Feliks Audio Elise Impressions Thread – a New Start (please read first post for summary)

[UntilThen]

AQ listening carefully and the T1 will move you.

Need to get used to it if you're coming from Ether-C. Don't write it off after 10 bars.

 

[richard89]

Something has happened to my Elise guys. I tried to clean out the contact pin for my EL3N adapter yesterday and the plastic at the bottom broke. I very stupidly still inserted the EL3N into the adapter into the tube and noticed the broken adapter was not working correctly because the left channel would not work. Today I put in the RFT EL12N and EL11 into the amp and noticed the Telefunken EL11 getting very sensitive to outside noise. Tapping on a table from different surface would cause noise disturbance. I tried these EL11 with various other combos and it seems it's just these tubes that make my amp sensitive. Then I tried the RFT EL12N  with the TS 6SN7 (stock tubes) and noticed that the left channel has a slight pop every now and then which is very annoying. I think that tubes that I have put in before like the KR-VT231 or Sylvania 6SNS7WGT may have caused permanent damage to the Elise because they were bad tubes. I'm very wary about trying new tubes in the Elise now. The thing is that the EL11's were working  perfectly with any combinations before.

 

[richard89]

   
I recognise the problem you are having with your Sylvanias and K-R.
 
The problem is in the tubes and if you are lucky a good clean up of the pins, which I expect you have already done, might solve the problem.
 
If not, you sadly have bad tubes and I wouldn't put them back into Elise as they could damage your headphones or even the amp.
 
The EL3N hum is a known issue with some tubes and isn't confined to Elise.
 
From what I understand and my own limited experience, a lot depends on the mains supply as well as interference from adjacent equipment. I doubt if it's to do with Elise's stability, otherwise we would have evidence of a lot more variability of the amp's performance and Elise does seem to perform very consistently across the world, at least from reading these threads. Unfortunately some tubes just hum, whatever.
 
I'm sorry about those K-R's, very cheap though they were. The cracked bases were inauspicious, but worth the try.
 
It may be possible to find the clear glass version of the K-R VT231, which is often cheaper than the black glass ones as they are not always recognised for what they are. Make sure the plates are staggered. If they are not staggered they are not identical to the black glass and have inferior sound quality. 

 
Thanks Howie, I didn't really mean stability of the Elise more like the stability of the tubes with the Elise. Right now I might just be flipping out but it seems there are several things going wrong with mine but I just inserted the Sylvania 6SN7 with the RFTEL12N and it seems to be running smoothly so far. It's just I tried a few combinations in a row from last night till today and everything was seeming downhill and I wonder if I did something wrong.

 

[mordy]

Hi richard89,
 
Let me understand what happened first - did the middle guide pin break off? Or did something else break off on the adapter?

 

[richard89]

Hi richard89,

Let me understand what happened first - did the middle guide pin break off? Or did something else break off on the adapter?

It was when I was trying to get the contact points out again on the EL3N adapter and ended up poking a square thru the plastic part, revealing the green hardware beneath.

Then I tried to put in the EL11 with the quad EL3N and the Elise got so sensitive to outside noise. I would tap my desk slightly and the left channel would act up(or pick up disturbance) which wasn't the case before. These aren't the ones that is used in this thread, they are more circular and are straight compared to the TFK11 in this thread.

But I'm sure it's unrelated to anything and just my luck with combinations, but it seems like whenever an issue occurs it's in the left channel which I believe happened with the bad tubes I put in that caused it, but it's starting to worry me a little. Right now I have the sylvania 6sn7 in with the rft el12n and thank God Elise is working with no problems for 2 hours

 

[mordy]

Hi r89,
 
I don't have any experience with the problems you describe, but it happened a couple of times that my Elise "just didn't sound right."
 
I would give it a rest overnight or so, and then try with stock tubes or something similar. Afterwards, if everything sounds fine, I would put back whatever set-up I had, and usually the amp would come back to itself.
 
Once a tube shorted out because of a faulty Chinese adapter, and the Elise just shut down for a good half hour - the protective circuitry kicked in. Not understanding what was going on, I tried that tube in another amp, and one channel promptly got fried since that amp did not have the protective circuitry.
 
My gut feeling is that your amp will come back to itself - just give it a little time.

 

[richard89]

Hi r89,

I don't have any experience with the problems you describe, but it happened a couple of times that my Elise "just didn't sound right."

I would give it a rest overnight or so, and then try with stock tubes or something similar. Afterwards, if everything sounds fine, I would put back whatever set-up I had, and usually the amp would come back to itself.

Once a tube shorted out because of a faulty Chinese adapter, and the Elise just shut down for a good half hour - the protective circuitry kicked in. Not understanding what was going on, I tried that tube in another amp, and one channel promptly got fried since that amp did not have the protective circuitry.

My gut feeling is that your amp will come back to itself - just give it a little time.

Thanks mordy. You know I took the TFK EL11 out of the adapter and I smelled some burning smell, like it had been fried or something. The pins looked a little burned as well as I had to wipe some black off it, and this is the EL11 adapter. Do you think the adapter just crapped out on me?

 

[HOWIE13]

@richard89
 
Can you post a photo of the damaged EL3N adapter? If the hole is where I think it is I don't think the paddle pin on the tube will be able to make a secure connection but I'm not sure I've understood you exactly. Thanks.

 

[UntilThen]

I too find my TFK EL11 very microphonic. I've never had tubes so microphonic before and I have a lot of tubes. The slightest tap of the desk creates feedback. The tubes were not humming initially but gradually one of them started humming very faintly and that bothered me because none of my tubes hum. Nada, nope, zip.
 
They aren't cheap too at $100 for a NOS pair. This is a nice photo of it. I've send it to H1. I want nothing to do with it again. Instead of listening to music, I'm listening out for hum.
 

 

[UntilThen]

There are lots of combinations that sounds great on Elise. I don't believe in just one combination. Whatever tubes you use, Elise sound signature is still there. Nimble and quick, she has the finesse of a ballet dancer and the power of a quarterback. 

 
I'm going to do a quick recap of all my favourite combinations in Elise. I'll feature one everyday and just talk very briefly of the tone. It will be short and sharp. I have no intention of putting anyone or myself to sleep with a long writeup. 

 
To kick it off, here is the earliest of the stellar combo.
 
C3G/s and Tung Sol 5998
 
I always return to this combo because it's special. It's the most revealing and most dynamic of all the combos. It even make my modded HD650 sound like a million bucks. So if you need a combo to light up the darkest night and the most sombre monastery, try this setup on Elise.
 

 

[UntilThen]

7 ef86 to 6sn7 adapters sold.

Looks like someone will test ef86 on Elise for me.

 

[Frederick Rea]

  There are lots of combinations that sounds great on Elise. I don't believe in just one combination. Whatever tubes you use, Elise sound signature is still there. Nimble and quick, she has the finesse of a ballet dancer and the power of a quarterback. 

 
I'm going to do a quick recap of all my favourite combinations in Elise. I'll feature one everyday and just talk very briefly of the tone. It will be short and sharp. I have no intention of putting anyone or myself to sleep with a long writeup. 

 
To kick it off, here is the earliest of the stellar combo.
 
C3G/s and Tung Sol 5998
 
I always return to this combo because it's special. It's the most revealing and most dynamic of all the combos. It even make my modded HD650 sound like a million bucks. So if you need a combo to light up the darkest night and the most sombre monastery, try this setup on Elise.
 

Here we have 2 pairs (2xTS5998+2xC3g) with almost the double of gain (each) than the stock ones. This could be the secret for the transparency and powerfulness of the sound (somewhat a little bit excess on HF's)

 

[richard89]

 

[richard89]

Hey UT mine started becoming very microphonic as well but I would tap on my desk at 3 feet away and on another layer of the desk and the noise would still pick up. There was also a constant hum noise which I did not cause and would play at intervals of 3 seconds when it first started happening. I don't think I could experiment much longer with these tubes. It makes me feel like damage is being done to the Elise.

 

[pctazhp]

  There are lots of combinations that sounds great on Elise. I don't believe in just one combination. Whatever tubes you use, Elise sound signature is still there. Nimble and quick, she has the finesse of a ballet dancer and the power of a quarterback. 

 
I'm going to do a quick recap of all my favourite combinations in Elise. I'll feature one everyday and just talk very briefly of the tone. It will be short and sharp. I have no intention of putting anyone or myself to sleep with a long writeup. 

 

I'm starting a list of your daily posts, so you had better do a very good job. You are making history.