I compared my former F1 upgraded SLI-80 to a more current upgraded version I had upgraded locally. As it turned out once broken in, there was yet another level of amazing sound to achieve with newer and higher quality Mundorf caps, better hexfreds, and resistors. I had a local outfit do the upgrade for me using Cary's more recent recommendations. As a result, Cary ended up buying back my SLI-80 commenting how good it sounded, and I applied the funds to a new SLP-98 preamp with similar upgrades. Then, went back and upgraded other Cary amps with the same upgrades. New/upgraded vs. the vanilla stock product is just not even a consideration for me now. One of the few times a higher end upgrade really paid off...
Deckard,
IMO, if it's an older unit, def worth getting the CAD300SEI upgraded (while its there) with the newer and more recommended caps and such if you send it in for subwoofer outputs to be added.
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