My audio system, so near completion

[SpyderTracks]

Some Classic Trance to evaluate the lower end before signing off.

Lange - Retrospect Vol I

Specifically:

Lange feat Skye - Drifting Away (Langes Sunset Mix)

OH.... Oh... oh, nothing more to be said

 

[Tron1982]

Started off with some Norah, first impressions right off the bat noting that these have only been running for about 30 minutes:

Lower notes are quite thin and a little cold, I'm sure that's related to burn in time same with the stocks. Highs feel more detailed, much cleaner. But mids are where it's most noticeable, it's far more in your face, certainly with Norah's voice and the guitars, it's rather nice, quite melty

Absolute kudos to @Tron1982 for the Norah reference, perfect test for this.

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And because i was so in my work, i tottaly forgot to put norah jones on my plenue J to test the headphone before leaving it ^^"
I tried them with minie the moocher, deutschland, lucia di lamermoor and duel of the fates
but not norah T.T

Anyway, i'll try to do a small review here ^^

 

[SpyderTracks]

So after a couple of days with these, I would say, these are slightly better than the stocks all round, and that's without burn in time. They're definitely more details, with more presence on the mids. The bass now is equal to what the stock tubes were after over 100 hours burn in.

Generally, these just feel better quality.

 

[AgentCooper]

Do you have The Power by Snap on vinyl? I listened to it on a FLAC file the other day through my trusty AKG headphones and it sounded phenomenal.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Do you have The Power by Snap on vinyl? I listened to it on a FLAC file the other day through my trusty AKG headphones and it sounded phenomenal.

No, not yet, but it's on the ever growing list, cracking tune!

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I had a nasty surprise last night. Stuck the amp on without a record on and while I was looking for a record to play, there was a rather nasty sound in the left channel (where the popping has been happening for the last month or so) and then it just went quiet. Now no sound at all. Have isolated it to the amp.

Not familiar with tubes that much, so don't know if one failed if it would bring down the whole amp like that but I'm assuming so.

Ironically, the night before I'd just bought 4 EL32 power tubes to swap out as I thought the popping may be due to a faulty power tube.

They've arrived this morning, so gonna swap them in this evening and have a play, fingers crossed it is just a bad tube.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Unfortunately swapping the power tubes didn't resolve it.

So I've ordered a pair of 12AU7's which are the only ones I haven't swapped now, those are the two "driver tubes". They don't impact sound as much as the front two gain tubes, or the rear 4 power tubes.

So got to swap those out for some new ones, I may get lucky, but I'm starting to worry it's a capacitor or circuitry within the amp. It's got full warranty so isn't the end of the world, just means I'll be without music for a while.

Oh well, worse things are going on in the world. Best case scenario, it turns out to be one of the driver tubes and I have loads of good quality spare valves as backups. Worst comes to the worst, I'll send it off for repairs which may take a month or so.

 

[SpyderTracks]

On a winner, on reading through the manual I completely forgot about protection fuses in the system.

So there's a protection fuse on the "Adaptive Auto Bias Board" (AABB) which fully breaks the output feed if a tube outright fails. This had blown exactly as it should have done.

Luckily PrimaLuna ship a replacement fuse with the amp, so had one handy to just swap out. They're also very common fuses and you can pick them up really easily, pack of 10 for £5er.

Replaced that fuse, and also put back in the original PrimaLuna 12AX7's just to minimise components changed.

Powered up first time, and sounding completely clean, no more popping in the left channel.

These TungSol tubes are definitely meatier than the stock tubes. Gonna take a while to break in properly.

I'm so happy, I consider this a massive win, on a lesser amp the tube failure would have blown circuitry in the power stage, this is exactly why I went overboard sourcing the PrimaLuna because it's got very clever (and expensive) circuitry.

Learning curve for me, if symptoms appear, start troubleshooting early, don't leave it to get worse as failure could happen at any time.

And now I have an almost complete backup of spare tubes which is only a good thing, and I can listen to beats again without annoying popping!!!

WIN WIN WIN

 

[Tron1982]

It really look fantastic !
I really like this "object"
It's a "wonder"

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just made a little upgrade, been wanting these for a while

These are KT120 Power Valves, there aren't many manufacturers that make them. They're far more powerful generally, provide more lower end punch in the bass and increased general volume as well. On my system I think these raise it from 37W with the EL34's I've currently got in it to 40W, which is quite a significant increase.

Prices since the war in Ukraine got out of hand, and in the UK these are still inaccessible really. Ironically ordering them from France, including shipping and import taxes worked out I essentially got one valve free compared to the costs in UK. Also my usual UK stockist has run out for now.

At last, these are the Tung-Sol KT120 Power Tubes

Just look at them compared to my current Tung-Sol EL34's

 

[HomerJ]

Just made a little upgrade, been wanting these for a while

These are KT120 Power Valves, there aren't many manufacturers that make them. They're far more powerful generally, provide more lower end punch in the bass and increased general volume as well. On my system I think these raise it from 37dB with the EL34's I've currently got in it to 40dB, which is quite a significant increase.

Prices since the war in Ukraine got out of hand, and in the UK these are still inaccessible really. Ironically ordering them from France, including shipping and import taxes worked out I essentially got one valve free compared to the costs in UK. Also my usual UK stockist has run out for now.

At last, these are the Tung-Sol KT120 Power Tubes

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Just look at them compared to my current Tung-Sol EL34's

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there one pair of good looking valves

 

[SpyderTracks]

Some gratuity shots. Bit anemic on first play, but that's to be expected.

 

[HomerJ]

Some gratuity shots. Bit anemic on first play, but that's to be expected.

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[SpyderTracks]

Just swapped to Deadmau5 For Lack Of A Better Name, and the tubes have had an hour or so to warm up now, and MY GOD, the bass is boomful! They sound very good already, and nowhere near broken in.

 

[HomerJ]

Just swapped to Deadmau5 For Lack Of A Better Name, and the tubes have had an hour or so to warm up now, and MY GOD, the bass is boomful! They sound very good already, and nowhere near broken in.

homer must say you have a very nice sound system there,


granted homer knows little about sound systems but looking at it it does look cool

 

[Tron1982]

Some gratuity shots. Bit anemic on first play, but that's to be expected.

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Wow, that's beautiful

 

[SpyderTracks]

I do adore it, it’s been my baby mama for a 7 years now, can’t believe it’s that long, still feels brand new to me!