sheltie dave Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 Guy, I have sold the C20 and am BUYING the Blueberry. I have to get with you and Gary to find out what tubes Gary fell in love with for the MC240. I will be running the 240 with the Blueberry on the Khorns, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this combo will pitch me in the timothy and clover. Mike, I think the ST70 is a decent amp that can be brought up to excellant specs with some good work. I will be holding on to mine for a backstop on the primary system, but it will be a backbencher for a while. The C22 is a vintage world class preamp, occupying one of the lower rungs where Gary's Marantz shines brightest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 ---------------- On 2/25/2004 10:48:25 PM sheltie dave wrote: The C22 is a vintage world class preamp, occupying one of the lower rungs where Gary's Marantz shines brightest. ---------------- I'm not sure it shines brightest but it certainly fetches a pretty penny these days! To think I almost didn't buy it at about half what I could sell it for today! Who needs the stockmarket anyway. BTW Dave - The GEC KT-66s are the cat's meow in the 240. Very expensive though. You may want to try the new version while trying to grab these one at a time on ebay. I hear the Chinese and Russian clones are pretty good and about $80 for a quad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 ---------------- BTW Dave - The GEC KT-66s are the cat's meow in the 240. Very expensive though. You may want to try the new version while trying to grab these one at a time on ebay. I hear the Chinese and Russian clones are pretty good and about $80 for a quad. ---------------- NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, Don't dare buying ANY other KT-66, other than the real McCoy. And if you can not afford them, buy some RCA black plates, or save and buy'em later. The Chinese and Russian tubes do look nice, but draw 1.6 A of current, while the GEC's draw 0,9. These tubes will help you cook your transformers much faster. OTOH, What do I care? I'm only here for the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 ---------------- On 2/25/2004 11:20:24 PM Guy Landau wrote: ---------------- BTW Dave - The GEC KT-66s are the cat's meow in the 240. Very expensive though. You may want to try the new version while trying to grab these one at a time on ebay. I hear the Chinese and Russian clones are pretty good and about $80 for a quad. ---------------- NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, Don't dare buying ANY other KT-66, other than the real McCoy. And if you can not afford them, buy some RCA black plates, or save and buy'em later. The Chinese and Russian tubes do look nice, but draw 1.6 Ma of current, while the GEC's draw 0,9. These tubes will help you cook your transformers much faster. OTOH, What do I care? I'm only here for the money. ---------------- Sorry for the bad advice. I sent them with rca blackplates anyway. Didn't know the current would be an issue. You can usually get the originals cheaper one at a time. They don't need to be a perfectly matched quad since it's self-biasing. Also, ask Guy about input tubes. The ones he loaned me were an improvement also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 Gary, They do need to be matched since it's self bias (cathode). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 Chinese and Russian KT-66 are CRAP! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!! The ONLY KT-66 is the GEC KT-66. PERIOD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 ---------------- On 2/25/2004 11:37:00 PM Guy Landau wrote: Gary, They do need to be matched since it's self bias (cathode). ---------------- Please explain. I was under the impression you could buy singles or pairs of GEC KT-66s until you had a quad. I believe it was you who told me that. The ones you sent me were not perfectly matched. They were all the same tube but tested slightly different. What am I missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheltie dave Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 Guy and Alan, what preamp tubes are good? I still have the Telefunken AU and AX7s on hand and a couple Mullard 12au7s, though I had to give away a quad to calm some rough waters when a "friend" misrepresented a preamp in a sale I got sucked into getting Shorty back. The Mullards must be good - I witnessed a confrontation last weekend at an estate sale. One noted collecter tried to take an entire box of tubes to buy while the first guy arrival was cherry picking all the Mullards. It got pretty ugly real fast. The cherry picker ended up buying the whole box and was PISSED that he had to waste money buying unwanted tubes, which I thought was sour grapes. Both gentlemen have thousands of tubes in their collections and are unwilling to let a single tube dribble out to someone who needs a good NOS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 ---------------- On 2/26/2004 9:16:55 AM garymd wrote: ---------------- On 2/25/2004 11:37:00 PM Guy Landau wrote: Gary, They do need to be matched since it's self bias (cathode). ---------------- Please explain. I was under the impression you could buy singles or pairs of GEC KT-66s until you had a quad. I believe it was you who told me that. The ones you sent me were not perfectly matched. They were all the same tube but tested slightly different. What am I missing? ---------------- Gary, I told you so since it would be much cheaper to buy singles. I then said, that all of them should be tested and the close matching pairs should be used in each amp. Mine did not match perfectly, but the biggest measured difference was 8% (which is quite close). It is nearly impossible to match tubes with 0% difference. and when their operating, they can age differently. In fixed bias (adjustable) amps, it is possible to compensate for this aging process, by adjusting the bias to the correct operating point. In cathode (Auto) bias it's nearly impossible. Dave, The Telefunken 12AU7's are very over rated. They sound too warm and lack definition. The Mullards are better. The Telefunken 12AX7's are decent. I do prefer the ribbed plate over the flat plate Teles since they sound more natural to my ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 Guy, I think we were saying the same thing. I didn't articulate what I meant very well. I said they didn't need to be "perfectly matched" although my self-biasing comment was incorrect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 Gary, They needn't be perfectly matched means that they'll work. But, they should be as close to perfect match, for optimized operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 True enough, but my experience has shown me that in a Mc amp having matched output tubes has ZERO effect on how the amp sounds. But I still try to match them as closely as I can! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 It would be nice to find a perfectly matched quad of GEC KT-66s but most likely that won't happen! If you did find them, it would cost you a mint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Frankel Posted February 26, 2004 Author Share Posted February 26, 2004 Well, now you guys have me thinking about the McIntosh C22 versus the Marantz 7C Preamp. I know that I like the +/- 20 db adjustment for the bass and treble on the C22. What is the bass and treble adjustment on the Marantz. Should I have my Dynaco ST 70 upgraded to modern standads? Will that improve the sound suffiecently to drive the KLF 30's OK? Modern tube preamps do not have have any tone controls, that I know of. Are there any that do? I have to have a way to boost bass and treble. I am just used to listening this way and am too old to change now. I have been listening to the KLF 30's completely flat with just the ST 70 and I really need to have tone controls. Should I junk the tube route completely and go all solid state? Will that maximize the KLF 30's. I really like the warmth ofthe Tube sound though and would like to stick with tubes. HELP!!! I am so confused at this point. Thanks Again Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 So go with the C22. You can always sell it for what you paid for it (or maybe more). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.