KT88

Your Pioneer receiver looks fantastic. I had a very similar experience a year ago. Although I love my McIntosh C22CE and MC275 Mk4 since more than 20 years for their musicality I bought again the amplifier I had in my youth for little money, the Quad34 pre and 306 power amp combination. It still sounds so really good 35 years later on with my 1977 LaScalas and BBC speakers. It's not just reminiscence but it is a bit. The sound of youth.

Although quieter, I can hear lower tones than 50 Hz with my LaScala when placed close to the wall if I use a tone generator. But that is not my point. It's not about lowest frequencies and it's not (only and rather rarely) about high volume. The LaScala delivers a quality that most other speakers can not realize. I call it the energy of bass...in combination with the energy of mids and highs, it is the energy of sound. It's the superior serenity of a big block V8 like performance that I hear and love. It is breathing sound with the quickness of reality and the authority of nature. With the LaScala, a heavy wooden door slamming into a lock sounds just like a real heavy wooden door slamming into a lock. So does the surf of a big wave on the rock, a thunder or the delicate sound of Pablo Casals' cello. I cannot describe better what is the difference between "electric" sounding direct radiators and the "natural" LaScala sound.

I experience both short-term and other longer-term changes. In the longer-term changes, I see drivers and sometimes capacitors, for example, in a Xover. There is always some of my habituation in play in my opinion but not always and not exclusively. The short-term changes I see as significant and they are more than just imagination in my experience. A good example is when I clean and re-solder old solder joints in a vintage preamp. Or when I solder other plugs to speaker cables. It sounds every time shortly after hardly spatial and narrow. It takes about 24 hours until it sounds as good as before. It is not imagination because I have forgotten the effect and it surprises me every time how thin and less sonorous something can sound shortly after soldering. I have no explanation for it. Maybe the molecules have to relax or rearrange themselves, e.g. in the cooled solder. I would like to add that even if the sound of e.g. new speakers can still change during the break-in period, I always have a feeling from the beginning whether I like it or not. I have always experienced changes, e.g. more openness and relaxation in the sound image. But there has never been a device that I did not like at the beginning and after the break-in period I would like it well.

Thanks for the informative link, Maynard. I like this old educational films a lot. Also regarding car technology, when a Ford film of that time explains e.g. the differential in the most understandable way. For those who like to see it, here are the basics explained regarding the function of a triode and a pentode, a film from 1943.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_badge-engineered_vehicles

Mixed impressions about Viva here: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/viva-tubes.2066120/ So far I understand Viva is a dealer and not a maker of tubes. And in the thread link above, some customers disagree with the way Viva uses the definition of NOS. Regarding those „Telefunken“ tubes. I can't find anything new information about these American Telefunken rebranded tubes that were supposedly made at JJ.

Perhaps this thread is of help.

Here is a informative even if a commercial website where you can see a physical comparison of the fake Saratov Mullard vs. genuine old Mullard tubes. you can on the right part of the site also find an electrical comparison in an own article. https://www.effectrode.com/knowledge-base/mullard-ecc83-12ax7-reissue-vs-original-a-physical-comparison/ A little bit about the history of JJ from the same source as above. https://www.effectrode.com/news/tesla-heritage-jj-tubes-modern-tube-manufacturer/ Vita of Tesla company https://www.electron-tubes.cz/en/historie/ This article is very critical about JJ quality but it is a very informative read about Telefunken and Tesla tubes. I think that JJ is better then it is described in the article. https://www.jacmusic.com/techcorner/ARTICLES/English/Portraits/E83CC/ECC83-part-numbering1.html About bad copies of NOS tubes and how to identify them. https://www.jacmusic.com/nos/images/Fakes/index.html It doesn't get easier in orientation when old names resurface. This "Telefunken" brand seems to belong to a US company. The wensite is obviously a bit older. They claim that "their" Telefunken tubes are made at JJ. https://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/product-category/products/vacuum-tubes/ Was discussed critically https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/telefunken-tubes-being-reissued-by-jj.1404444/

I agree, Henry. This discussion comes up again and again. I would like to contribute a little to sobering things up. With power amplifier tubes, it usually depends much more on the quality of the output transformer, and the intelligence of the circuit. Really "huge" sound differences can hardly be heard, apart from really junk. I wonder how many consumers here blindly adopt the marketing strategy of today's major tube manufacturer "New Sensor". New Sensor is an American marketing company in New York. If I may say so, it is fakenews. In the past, people used to say "badge engineering" for cars when another sticker implied it was a "better" car, but it was the same. New Sensor has bought up the trademark rights of time-honored big names. Gold Lion, Mullard, Tungsol, Svetlana and many more. The biggest difference and investment with this manufacturer is the different cardboard boxes these tubes are put in. These New Sensor tubes have NOTHING! to do with the old big brands. Absolutely nothing. 30 years ago there were two qualities of tubes from Russia. The good ones came from St. Petersburg and they were called Svetlana. The cheap ones came from the Saratov plant. They were called Sovtek. Svetlana has been bankrupt for 20 years. Unfortunately. Mcintosh had used them as an OEM. Today you have to search for NOS "Winged C" to find a real Svetlana. New Sensor also bought the trademark rights to Svetlana, which are also cheap and short-lived today. And where do you think all these fake old big brands are cheaply imitated ? In the Saratov factory, all on the cheap and quite short-lived standard of Sovtek. There is a big difference between, say, 1960 and today. At that time, the technology of the tubes was innovatively developed and refined. Today, new tubes are copied on worn-out ancient production machines without innovation. It helps when choosing a tube today if something is known about the history of a manufacturer. That's why I'm coming to JJ now. I am not related to the company or an employee. It is only my good experience as a consumer that I would like to share. JJ took over the machines and employees from Tesla after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Czechoslovakia used to be one country. That changed 30 years ago. Today the Tesla company (still existing) is in Czech Republic, one of the two new small countries in the EU (Elon Musk had to pay a lot of money to be allowed to use this name for his car brand). Tesla makes innovative radar technology today and still builds very large transmitter tubes. They were the makers of very good audio tubes. When the decline of tube production started in Germany in the early 1970s, Telefunken sold all machines and know how to Tesla. That's why they had a fantastic KT88 EL 34 and many other power tubes on Telefunken machines. Especially the small tubes from Telefunken are very good. The innovation of Telefunken tension grid tubes E83CC, for example, Tesla continued to build in the same quality. Then the company JJ was founded in Slovakia. They took over everything from Tesla, the good quality of Telefunken machines etc. Out of a funny confusion about the names, nowadays the cheapest JJ ECC83 is of all things the famous tension grid tube, but that's just told in passing. I have always used with satisfaction the JJ KT88 on my MC275. It is crazy but it is the cheapest KT88 tube on the whole market, before the Ukraine war for 29€ to have, now of course a little more. What sources do we have today where tubes are produced: Except for a few very expensive exotics like Western Electric, only three. China, Saratov in Russia and JJ. The Chinese can also build ok tubes, but the dealers get about 30% scrap outside the tolerances from China. What does the dealer do to survive, he sells it on to the consumer as best he can. I have reported in detail about Saratov. That leaves only JJ. And of course NOS. Six years ago I bought very good Sylvania 12AX7 from 1960 in the USA for very little money. They were branded by an organ manufacturer, Baldwin. They play very nicely in my MC C22CE.

RIP, Wayne.

If all else to check out failed, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that one of the big PSU electrolytic capacitors might have died. I would have it tested and if you like the sound of the amp very much then such a repair is not an arm and a leg expensive. An indicator of this is sometimes when the hum is exactly an octave above the 60 Hz, 120 Hz. Maybe you used to have low efficiency speakers on the amp and you didn't notice it before?

If you like good sax sound And (to me) good music, try perhaps Dexter Gordon „I am a fool to want you“, the 1965 recording. BTW besides the great classics I am very pleased that there is a new young generation of really good jazz musicians. I fell in love with the tenor sax sound and improvisation of Julieta Eugenio, a young Argentinian with her first album "Jump" from 2022, e.g. the piece "For you".

Yes, it would be a great help if the search function of e.g. Tidal could filter which version of a recording is not remastered. Some remastered versions sound so bad and superficially aggressive that your explanation that these versions were made for other applications such as radio stations makes sense. BTW a very eloquent post from you, thanks.

Henry, I fully support your views as long as they are bass horns driven (e.g. your LaScala). Or they are small conventional speakers (with enough air suspension and a nice and light impedance curve) to reproduce a quiet but lovely sound with 5 watts in a smaller room. For example, a small BBC LS3/5 always goes very well with a 10 WPC Leak Stereo 20 with EL84 PP in small rooms, even if it has a pathetic efficiency of only 82 dB. But when it comes to newer very power hungry large bass reflex speakers, especially if they also have low impedance (B&W, Sonus Faber and many more) then unfortunately you may need more power. Then sometimes 100 watts is not enough. How good or bad these 100 watts sound is a completely different question...above all, the sound delivered up to the first watt counts immensely in this case as well. I personally love efficient speakers with smaller amps a lot. But some speakers are worth it if you run them with more powerful amps. I think that is even the case with the Cornwall. It doesn't have to be 100 watts, but 25 watts is perhaps not wrong from my point of view if you want the bass to build up some pressure. Unless you hear the Cornwalls only very quietly. But actually it is not about loud listening in this case, it is audible even at moderate room volume whether the bass has some strength. In the end, it is fortunately also a matter of taste.

At first moment it looked like a list to download the music files, I was looking forward to it🤠But even if it's just a photo of the list your story is very pleasant to read.

Thank you very much for your research, Barbie. Let's see if we can form a group of interested participants in Europe.

I really like Tidal for the same reason as you. It would be a good idea to select the masterings and that they offer different orders…from the newest remastering down to the original recording in available or vice verse. Anyway they should appreciate the value of the original masterings a little bit more.

Thanks for pointing that out, Edgar. I have corrected it (remastered vs. remix).

I have a growing problem with Tidal.(maybe it's not better with other streaming services which I don't know). The sound quality is technically good. My annoyance is a very specific one. For example, I'm looking for a song by the Rolling Stones. Let's say I'm looking for "Wild Horses." The fact that there are a lot of different recordings is not the problem but nice. But I search, for example, the first recording from 1971. Then the result is all (and many) remastering for at least 25 years. One worse than the other. It is a torture and a plague. In the meantime I have become patient in searching. Sometimes no original mix is offered. Then I look for the song on old compilations...that what used to be offered cheaply again 10 years after the release of a song. Sometimes I have success only on this way of my search if these compilations are also on Tidal. I am not an expert but I have a suspicion. When remastering they listen to every single track. Then they do "full work" on every single track. An acoustic Martin guitar becomes even more silvery. The singer gets more expression. The drums become more impulsive and crisp. The bass becomes drier and deeper. Then they are satisfied with every single track and go to lunch. After that they mix everything together. And that's the problem. Many original records have a magic of togetherness. Most remastered issues have no feeling for the band, it's a dead juxtaposition of individual instruments trying to outdo each other. Maybe I am alone with this impression. But I would go so far as to say that digital is criticized because you often hear the wrong editions. Old original digital record versions are much closer to vinyl.

Thanks for your info, Travis.

Every marketing guy dreams of good product ideas and of achieving emotional synergies from brand partnerships. Successful examples are e.g. watch brands like Jaeger Lecoultre with Aston Martin watches (Amvox) or Omega Speedmaster with the Apollo Program, even McDonalds McFlurry® with M&M'S® Candies or car brands with Carhifi partners with well known names (Klipsch here BTW?..it's given away, imagine "BMW M Series with "Ultrasonic Klipsch Sound System". I really like this new Legends Series Klipsch&Mclaren! https://www.klipsch.com/klipsch-mclaren-legends The idea is well staged, the design of the speakers is very very successful from my point of view. Here meet two emotional worlds that complement each other perfectly (Maybe also because I have besides audio my little Lotus and Morgan as another great hobby). I love this McLaren Papaya color with black. By the way, now while writing I just remembered...why Klipsch does not start with a sound system for the McLaren consumer road cars? This new campaign has given me an idea...what do you think? I could paint the K402 of my UG Jubilees in McLaren Papaya. They are really a bit drab in black, it could look really good. Due to the size of the K402, it would lend itself aesthetically, after all, it wouldn't just be a splash of color. Don't worry about trademark rights, they are just my private speakers that no one else sees. Or I take Lotus original mustard yellow as in their logo. @Travis In AustinDo I remember correctly that 14 years ago you also wanted to paint your K402 with automotive paint? Somehow that was a memory and actually I thought it was a very good idea back then. Maybe it's a way if I make my UG Jubilee even more colorful and bold, because subtle they are not and they never will be. The Heritage Jubilee takes a different successful route and enhances its optical impression with natural high quality finish and a different shape.

I have read this thread with a lot of pleasure. Hearing you rave about RtR makes me a little sad. I had a Revox A77 half-track with two Sennheiser MD421n microphones in my youth. I didn't record vinyl or FM but our rock band in the rehearsal room, the church choir in the village with organ, the piano pieces a good buddy had rehearsed for the entrance exam at the Berlin Hochschule der Künste (he was accepted). Another good buddy was a very good jazz drummer at a young age and is now a professor of percussion at the University of Munich. I had often recorded his jazz band at gigs. A copy of our first days in a studio with our rock band and much more. These tapes would all be very nice and good sounding acoustic contemporary witnesses today. From today's point of view I have committed a stupidity because I sold all this including the tapes more than 30 years ago. Suddenly the size and weight of the equipment was too much for me, new tapes too expensive, etc. What I would give for it today if I still had all that. Some of you may be able to relate to this because you have perhaps done similar stupid things in your life. I have one consolation, my mother and family still has the Braun TG 1000 that my father bought in 1972. It was his pride and joy. Here a picture from the web showing this model. It was not so popular in the US. The look was timeless and a role model for brands like NAD 15 years later. Because Braun was more a company of optical styling and good looks the technical system was delivered by another company called Uher, they were RtR experts at that time. In a similar way Braun made its own optical design of British Quad ESL 57 electrostatic speakers. https://www.preservationsound.com/2014/06/less-but-better-the-braun-tg-1000-tape-recorder-of-1970/

Is it possible for European interested readers to ship it directly from Belgium to save shipping costs for two times over the pond and customs?

As for the SQ, I gained a remarkable impression while streaming regarding MQA. My previous streamer, a Bluesound Node2i made a very audible difference between CD quality and MQA. Since one year I have a new Bluesound Node (without additional number/letter). It has a much more modern chip with very high processing power in the price range. The effect is that the CD quality has become much better and the difference to MQA has amazingly become smaller to my ears, even if MQA is still a bit better, CD quality is so good that I don't miss anything when listening. This was different with the old Node 2i.

@Coytee, if you like have a read of this brief white paper regarding the sense and effect of supertweeters even if it concerns another brand of speakers the text shows general principles about what we are able to listen to and more important, how the listenable band can change when using additional ST due to phase correction. I own this ST200 together with my Tannoy Canterbury from 1993 and I must say that even the bass sounds more refined. On the other hand I like the vintage sound without additional supertweeter very much as well and it is perhaps a little less information but it is also less fatigue . https://www.hilberink.nl/tannoy/tsupertweeter.pdf