The age of the amp does not really matter. Switch it off, unplug it, and wait 2 hours or so. (The last part is something I never did, but I am not the best reference here.)
Hello. I've had the TU 8200 DX since 2015 and been mainly using it for my home theater connected to a pair of Omega Loudspeakers U3 94db along with a sub and a Geek Pulse DAC. But I recently put the 8200 in our main system (my wife was tired of the Van der Veen mono blocks and Aikido preamp sitting out in our living room). It drives our 90db B&W 803 speakers very nicely. My front end is a HEOS Link for streaming digital to a Wyred4Sound re-clocker into a Wyerd4Sound DAC 2. So I've really been enjoying listening to music through the 8200 in the main system. Then last week I decided to upgrade the OPTs to the Lundahl 2777B and it's been amazing to listen to it now. I bought them from Victor Kung and they arrived in one day! He's a great guy, always very helpful. The wider bandwidth of the Lundahls really brings in the details, sharpens up all of the transients, and makes bass notes much more well defined. Cymbals and all other percussion are just better since the broader range of frequencies are being delivered more accurately. Definitely made a great amp even better. I just decided to buy the Mundorf EVO SilverGoldOil caps and will be putting them in when they arrive. It will be interesting to hear what they do.
Regarding tube rolling, I long ago found my Winged C 6550s to be the best power tube option. The 6550s had been in my PP mono blocks until I replaced them with KT120s. So now I have a good stash of 10 6550s for the 8200 which should last my lifetime. I tried a lot of different 12AU7s including RCA, Cifte, Sylvania, GE, Brimar, and Telefunken. The Telefunkens were by far the best and have been serving me well. But recently, I purchased some new production Northern Electric 12AU7s and was shocked by how great they are. Apparently, Northern Electric has contracted out the production of their design to a Chinese manufacturer. The design is essentially an improved version of the Telefunken 12AU7. If people need an affordable alternative to NOS, this is it! Around $45 a piece from The Tube Store. I'm leaving them in and will buy them again.
Regarding tube rolling, I long ago found my Winged C 6550s to be the best power tube option. The 6550s had been in my PP mono blocks until I replaced them with KT120s. So now I have a good stash of 10 6550s for the 8200 which should last my lifetime. I tried a lot of different 12AU7s including RCA, Cifte, Sylvania, GE, Brimar, and Telefunken. The Telefunkens were by far the best and have been serving me well. But recently, I purchased some new production Northern Electric 12AU7s and was shocked by how great they are. Apparently, Northern Electric has contracted out the production of their design to a Chinese manufacturer. The design is essentially an improved version of the Telefunken 12AU7. If people need an affordable alternative to NOS, this is it! Around $45 a piece from The Tube Store. I'm leaving them in and will buy them again.
Back again. I installed the Mundorf EVO GoldSilverOil caps and have been listening the last few days. While the Lundahls made a very obvious difference the caps are different in subtle ways. I would say it improves detail and makes a deeper and more spacious soundstage. Definitely worth the incremental investment. I'm really loving the upgraded TU-8200 with the new Northern Electric 12 AU7, the new Lundahls, and the Mundorf caps. It's now staying in my main system.
Hi, new to all this, i tried to find what is upgrade on bass by paczeltf on forum but couldnt, can you specify what is exactly to do. Sorry for my english.