[baronbeehive]

   Oh, I've almost forgotten, bendix 6080WB power tubes ( recommendend by a deaf!!!!) 

 
 
 

Well I may be deaf but you've got to admit those LOOK better than stock tubes!

 

[alota]

  Well I may be deaf but you've got to admit those LOOK better than stock coke bottles!

i think he was not talking about you
i´m the truly deaf

 

[Makiah S]

seriosuly any one have a concrete recommendation on upgrade to the stock power and driver tubes? Something around $150 would be nice
 
for those that know me I like as much air and detail as I can get, I do want to reaserach tubes and get into the whole tube rolling experince, but I need a starting set. Stocks are not well worth while imo, and I'd like to make a semi inexpensive upgrade and get the stock tubes out of there asap. THen once I've got something half decent in there, then I'd like to HUNT for the perfect tube, still any recommendation on a good jack of all upgrade to the stocks? 

 

[baronbeehive]

  i think he was not talking about you
i´m the truly deaf

 
Deaf or not, that looks like one helluva rig to me. It would also be a very good starting point for Mshenay, incidently.
 

  seriosuly any one have a concrete recommendation on upgrade to the stock power and driver tubes? Something around $150 would be nice
 
for those that know me I like as much air and detail as I can get, I do want to reaserach tubes and get into the whole tube rolling experince, but I need a starting set. Stocks are not well worth while imo, and I'd like to make a semi inexpensive upgrade and get the stock tubes out of there asap. THen once I've got something half decent in there, then I'd like to HUNT for the perfect tube, still any recommendation on a good jack of all upgrade to the stocks? 

Trouble is the $150 would only pay for the power tubes in the picture. Not sure about the driver tubes but if you're lucky you might get some Tungsols thrown in as well, 6SL7's that is not 6SU7's which are just very expensive quality controlled SL7's, but don't sound any different IMHO.

 

[baronbeehive]

Thanks for saying I'm not deaf by the way but unless I'm much mistaken in the picture, Bendixes give a lovely mix of clarity and warmth, the same with Sylvanias, ideal. I think I did mention the Bendixes though....... or maybe it was John originally, this thread's getting to long, it's starting to get repetitive.

 

[Makiah S]

   
Deaf or not, that looks like one helluva rig to me. It would also be a very good starting point for Mshenay, incidently.
 
Trouble is the $150 would only pay for the power tubes in the picture.

great, so what would be a better upgrade.  A Power tube upgrade OR a driver tube upgrade. 

 

[baronbeehive]

Driver every time, as John said earlier.

 

[Makiah S]

  Driver every time, as John said earlier.

so let's start there. Any good intro Driver Tubes I should keep an eye out for? 

 

[baronbeehive]

You could do a lot worse than start with the 6SN7 tubes. I would try one or two affordable ones first. For example the RCA 6sn7GTB's are one of my fav all rounders, nice warm but detailed balanced smooth sound with good bass. Cheap as chips. Same goes for Sylvania 6sn7's, warm and bright and much dryer. Raytheon 6SN7GT's are warm and punchy and fall somewhere between the RCA's and Sylvania's with more body to the sound than the Sylvanias. Tungsol 6sn7GT's are my favourites for their silky, magical sound which has a layer of treacle which some do not like but makes listening very non fatigueing. All these have their 6SL7 equivalents eg the Tungsol 6SL7's sound exactly the same as the 6SN7's to me. But you do need to make sure that the construction is the same, for example the best Tungsols are round plate construction with black, or sometimes silver coated glass. There are a lot of other makes for example Brimar and Mullard. Frankly I preferred cheap RCA's to Brimars that I've heard. Most of these other makes are very expensive and difficult to find so you could make a useful start from here.
 
This is a useful link to the Brent Jesse website, he has useful descriptions and prices: http://www.audiotubes.com/6sn7.htm

 

[Makiah S]

  You could do a lot worse than start with the 6SN7 tubes. I would try one or two affordable ones first. For example the RCA 6sn7GTB's are one of my fav all rounders, nice warm but detailed balanced smooth sound with good bass. Cheap as chips. Same goes for Sylvania 6sn7's, warm and bright and much dryer. Raytheon 6SN7GT's are warm and punchy and fall somewhere between the RCA's and Sylvania's with more body to the sound than the Sylvanias. Tungsol 6sn7GT's are my favourites for their silky, magical sound which has a layer of treacle which some do not like but makes listening very non fatigueing. All these have their 6SL7 equivalents eg the Tungsol 6SL7's sound exactly the same as the 6SN7's to me. But you do need to make sure that the construction is the same, for example the best Tungsols are round plate construction with black, or sometimes silver coated glass. There are a lot of other makes for example Brimar and Mullard. Frankly I preferred cheap RCA's to Brimars that I've heard. Most of these other makes are very expensive and difficult to find so you could make a useful start from here.
 
This is a useful link to the Brent Jesse website, he has useful descriptions and prices: http://www.audiotubes.com/6sn7.htm

I Pinned the website down. Hopefully come winter I can pick up a pair from that site! Thatnks for the recommendation. Makes searaching for tubes a little easier

 

[Dopaminer]

You guys.....help me.  I`ve been staggering around threads, on multiple forums, multiple languages, hundreds of pages read, hundreds of hours of sleep lost, narcoleptic all day, performance at work degraded, etc. etc, trying to nail down an amp.  I keep thinking I`ve found The One, and then I fall down yet another rabbit hole of details, options I didn`t know existed, makers I didn`t know existed, strong opinions that directly, convincingly contradict the previous opinions I`d come to believe, shipping hassles that negate the choice, etc etc  .  .  
 
I`m sure some of you have been here before. 
 
Anyway, could some one, or several of you, give me a quick summary of the differences between the Mark vi+ and Markviiise?  I get the basics, the technicals, the high/low z, etc - I can read the spec pages.  And I currently know nothing (and currently don`t care) about tube rolling.  I just want to jump into the tube audio world.  I Iive in Japan, so the Chinese makers will ship here for free, whereas Woo, Schiit, Decware, DNA etc are very expensive to get here.   And hopefully, some comparison to the Darkvoice/Figaro 339 which is similarly priced, similarly raved about and also ships for free. 
 
I`m sick of reviewers; I like the expert, articulate, bantering nature of this thread and I`m hoping for some nice one liners to help me F I N A L L Y make a choice.  
 
(fyi:  high-res, multi-genre files from Mac w/Amarra, Audirvana+ to fully balanced DAC.  Phones are hd800. . .)
 
Thanks in advance
 
d

 

[[OverDrive]]

  i think he was not talking about you
i´m the truly deaf

exactly 

 

[alota]

  You guys.....help me.  I`ve been staggering around threads, on multiple forums, multiple languages, hundreds of pages read, hundreds of hours of sleep lost, narcoleptic all day, performance at work degraded, etc. etc, trying to nail down an amp.  I keep thinking I`ve found The One, and then I fall down yet another rabbit hole of details, options I didn`t know existed, makers I didn`t know existed, strong opinions that directly, convincingly contradict the previous opinions I`d come to believe, shipping hassles that negate the choice, etc etc  .  .
 
I`m sure some of you have been here before.
 
Anyway, could some one, or several of you, give me a quick summary of the differences between the Mark vi+ and Markviiise?  I get the basics, the technicals, the high/low z, etc - I can read the spec pages.  And I currently know nothing (and currently don`t care) about tube rolling.  I just want to jump into the tube audio world.  I Iive in Japan, so the Chinese makers will ship here for free, whereas Woo, Schiit, Decware, DNA etc are very expensive to get here.   And hopefully, some comparison to the Darkvoice/Figaro 339 which is similarly priced, similarly raved about and also ships for free.
 
I`m sick of reviewers; I like the expert, articulate, bantering nature of this thread and I`m hoping for some nice one liners to help me F I N A L L Y make a choice.
 
(fyi:  high-res, multi-genre files from Mac w/Amarra, Audirvana+ to fully balanced DAC.  Phones are hd800. . .)
 
Thanks in advance
 
d

Little-dot MKVI is an otl-ocl amp that drives hedphones from 32 to 300 ohm(what i have tried), including akg k-1000 and orthos headphones.
little-dot MKVIII is an otl-ocl amp(same type but with different tubes)that drives only headphones with high impedance(300-600 ohm)

 

[Makiah S]

  Little-dot MKVI is an otl-ocl amp that drives hedphones from 32 to 300 ohm(what i have tried), including akg k-1000 and orthos headphones.
little-dot MKVIII is an otl-ocl amp(same type but with different tubes)that drives only headphones with high impedance(300-600 ohm)

... honestly I'm happy to hear that. I have mostly Low Impedance cans that I want to pair with it

 

[DefQon]

They aren't really designed to power low-impedence high sensitivity headphones such as Grados or the Sony's, you'll get background hum.