Valve dampeners didnt notice too much to be honest, will leave them on then remove them in a few weeks to see if I miss them or not !
About to fit the Takmans and electrolytics now, though I worked in a night club last night so my ears are ringing like mad so will I be able to hear anything lol
How are your new EH valves settling in ?
About to fit the Takmans and electrolytics now, though I worked in a night club last night so my ears are ringing like mad so will I be able to hear anything lol
How are your new EH valves settling in ?
The EH valves sound very good. Great defined bass notes and airy highs. Mids are a little more analytical than the JJ E34L but they aren't etched or strained at all.
I really want to try a set of the Genalex KT77 next.
I will be upgrading my tweeter circuit with MCap Evo Oil and mills resistors from crap resistors and Dayton poly caps. I imagine that will make a big difference in clarity as well.
I really want to try a set of the Genalex KT77 next.
I will be upgrading my tweeter circuit with MCap Evo Oil and mills resistors from crap resistors and Dayton poly caps. I imagine that will make a big difference in clarity as well.
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I don't have the cash at the moment for changing the valves sadly, but keen to hear how you get on with the Genalexs.
I changed the electros, yes as you said a little fuller sounding which was welcome, then I did the Takmans and that fullness receded, probably need burning in. Played them for a couple of hours and sound good, only noticed the mids with a slight better timbre and voice detail.
I am also 50 or so hours in on changing the caps on my Xovers too, went for the same ClarityCaps again. My system is starting to sound so good, very high resolution indeed
I changed the electros, yes as you said a little fuller sounding which was welcome, then I did the Takmans and that fullness receded, probably need burning in. Played them for a couple of hours and sound good, only noticed the mids with a slight better timbre and voice detail.
I am also 50 or so hours in on changing the caps on my Xovers too, went for the same ClarityCaps again. My system is starting to sound so good, very high resolution indeed
I felt the same way about the Takmans but I couldn't tell if I liked or disliked them really. Might try something else for giggles.
I did some tube rolling today between the JJ E34L and the EH 6CA7 and I definitely prefer the 6CA7s.
Comparison:
JJ E34L
Pros: Velvety midrange, Bad recordings are listenable
Cons: Fuzzy imaging, Lethargic bass, "confused" sounding
EH 6CA7
Pros: Liquid clarity, Tight and deep bass, accurate yet natural sounding (on good recordings), more revealing
Cons: More revealing, bad recordings sound bad, Midrange is accurate and quite nice but I'm sometimes missing the "chills" that vocals can invoke on certain tracks.
I'm really hoping the new crossover components will bring those chills back. It could be the amp itself as I don't get them with the JJs either.
FWIW the most "chilling" setup I've ever owned was a ASL Tulip 2A3 connected to a pair of Tannoy Cheviots. Just magical. I may have to try to find another pair of Cheviots now that I'm reminiscing...
I did some tube rolling today between the JJ E34L and the EH 6CA7 and I definitely prefer the 6CA7s.
Comparison:
JJ E34L
Pros: Velvety midrange, Bad recordings are listenable
Cons: Fuzzy imaging, Lethargic bass, "confused" sounding
EH 6CA7
Pros: Liquid clarity, Tight and deep bass, accurate yet natural sounding (on good recordings), more revealing
Cons: More revealing, bad recordings sound bad, Midrange is accurate and quite nice but I'm sometimes missing the "chills" that vocals can invoke on certain tracks.
I'm really hoping the new crossover components will bring those chills back. It could be the amp itself as I don't get them with the JJs either.
FWIW the most "chilling" setup I've ever owned was a ASL Tulip 2A3 connected to a pair of Tannoy Cheviots. Just magical. I may have to try to find another pair of Cheviots now that I'm reminiscing...
If those Audio Note resistors had not been so expensive.. mind you they were 2watt, hope they come out with a 1 watt version.
Thanks for the run down on the tubes, these look the biz:
KT77/EL34/GENALEX/GEC/GOLD LION R.U
That ASL amp looked like used 300B, the king of valves no ?
Ahh Cheviots were my schoolboy dream speakers ! My friend next to me we wanted the Ardens, but I wanted the Cheviots because they came in ash white with blue grill clothes ! I did end up with a pair of Ardens only five years ago but my room too small and spent on watts instead of quality ampwise... Anyway spent ages refurbishing them then sold them !
Me too going through a reminiscing stage and just bought a pair of speakers I had back in the 80s off of ebay for pennies and they sound wonderful. Didn't appreciate them at the time but certainly am now. Musical Fidelity MC4 (v1)
Thanks for the run down on the tubes, these look the biz:
KT77/EL34/GENALEX/GEC/GOLD LION R.U
That ASL amp looked like used 300B, the king of valves no ?
Ahh Cheviots were my schoolboy dream speakers ! My friend next to me we wanted the Ardens, but I wanted the Cheviots because they came in ash white with blue grill clothes ! I did end up with a pair of Ardens only five years ago but my room too small and spent on watts instead of quality ampwise... Anyway spent ages refurbishing them then sold them !
Me too going through a reminiscing stage and just bought a pair of speakers I had back in the 80s off of ebay for pennies and they sound wonderful. Didn't appreciate them at the time but certainly am now. Musical Fidelity MC4 (v1)
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Yeah those KT77s get good feedback.
Also considering these two:
6CA7-TII aka EL34 (Quad or Pair) | Psvane & Shuguang Treasure Audio Tubes, Caps and Amps
1. 6CA7-Z Select (quad) | Psvane & Shuguang Treasure Audio Tubes, Caps and Amps
The Tulip uses 2A3 tubes, the 300B's little brother. A whopping 2.5watts of very sweet SET sound. They worked very well with the Cheviots but not so good with my DIY MTM speakers so like an idiot I sold them both and purchased a Krell integrated. That sounded good but wasn't my cup of tea.
Also considering these two:
6CA7-TII aka EL34 (Quad or Pair) | Psvane & Shuguang Treasure Audio Tubes, Caps and Amps
1. 6CA7-Z Select (quad) | Psvane & Shuguang Treasure Audio Tubes, Caps and Amps
The Tulip uses 2A3 tubes, the 300B's little brother. A whopping 2.5watts of very sweet SET sound. They worked very well with the Cheviots but not so good with my DIY MTM speakers so like an idiot I sold them both and purchased a Krell integrated. That sounded good but wasn't my cup of tea.
Oh wow, looking forward to hearing which ones you go for. Have you not been tempted taking the amp out of UL mode ?
We seem to be on similar tracks ! Me too built my own speakers and tried a Krell amp.
My speakers are bi-polars I designed using SEAS FA22RCZ 8" drivers. The big red things have been plonked in the kitchen for now !
As you say the Krell was nice, but not for me either, our modded Yaquins surpass it.
The little speakers are a pair of KEF LS50s which I had on loan for fun.
We seem to be on similar tracks ! Me too built my own speakers and tried a Krell amp.
My speakers are bi-polars I designed using SEAS FA22RCZ 8" drivers. The big red things have been plonked in the kitchen for now !
As you say the Krell was nice, but not for me either, our modded Yaquins surpass it.
The little speakers are a pair of KEF LS50s which I had on loan for fun.
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Going Triode would be interesting but I think if I was going to go that far I'd buy an amp that was designed that way. I have a short wishlist of amps right now. Ideally I would like to get a tube preamp and 2 tube stereo amps or 4 monoblocks so that I could experiment with active crossovers.
My speakers are built with the Focal 8K516J and the Morel CAT 308. I got the Focals for a steal and that's what prompted the build. I installed the Mundorf Evo Oils and Mundorf MOX resistors (I stated Mills above but they are the Mundorf MOX) last night in the tweeter circuit and they really lifted the veil off of the sound. They didn't really change the voicing of the speakers at all, just let much more information through. Detail and clarity is better than I would have expected from this build which is always welcome.
The nice thing about the extra detail is that I will be able to hear changes made to the amp all that much more now.
On the speaker side of things I want to try a single driver build as well as active crossovers.
My speakers are built with the Focal 8K516J and the Morel CAT 308. I got the Focals for a steal and that's what prompted the build. I installed the Mundorf Evo Oils and Mundorf MOX resistors (I stated Mills above but they are the Mundorf MOX) last night in the tweeter circuit and they really lifted the veil off of the sound. They didn't really change the voicing of the speakers at all, just let much more information through. Detail and clarity is better than I would have expected from this build which is always welcome.
The nice thing about the extra detail is that I will be able to hear changes made to the amp all that much more now.
On the speaker side of things I want to try a single driver build as well as active crossovers.
I put new input RCAs on the chassis by the volume as the most direct feed and so to leave the original wiring undisturbed.
Not sure why they rave about the Takmans that much. Anyway why only replace the outputs and not the preamp ones as well ? Think one [1K] can be seen in my last photo.
Is that the EHs running on your amp ? Nice set up you have. When will you give the Genalex 77s a shot ?
Can't wait for the verdict !
Not sure why they rave about the Takmans that much. Anyway why only replace the outputs and not the preamp ones as well ? Think one [1K] can be seen in my last photo.
Is that the EHs running on your amp ? Nice set up you have. When will you give the Genalex 77s a shot ?
Can't wait for the verdict !
Would be interested to know what you are comparing the EHs to: Is it to the valves the amp came supplied with ?