[myphone]

Listening to Ken-Rad VT231 (staggered plate) and Sylvania 6sn7 GT (1952) with GEC 6080 tonight.

Ken-Rad VT231/GEC 6080 works great with HD 650. Rich and palpable with Great energy. Borderline bright with HD800.

Sylvania GT/GEC 6080 works really well with HD800. Rich and detail with Great energy. somewhat too warm with HD650.

 

[UntilThen]

It's a pity Lukasz did not press on with my suggestion for a EL3N amp. On the same token, a customised EL11 / 12 amp by FA would be great. Problem is sourcing good EL tubes.

I would still like to see FA to do a customised 2A3 headphone amp.

 

[hypnos1]

Blue we want more blue. That is really interesting I want one correction I want two need a spare just in case. Great post glad to see you back in quantity and quality take care H

Thanks CF...and @pctazhp, @UntilThen and @Oskari...not quite a Swan Song, pct, but very close - for the foreseeable future, at least. Life's obstacles, and all that jazz lol! . But I shall indeed stick my (long!) nose in now and again, as and when time and opportunity permit...you guys' occasional(?!!) insanity is all that's keeping me sane at present!!!

And yes, there truly are many paths to enjoying Euforia's (and Elise's!) undoubted charms...from the 'conventional' to 'alternative', but with certain caveats for the latter, of course. And although I myself will never go back to the former (for the reasons I listed in my last post - and there were others!), I am really glad that most other folks are now extremely happy with the tubes I originally asked F-A to configure for lol!! ...the safest option, to be sure! . And although there are SS HP amps out there that are delivering quite remarkable sound compared to not very long ago, tubes still have that 'special factor' IMO, and I doubt there's very little can compete in the same arenas with F-A's offerings...(certainly anywhere near their price points). And yes also, UT, it will be interesting to see if F-A do indeed come up with anything radically different in the HP amp line...(but I personally think it very unlikely - given the already stellar performance of Euforia, I should imagine the cost involved in taking it much higher would then be entering a much smaller market. Especially as one would then definitely have to be spending BIG bucks on the rest of the system to make it worthwhile!...perhaps even more so than on the likes of my Naim server/ASF3000/Hugo 2...[or Yggy!]!!!).

Now, back to you, D...you sure you want TWO?...with shipping to the US at £136 a time?!! (and that's for the 11kg 'Conditioning' Balanced Mains unit...my 24kg ASF3000 model isn't available for you guys, I'm afraid...wonder why?!!!). Mind you, with the CBMU at just £260, that's still darned good value in my book lol! And that blue is SO lovely!!
And UT - Airlink Transformers now have a subsidiary in WA, but they're "out of stock" it would appear!

And O...if we're to remain really good friends - please reconsider your position on acquiring the Yggy and Hugo 2 for comparison purposes...I doubt there will ever be a totally objective/impartial/unbiased/accurate shoot out otherwise lol!!...(but I might just forgive you...if you can come up with anything to match the choral splendour of that haunting funereal piece you posted many moons ago! )....

CHEERS, and best wishes y'all...(thought I was done with "big" posts for a while...but you guys just can't be resisted lol! ). BFN, CJ

 

[UntilThen]

@hypnos1 there's a power station about a mile from my place. Now all I have to do is to dig a tunnel to it and tap the power to my house and viola ...... more power than I need..... power abundantly and uniterrupted.

Yggy and Hugo2 sounds like nice names. Short and simple. Like Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pill of water.

Let the shootout begin. Bring the Hugo2 to Sydney and your work clothes. The deck will be painted and the comparison will be done. BBQ's on me and all the guinness you need. No 'XO' I'm afraid. I sold that to buy the Yggy and GEC 6as7g. Those beryllium cost a lot.

This is the power station nearby....

 

[pctazhp]

Don't EVEN think about a power plant war !!!!

 

[UntilThen]

Don't EVEN think about a power plant war !!!!

You have up the stake. Ok you win.....

 

[Oskari]

...(but I might just forgive you...if you can come up with anything to match the choral splendour of that haunting funereal piece you posted many moons ago! )....

You must realize that this is a tall order! But here's something for you.


Nälkämaan laulu


Oi kallis Suomenmaa


Suomalainen rukous


Maa on niin kaunis


Soi kunniaksi luojan

Thanks for the request! I had fun.

 

[UntilThen]

Has anyone tried 6 X EL3N on the Euforia yet? How does it sound? Is there still hum as the case on some Elise?

Hi Richard,

I've not fully responded to this and I will now. A bit of background for those unaware.

I was the first to try 6xEL3N on Elise after consulting Lukasz. I remember his response when I send him the photo of Elise with those six EL3N mounted with 2 sets of adapters. He had quite a bit of shock, as well as amusement. He wasn't angry but was quite surprised that it work as I told him. His dad Henryk, took a look and started pacing the room. When he did return to the photo, he mutter that 'it might work with the right adapter' with the usual caution, 'you do so at your own risk'.

That begun a long period of my love affair with 6xEL3N and the many pictures that I post of it on the Elise thread.

Fast forward to now, I've totally given up on non recommended tubes by Feliks Audio. Why? Because just after I received my Euforia, Elise's left channel became almost muted. I took a look at Elise bottom and through the vent, I could see that the PCB board and circuits were quite roasted. I then send Elise back to Poland to be renewed. My instructions to Lukasz was to make it new again. Make it new they did. They changed everything except the transformer and chassis. My Elise became an upgraded Elise, closer to Euforia then the original Elise.

I then ask Lukasz what happen to my Elise. Lukasz confirmed that the circuits were fried and that the only explanations were using non recommended tubes that over heated it, over a period of time. I had my Elise for 1.5 years and in that time, I use it heavily everyday.

Now I have use a lot of non recommended tubes but never any Christmas tree setup. Never any bizarre setup apart from 6xEL3N. It may not even be due to 6xEL3N. It could be the 6N7G that I use heavily at one time or ECC31. Remember Elise allowable current range is 6 to 6.5a. Lukasz told us so himself. It was not a figure pluck from the air.

Using 6sn7 and 6as7:-

2x6sn7 = 0.6x2 = 1.2a
2x6as7 or 2x6080 = 2.5x2 = 5a
Giving a total of 6.2. <--------------------- very safe point in the allowable 6 to 6.5a

Using Mazda 6N7g and 6as7 gives:-

2x6n7g = 0.8x2 = 1.6a
2x6as7 = 2.5x2 = 5a
Giving a total of 6.6a <------------------ now we're 0.1a over the allowable ampere range. We could argue that over by 0.1a is nothing but how would we know, when using this over a long period? This is what Lukasz is trying to point out. It might be ok for a short period but the life of the tube amp will suffer over the long period. That's what he said.

Using Mullard ECC31 in Elise is even worst.

2xECC31 = 1x2 = 2a
2x6as7 = 2.5x2 = 5a
Giving a total of 7a <------------------- We assume that this is allowable. Yes big assumption here when the manufacturer told us specifically that the allowable range is 6 to 6.5a. We took the liberty in our wisdom to think that 7a is OK. Over the long period, a fried circuit is what's coming which is what happen to my Elise.

Right, that was a lengthy write up but one that I must expand on. So after Elise came back and having gotten a new Euforia, I thought to myself. I am going to make sure these tube amps last a very long time. They should go for 10 years without problems if use according to manufacturer's guidance. That's when I took the extra-ordinary steps of banning myself from using any non recommended tubes, including the ones I like most, including the ones I paid a lot of money for, including the ones I wrote pages and pages of praise. Nope I wasn't going to use any of them if I am unsure which ones did fry my Elise internals. If I wanted to keep my upgraded Elise and new Euforia for a long time, why take any risk. Why disregard the manufacturer's recommendation. These amps aren't exactly cheap, especially Euforia at $1399.

Was 6sn7 and 6as7 not good enough for Elise and Euforia. A big NO. These tube amps sing beautifully with 6sn7 and 6as7 and why would that be surprising. They were specifically tuned for 6sn7 and 6as7 and not others. FA did not create a super amp to accept all kind of tubes.

If Lukasz had a voice here, this is what he would have said so himself.

Cheers and enjoy Elise and Euforia for a long time,
UT

 

[Tunkejazz]

Hi guys,
since I received my Euforia in the beginning of June I have been listening to a lot of music with the default tube setup, which I really like.
I have mostly used my (Kameleonized) HD650, which sound like they never did for good!

Yesterday I decided to give a pair of Sylvania 6SN7 Bad Boys from '52, keeping default power tubes.
The sound became much richer in the mids, but somewhat too warm for my taste (with the HD650).
I guess those tubes have poor synergy with the power tubes mounted at the moment.
This coming week I will also give a try to a pair of Ken Rads 6SN7 that I have around.

So my question is:
Is there an obvious candidate to upgrade the power tubes that could go better with these Sylvanias and Ken Rads that I mentioned?

Sadly, most of the tubes discussed in this thread cost more than my headphones when bought in pairs

 

[UntilThen]

Sadly, most of the tubes discussed in this thread cost more than my headphones when bought in pairs

You need a lighter tone power tubes then. This might fit your bill for the price and using your HD650.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1X-Thomson-...383487?hash=item21146990ff:g:F70AAOSwdzVXpIIC

Also you could try Mullard 6080.

 

[pctazhp]

UT or anyone else. Do you want to do a joint purchase on these? You pay $500 for one of them, and I'll cover the balance on the other 2. We should not pass up this opportunity!!! And look who the seller is

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-PIECES-TR...939474?hash=item5d7242ced2:g:6lwAAOSwjKFZRKAc

 

[hypnos1]

You must realize that this is a tall order! But here's something for you.

Thanks for the request! I had fun.

Well O...forgiven shall you be - almost up to that magical funereal piece...WELL DONE!...and many thanks (glad it wasn't an odious task for you lol! ). Shall certainly explore more Finnish choral on youtube...CHEERS!...(but who now is going to take on that nigh-on-impossible task of objective/impartial comparison of Yggdrasil vs Hugo2 lol?...I have a feeling I would be biased towards Rob Watts's FPGA, Pulse Array approach to DAC, and our mutual friend @UntilThen a bit more to Ssshhhh....you-know-who's MB/r2r approach - no matter how hard we both would try to be totally impartial lol!! Especially as it would appear UT has snaffled the last of the Hennessy XO!!! .......). A quandary indeed it would seem, now you've extricated yourself from any obligation lol!!...(I know, I know...what obligation, I hear you say?...have you no sense of remorse for my plight, mon ami?...don't blame you!!!)....CJ

 

[pctazhp]

@hypnos1 Based on everything I've seen I think you and UT both call things as you hear them without a lot of bias. I think Schiit is going to be at London CamJam. Maybe you can listen to Yiggy if you have a chance and let us know what you think in comparison to Hugo2. Let the chips fall where they may - I always say.

 

[angpsi]

Hi guys,
since I received my Euforia in the beginning of June I have been listening to a lot of music with the default tube setup, which I really like.
I have mostly used my (Kameleonized) HD650, which sound like they never did for good!

Yesterday I decided to give a pair of Sylvania 6SN7 Bad Boys from '52, keeping default power tubes.
The sound became much richer in the mids, but somewhat too warm for my taste (with the HD650).
I guess those tubes have poor synergy with the power tubes mounted at the moment.
This coming week I will also give a try to a pair of Ken Rads 6SN7 that I have around.

So my question is:
Is there an obvious candidate to upgrade the power tubes that could go better with these Sylvanias and Ken Rads that I mentioned?

Sadly, most of the tubes discussed in this thread cost more than my headphones when bought in pairs

@Tunkejazz, let me save you a lot of money when I say go buy GEC 6080 and Sylvania 6sn7w. Pricey, yes, but you won't want to buy anything else I promise! So that's actually a lot of savings on tubes you'll never be listening to once you end up (eventually) buying these as I did!

I can hear E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, and I'm on Elise!

 

[pctazhp]

@Tunkejazz, let me save you a lot of money when I say go buy GEC 6080 and Sylvania 6sn7w. Pricey, yes, but you won't want to buy anything else I promise! So that's actually a lot of savings on tubes you'll never be listening to once you end up (eventually) buying these as I did!

I can hear E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, and I'm on Elise!

Where were you a year and a half ago when I needed you?????????????