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Tube power and what to expect !


davis419b

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If nothing else, your wallet will feel the difference...

Yea like about a $500 difference..

Well, then it should sound much, much better. Wink

I would sure hope so ! This is what scares me about tube rolling, going thru all the trouble and not hearing a notible difference.

I heard that!
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.... Super High powered tube amps tend to have a big increase in distortion at lower output that most of us with efficient speakers end up listening to them at most of the time (unless we decide to blow the walls down). Tube amps in this power range using multiple output tubes for more power are usually great mates for very inefficient speakers....

If it is conventional distortion (IM, Harmonic, TIM, noise) that is the potential problem, aren't there published test results of the amps' performance at a very low output v.s. medium v.s. high? I remeber Luxman used to publisjh those results.

Trouble is, I don't think they have names or measurement techniques for some of the kinds of distortion we hear.

The extra 6 dB might be very helpful if you listen at original concert levels. My Klipschorns usually loaf along at somewhere betwen 0.25 watts and 6 watts, but they have hit 25 watts a few times, and 60 watts once!

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I have been acused of trolling and trying to push my vendors products by a forum member, this is trully not the case. This was all about my own personal use of the amps.I bought these amps from an individual not a vendor.For this reason I have removed all of the information that I had previously posted. I want to thank everyone who gave feedback on my question.

Three years ago I posted my first thread about Klipschorns. I had just bought Bose 901,s and was looking at buying a set of khorns. Thebes responded by saying box up the Bose 901,s, sell them and buy the khorns. Him being a long time member I took his advice and did just that and never looked back. These are the comments I was looking for just to keep from wasting money nothing else !

Thanks, Don

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Relax, you are an upright guy and don't let The Fritz's and a couple of other guys with thin skins or a current agenda bother you.

It's an honest question and you got some good advice from Craig. I might also add that, and I think Craig would agree, the biggest benefits from tube rolling come from the small tubes in the preamps. If Mark hasn't rigged you up with his "super tube" roll that slot on the BBX with a some tubes and you will soon be one happy cat.

I do believe it's a 6DJ8 so here's some reading for you:

http://www.audiotubes.com/6dj8.htm
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Oh, right Marty ! You're just being helpful! It's just a coincidence that you have a stock of 6DJ8 tubes you're trying to unload! HA!! BUSTED!!

This has been an example of sarcastic fiction. Marty actually has some microphonic 12AU7s he's trying to move.

No, that's not right, either. He has a watered-down deuce of Cover-Stain primer he wants to trade for a belt for his Empire turntable.

No, that's wrong. I'm so stuck in this mire of screwed-up accusations I have no idea what's true or false.

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Thanks for your comments Thebes ! You are the first persons advice I took on this forum and it was the best advice I have gotten so far. The only problem is that it has cost me alot of money but I am one happy camper because of it ! This is the second BBX that I have owned and I am just not hearing what I want to hear yet it is hard to explain without having more knowledge. Right now I am just letting my ears do the talking. Soon I hope to know how to make gear I have sound more like I want rather than having to sell and buy something else hoping it has what I am looking.

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Oh, right Marty ! You're just being helpful! It's just a coincidence that you have a stock of 6DJ8 tubes you're trying to unload! HA!! BUSTED!!

This has been an example of sarcastic fiction. Marty actually has some microphonic 12AU7s he's trying to move.

No, that's not right, either. He has a watered-down deuce of Cover-Stain primer he wants to trade for a belt for his Empire turntable.

No, that's wrong. I'm so stuck in this mire of screwed-up accusations I have no idea what's true or false.

Its OK Fini, atleast you still know who you are !

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>Right now I am just letting my ears do the talking.

You're going down the right path with that philosophy imho....

i thought tubes had less low end until i added VRD monoblocks. These suckers are stout. alas, my BBX needs to go back to Mark D for repairs so the VRD's are idle.

I'm using my first tube amp again, a Jolida 102b. This is the typical tube sound. Wonderful sound sweet mids and missing the bottom octave. I've done a little tube rolling with this amp and it makes a difference. For me, i needed to listen to the stock tubes for a month before i rolled. You may not need to take that long but for me, i needed to listen to a lot of music to really understand what i had. Then i understood what changed with the change in tubes...

Wouldn't spend $500 on a tube changeout though (at least, i don't think i would [:D]) the change in tube rolling is somewhat subtle. For us here it's a big enough difference. Good luck!!

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>Right now I am just letting my ears do the talking.

You're going down the right path with that philosophy imho....

i thought tubes had less low end until i added VRD monoblocks. These suckers are stout. alas, my BBX needs to go back to Mark D for repairs so the VRD's are idle.

I'm using my first tube amp again, a Jolida 102b. This is the typical tube sound. Wonderful sound sweet mids and missing the bottom octave. I've done a little tube rolling with this amp and it makes a difference. For me, i needed to listen to the stock tubes for a month before i rolled. You may not need to take that long but for me, i needed to listen to a lot of music to really understand what i had. Then i understood what changed with the change in tubes...

Wouldn't spend $500 on a tube changeout though (at least, i don't think i would Big Smile) the change in tube rolling is somewhat subtle. For us here it's a big enough difference. Good luck!!

Thanks Gnatnoop, sounds like very good advice. When I started 3 years ago I puchased an Adcom system with 300 wpc and thought it sounded to electrified (for lack of a better word) so moved backwards in power one step at a time. I ended up trying several and decided I like the sound from the 60wpc channel the best. Then one day I traded a guy a set of KG-4,s for a Sansui 9090db and that changed everything. Now I was hooked on vintage gear as it seemed to have the bass that I remembered from many years ago. I am a big bass fan ! Then my friend and tech brought over his tube amps and battery powered SS preamp and I was now hooked again but now on tubes. I am over the bass thing because it has been replaced with what I call dynamics and sound stage like I never had before. So I guess now those are the qualities that I am looking for until I learn more. I hope real soon to be able to learn how to treat the room for better sound. I beilieve that is going to be the best bang for the buck improvement but I could easily be wrong.

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It's an honest question and you got some good advice from Craig. I might also add that, and I think Craig would agree

Yes I would agree but with some clarification. When talking about a power amp like the VRD Stereo where output tube type (not brand) is so easily changed the character of the amp can be effected by a pretty large degree.... In this case he was stating he thought the EL34 L in the mono amps he has were what was floating his boat. So I suggested trying them in the VRD Stereo amp. I tried to get a response as to what difference he heard between the two amps with no other changes to the system but received no answer. If he has two entirely different setups then almost anything could be responsible for what he prefers. When deciding what one likes its best to make one single change at a time.

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It's an honest question and you got some good advice from Craig. I might also add that, and I think Craig would agree

Yes I would agree but with some clarification. When talking about a power amp like the VRD Stereo where output tube type (not brand) is so easily changed the character of the amp can be effected by a pretty large degree.... In this case he was stating he thought the EL34 L in the mono amps he has were what was floating his boat. So I suggested trying them in the VRD Stereo amp. I tried to get a response as to what difference he heard between the two amps with no other changes to the system but received no answer. If he has two entirely different setups then almost anything could be responsible for what he prefers. When deciding what one likes its best to make one single change at a time.

Sorry for the late responce to your question. Back when I Got the VRD stereo amp I did not have the Tsakiridis amps so I was just having to go by what I remembered them sounding like. Actually I had Dodd 120 monoblocks that I thought sounded simular to the Tsakiridis and the Holfi preamp. I did try them both with the BBX and the Holfi. The two different amps had different sound and so did the preamps. You must reallize that the Tsakiridis and the Holfi was the first tube system that I heard in my house with my speakers and I was just blown away. I not so sure that it is not the preamp that is making the sound I like and has nothing to do with the amps or the tube types. Believe me when I tell you I know nothing about the tube world I just know I like the sound

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