Dipping my toes into the World of Valves

[mightymonoped]

Well, spent the while evening with loved ones yesterday, eating good home-cooked food and listening to music in lots of different ways.

Firstly as background while I prepped the meal and then as we all sate, ate and played catchup.

My youngest lad came up from London to stay for the night and play me the latest cut on five new songs they have recently added real piano and strings to. Still need to sort levels out but we had a nice time listening in detail and discussing options.

As he was familiar with my old setup, we then had a protracted session listening to familiar tracks on headphone and speakers and commenting on the changes we heard. All of it favourable I might add . Finally, we all sat back and played new tracks and artists we’d been impressed by lately. We do this quite often and it’s a great musical cross-pollination, he gets to hear music from outside of his normal peer group and I get the best from his household of young professional musicians working in and around London. It’s a very healthy musical environment.

In all of this, the new amp acquitted itself effortlessly, the music was the focus, as it should be and we ended the evening richer for it.

I consider that as time and money well spent.

Toes dipped successfully.


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[Bigman80]

Well, spent the while evening with loved ones yesterday, eating good home-cooked food and listening to music in lots of different ways.

Firstly as background while I prepped the meal and then as we all sate, ate and played catchup.

My youngest lad came up from London to stay for the night and play me the latest cut on five new songs they have recently added real piano and strings to. Still need to sort levels out but we had a nice time listening in detail and discussing options.

As he was familiar with my old setup, we then had a protracted session listening to familiar tracks on headphone and speakers and commenting on the changes we heard. All of it favourable I might add . Finally, we all sat back and played new tracks and artists we’d been impressed by lately. We do this quite often and it’s a great musical cross-pollination, he gets to hear music from outside of his normal peer group and I get the best from his household of young professional musicians working in and around London. It’s a very healthy musical environment.

In all of this, the new amp acquitted itself effortlessly, the music was the focus, as it should be and we ended the evening richer for it.

I consider that as time and money well spent.

Toes dipped successfully.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love that. Music can bring people together and the Icon played it's part.

That's what it's all about.

[anthonyTD]

Hi All,
Only just read the las few pages, as for valves, well, being in the trade for well over 20 years now I feel I am in a position to offer some advice.
Good new old stock valves ie; Mullard, GEC, Tesla [not JJ] RAC, Sylvania, Telefunken etc, etc are commanding very high prices now, and to a degree its warranted as once they are gone, there will never be any made to that same standard again,However; not all NOS valves are equal in terms of Quality, there were obvious bad batches, and the valves like today' were graded, The big end users got what we class as Grade one stock, and the rest' depending on your buying power filtered down through the ranks.
Nothing has changed, when you buy modern valves, get them from the most reputable supplies out there, you will then at least have a better chance of getting high grade versions, this I feel is one reason some folks opinions differ greatly with their own experiences of different valves etc.
One valve thats been mentioned here the Genalex Gold lion, well, I can tell you, as far as construction is concerned; it bears little resemblance to the original GEC version, but never the less, if you get good ones, they are decent enough for the money, although compared to my absolute favorite modern KT88, the original Svetlana Winged C,s [now sadly no more, due mainly I suspect to financial difficulty] its reliability, and longevity is no match. Both valves however; have a sonic presentation that can please in the right equipment.
A...

[mightymonoped]

At the risk of stirring up the hornet's nest again, I have replaced the stock Chinese EL84 valves with a matched quad of NOS Reflektor 6P14P valves picked up for a very reasonable sum (very much inline with Sovtek etc costs).

Haven't had a chance for an extended listening session yet, but the quick run through last night was very encouraging indeed!

Onwards and upwards!

[Haselsh1]

My recommendation for Gold Lions only applies to my experience with them and only applies to the gold pinned ECC82 and ECC83. I have used their EL84's as well in the very amplifier being discussed here but I did not rate them over the stock valves. The ECC's though made a bloody big difference.

It is so bloody good to hear that you had one of those magical listening sessions. They are quite rare. You know the moment though because everyone in the room is silent, focusing on the sound the music is making. I bloody love it. For me this kind of thing is much more common with vinyl. Love valves, love the purity of that midrange and that liquidity in the voice. Also, with my current setup, loving the cavernous stereo image which was helped no end by the amplifier setup.

Really pleased you have such a fab amplifier and really pleased you are enjoying it so much.

[mightymonoped]

My recommendation for Gold Lions only applies to my experience with them and only applies to the gold pinned ECC82 and ECC83. I have used their EL84's as well in the very amplifier being discussed here but I did not rate them over the stock valves. The ECC's though made a bloody big difference.

It is so bloody good to hear that you had one of those magical listening sessions. They are quite rare. You know the moment though because everyone in the room is silent, focusing on the sound the music is making. I bloody love it. For me this kind of thing is much more common with vinyl. Love valves, love the purity of that midrange and that liquidity in the voice. Also, with my current setup, loving the cavernous stereo image which was helped no end by the amplifier setup.

Really pleased you have such a fab amplifier and really pleased you are enjoying it so much.

Thanks Shaun,
I did draw on your experience of the gold pinned ECC82 and ECC83 (and also some digging around with other's opinions), hence starting with these first as I have read from several different source that this would have the biggest impact on the overall 'sound'.

Some additional research as far as the EL84 are concerned led me along the 6P14P path, as this seemed to be a reasonable compromise of quality and life-expectancy tied in with an agreeable sound.

Can't wait to get home and give it a real listen now as initial impressions were very positive in terms of soundstage, imaging and a noticeable tightening and control of bass.

[jandl100]

I have replaced the stock Chinese EL84 valves with a matched quad of NOS Reflektor 6P14P valves

Yup, those are my preferred el84 equivalent.