preamp 5 Adcom 555s Modified By Musical designs all mono Block Toshiba 9200 DVD Echostar 5100 DD Satellite Listening Room Cornwalls (not modified yet) Cary Rocket 88 Anthem Pre L2 SE Rotel RCD 991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShapeShifter Posted April 24, 2002 Share Posted April 24, 2002 I've been read very good reviews on the Rocket 88. DH is very proud of his creation too. See that Upscale Audio is a seller and they are promoting/pairing it with the new Cary SLP88 Preamp. Glad it came together for you. Wes ------------------ "KLIPSCH IS MUSIC"f> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshT Posted April 24, 2002 Share Posted April 24, 2002 Excellent Review -- Thanks Jeff. As someone who is not a DIY-er, I'm a bit concerned about the need to adjust the bias, especially when it sounds like the LEDs indicated the bias was fine. Could you explain a bit the process of determining and then adjusting the bias to someone totally unfamiliar with that process (me)? Also, could you describe your preamp? If I get the Rocket 88 (which I would use for Heresy IIs and B&W CDM1SEs), I will need an appropriate preamp, but I think the one Cary makes and recommends is $3,000, which is more than I would want to spend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshT Posted April 24, 2002 Share Posted April 24, 2002 My mistake -- I see the SLP88 lists for $2,000, not $3,000. I was confused because I think on the Cary website DH refers to the SLP2002 as a good match with the Rocket88, and the SLP2002 lists for $3,000. So, what's with the SLP88? Anyone know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjhaz@ont.com Posted April 24, 2002 Author Share Posted April 24, 2002 Josh, Cary is recommending either the SLP 88 or the SLP 2002. The interesting thing about the 2002 is the Home Theater by-pass switch. My Anthem also has a HT by-pass switch. The pre l2 SE is available at upscale audio for 963.00, which is an absolute steal. The SE comes with upgraded caps, Kimber wiring and Brimar Tubes. It has a squirrelly remote for the volume, mute and bypass. The volume is hard to control. The process of biasing the Cary is nothing to be afraid of. It comes with a 1/4 jack attached to two alligator clips. You take the positive and negative leads and attach them to your voltmeter. Set the voltmeter to read DC current in the MA scale with in the 0 to 300 ranges. With the unit warmed up and no music playing you simply take a reading with the voltmeter and adjust one slot head screw until you get the meter to read 200 DC/ma. If I can do it you can do it. Let me know if this doesn't make sense. Jeff ------------------ Home Theater Room Cornwalls Main fronts ALK Networks Heresy Center run parallel with KLF-C7 Center IW-150 Rears KSW-12 200watt Sub (na) Anthem AVM20 Preamp 5 Adcom 555s Modified By Musical designs all mono Block Toshiba 9200 DVD Echostar 5100 DD Satellite Listening Room Cornwalls (not modified yet) Cary Rocket 88 Anthem Pre L2 SE Rotel RCD 991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted April 24, 2002 Share Posted April 24, 2002 There is a Cary rig for sale at AudiogoN: Rocket 88 SLP 2002 preamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.