Tube Rolling
- Thread starter Morgan D
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yea they sure are. halford loudspeakers (https://www.halfordloudspeakers.com/),
my neighborhood hifi shop, is the builder, and margaritas are their little bookshelf speakers.
while lookin for L112s and findin none within driving distance i found some L150s. they are...excellent, man--smooth, detailed
and powerful. funny my "endgame" speaker would be L300, tho ill likely never get em.
i reckon the bellari
Morgan D
Super Member
Hey those Halfords look really good and affordable! I like supporting the small guys and those speakers Have fairly high sensitivity . I am getting a 10W amp so I can't go with power hungry speakers. Besides I already have plenty of those Advents, AR's And those new cheap sonys that really didn't do it for me.
The whole concept of tube rolling bugs me. It seems like a geek thing to do just because it's the cheapest link in the audio chain. I mean do tubes really matter compared to speaker rolling or amp rolling or room rolling or cartridge rolling? Would people do transistor rolling if you could unplug transistors on solid state amps?
Morgan D
Super Member
I'm a tube GEEK. I think there are op amp geeks too.
hahaha...true that! its a geek thing! dunno where u been my friend, but audiophile is very often (usually?) a geek thing.
so of course they would! if transistors were readily removable, theyd be subject to "audiophile" concept and pursuit as well.
we got cartridges with removable needles, headshells with removable cartridges, tonearms with removable headshells, and tables with removable tonearms...we also got all kinds of components with removable interconnects and power cables.
in addition to removable tubes (some arent, now), some gear is made with removable opamps, removable coupling caps, and removable modules of other types.
the concept of tube rolling is the very concept of audiophile. you can geek out to ur hearts content on any of the choices in any corner of this geek pursuit!
...you get ur favorite music, the best-sounding pressing, then the best record player u can get, for which u gotta use the best cartridge and stylus etc, but u also gotta get the best phono, amp, control system to help carry that sound away from the table, but of course the best speakers to finally throw that sound into the room and so on...well, you can buy tubes just the same as anything else. what tubes can u use to get the best out of that circuit?
findin the best tubes fort that. tube gear is seems no different than anything other audiophile interest--like finding the right cartridge.
im startin to think that 50% of the reason im buyin LOMC is to have another piece of gear to screw around with--headamp or SUT? denon or homemade? aw geez.
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Have you done it? Cleaned up the top end on my phono pre doing it. Even a noticeable difference changing the one tube in my pre-amp. The phono pre was a big difference the pre amp not so much.
Yes, and they do. OpAmp 'rolling' is certainly a thing. It seems to me that if you can get behind changing your room and adding things to walls and whatnot, tube and OpAmp rolling cannot really be too far down that road for you, can they?
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I noticed a big difference replacing the tubes in a small headphone amp/ preamp. Same went for my ST-70 amplifier. Also like you, I noticed a difference trying different tubes in my phono preamps.
i can hear some differences with some
tubes--with others i cant. EG, in my
magnavox so far i havent been able to tell the differences among diff power tubes, and i cant tell a diff btwn telefunken 12ax7, EI 12ax7 and tung sol 5751. there was another pair i had in the driver spot, and the system was a bit darker on top with those in place.
in my van alstine fet valve cf rb preamp, the special select, red-tipped boonton electromics RCA 12at7 BPs have this space air & sparkle but are much leaner on bass when playin records, the yellow Ts and valvo hamburg 6201 are a little duller and fuller.
on my DAC the e88cc siemens munich are
head and shoulders above the rest ive tried in clarity and upper freq extension--most
of the rest seem a lil dull by comparison. the DAC is a lil bottom heavy anyways. currently using tungsram red label E80cc. music is strong top to bottm. i have a lot of tubes to try.
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Lavane
Lunatic Member
It can depend on the piece of equipment itself. I couldn't tell any difference in various 12AX7's and 6EU7's in the Magnavox amps I've had.
it sure seems that way to me.
A well designed amp will accept any tube that is within spec and still sound good.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I disagree what it comes to old stock Chinese signal tubes. All except a pair of 6N13's sounded thin and sounded like music coming out of a tin can. They were also very microphonic. Tap anywhere around the area around the amp and you can hear it coming through the speakers. Some of those tubes I could yell at and it came through the speakers.
Same IME, my 8802 does not seem to care what the signal tube is.I think the original Maggie tubes sound best for no apparent reason
In my PAS2 they make a noticeable difference.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I can't say when it comes to the power tubes in the Magnavox amps.Same IME, my 8802 does not seem to care what the signal tube is.I think the original Maggie tubes sound best for no apparent reason
In my PAS2 they make a noticeable difference.
The 9303 I have on my bench right now came with the original Mullard tubes and they're very weak. So when I put a set of NOS 6EU7 drivers and a quad of Russian 6P14P-K power tubes in it I did notice a difference for the better. But that's comparing worn out old tubes to new.
maxhifi
Addicted Member
That's funny. I kind of agree too. I can get behind buying the best tubes for your gear. I can get behind replacing them before they're totally worn out. I can get behind seeking out NOS tubes which have better properties than new ones. What I can't get behind is wearing out tube sockets with obsessive changing of tubes, in exchange for small changes in sound quality.
then i better buy some real good socket savers, cuz i am a very late arrival to audiophilia, and i have a lot of catchin up to do.