Hello All,
Yesterday noon the mailman brought me a pair of very good used Telefunken ECC83/12AX7's for my VTA SP9 preamp. I had high hopes for them, as the SP9 has consistantly revealed the quality of each type of tube I have tried. I have progressed from JJ ECC83's to 12AX7EH's to Baldwin labled Sylvanias and now to Tele's in the phono stage and Baldwins in the line stage, and it just keeps getting better!
First thing after installing the Teles I cranked the volume to full to listen to the noise level. The Teles are very quiet, and what noise there is is very smooth sounding, not as hissy as other tubes I tried. So I cued up the Fleetwood Mac "Dreams", wow! Stevie Nicks voice was more fleshed out, richer, more in the room, the reverb much more apparent. The next track is mostly guitar solo with Lindsy Buckingham singing, once again, his voice was fuller, more present, the guitar was spot on, harmonically richer and correct, just much more engaging. Next up was Alan Parsons I Robot LP, again the sound was richer, fuller, more revealing but smoother at the same time. Then I played Steely Dan, Aja, I was shocked! First track I played was Peg, it was like I have never heard it before! There was so much more detail revealed, so much more presence, the sound stage was huge and solid with so much detail i could barely take it all in! So then I cued up the track "Aja" and was just blown away. Theres alot going on in that track, and every detail was perfectly rendered, and in its own space. Again I heard details in the track I had never known were there, there was a triangle in the backround I have never heard before. Cymbals are super clean, less splash, more ring. In all, the sound is just entrancing, I'm going to be spending hours exploring my favorite LPs, and I have now ordered more, I can't get enough! Later today the mailman is bringing me more Tele's, going to put 4 in the line stage also. can there be too much of a good thing? Are there better tubes out there? Psvanes, or Mullards maybe?
Yesterday noon the mailman brought me a pair of very good used Telefunken ECC83/12AX7's for my VTA SP9 preamp. I had high hopes for them, as the SP9 has consistantly revealed the quality of each type of tube I have tried. I have progressed from JJ ECC83's to 12AX7EH's to Baldwin labled Sylvanias and now to Tele's in the phono stage and Baldwins in the line stage, and it just keeps getting better!
First thing after installing the Teles I cranked the volume to full to listen to the noise level. The Teles are very quiet, and what noise there is is very smooth sounding, not as hissy as other tubes I tried. So I cued up the Fleetwood Mac "Dreams", wow! Stevie Nicks voice was more fleshed out, richer, more in the room, the reverb much more apparent. The next track is mostly guitar solo with Lindsy Buckingham singing, once again, his voice was fuller, more present, the guitar was spot on, harmonically richer and correct, just much more engaging. Next up was Alan Parsons I Robot LP, again the sound was richer, fuller, more revealing but smoother at the same time. Then I played Steely Dan, Aja, I was shocked! First track I played was Peg, it was like I have never heard it before! There was so much more detail revealed, so much more presence, the sound stage was huge and solid with so much detail i could barely take it all in! So then I cued up the track "Aja" and was just blown away. Theres alot going on in that track, and every detail was perfectly rendered, and in its own space. Again I heard details in the track I had never known were there, there was a triangle in the backround I have never heard before. Cymbals are super clean, less splash, more ring. In all, the sound is just entrancing, I'm going to be spending hours exploring my favorite LPs, and I have now ordered more, I can't get enough! Later today the mailman is bringing me more Tele's, going to put 4 in the line stage also. can there be too much of a good thing? Are there better tubes out there? Psvanes, or Mullards maybe?
