A great tip I picked up elsewhere is to use a piece of yarn in between the barrel of the iem and the tip. Breaks the seal just enough to equalize pressure. Put yarn through tip, fit tip on barrel while keeping yarn through tip, cut off excess yarn.

I'm a little surprised I haven't seen any aqua Burl faceplates yet. Anyone else order with that option?

Awesome tutorial!

  I have some 5963's cooking in mine now. Way more than enough gain for HD650 (for me).   Got the case powdercoated. Take a look at the grill and where the tubes protrude from the top - trying to decide whether or not to keep the rings around the tubes. Thoughts?    

Yeah seriously inspired packaging. Excited to see others complete theirs. Really is a killer amp. I know, tomb, obvious care went into the case. I didn't want to do it, but i got paranoid about boiling the caps. I used a dremel followed by lots of filing. I'm actually not satisfied with it and...

In the interest of keeping temps down on the caps:       I'll have to find some mesh or perforated metal to place there for safety, of course. Probably also going to need to refinish the case - I managed to knick and scratch it up a bit while making the hole.   Also wouldn't...

With them being axial caps, not sure i could get them situated how I'd like and the leads would be short, but I'll explore the option. Maybe cut a large hole over the tubes and caps then finish it with some grating or mesh that'd allow heat to escape.

Good idea. I don't think i actually have a thermometer in my house, oddly enough. I'll have to pick something up and check out the temp between the caps and tubes. I couldn't find my teflon tape so i used heatshrink anywhere there could be potential for a short. I'd feel better with them teflon...

With the 12AY7 in I don't get much play on the volume knob. 12AU7 could be good. Man there are some expensive 12AU7s!   EVOs are in and cooking. Impressions will have to wait again.       I added some additional spacers and supports here and there to solidify things after these pics...

Thanks for the info on the 12AZ7. I think the only other tube I'm interested in is the 12AU7, mostly because I really never need that much gain. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on that, and I'd also like to know if there could be any circuit tweaks to put the tube in optimal operating point...

Quick update.   Re: vs Valhalla2 (stock tubes). Listened to Valhalla 2 for about an hour this morning and was thoroughly enjoying it. Now listening to the torp3. Wow. This is gonna sound kinda gushy and audiophooly (new toy syndrome?), but...veil lifted. Val 2 is kinda soft and round (very...

Will do. The caps will be mundorf evo silver gold in oil to replace the parafeed caps. The tubes i picked up are ge 6072a 5 star.   Really haven't had much head time at all, and I won't be with a familiar source until tomorrow, but...excited. Bass detail seems really nice. Fast, clean...

Mine is built (stock) and running in right now. No time for impressions, but I'm pretty optimistic.   I have another pair of tubes to roll in along with the replacement parafeed caps coming Monday. I'll probably run this stock for a week or two before making any changes to hopefully best...

I'll try to describe what i hear as changes as best i can, though I'm not expecting much there. Got my kit today. Really, really good packing job, tomb. Hopefully get started on this tomorrow.

Good stuff, looking forward to it! Of course, i probably won't be able to complete the build till sometime next week ;(