[Suuup]

As H1, I too might have stumbled upon a winning lottery ticket. I bought 5 tubes from a UK seller. He thought he was selling 6N7G tubes, but they looked quite like ECC31 to me. Right now H1 is listening to them, and preliminary reports indicate that it is indeed ECC31's.

If I'm right, I got 5 ECC31 for the cost of 5 6N7G.

 

[UntilThen]

Congrats Suuup. That's amazing !!!
 
You guys are getting good at buying and finding gold nuggets at peanuts prices.

 

[JazzVinyl]

Just swapped channels... and the bass moved towards the other ear, too. It's more centered now than before - obviously my ears are not identical

Hello Neph...

What cans do you use?

And you must have a strong ECC31 that has more gain than the FDD20, as I can detect no directionality in that LOW LOW bass that the ECC31 brings to the party.

And definitely, the bas comes on stronger and deeper, with more time, on the FDD20.

.

 

[UntilThen]

Fotons 6N8S or 6H8C with 5998  -  ( I call this Elise Dubstep )
 
This came free from Renderman when I bought the C3Gs from him. So I have to thank him for the opportunity to try these Fotons. No hums in Elise though these hum loudly on my DV.
 
I broke into a big smile when I heard Dire Straits 'Money for Nothing' with these. Volume up and I was rocking in my chair literally. Mid and bass hits you like a truck, the latter especially. Immediately I thought of Dubstep even though I don't listen to that. True enough I found some Dubstep songs on Tidal and I was grinning from cheek to cheek.
 
Next I put on a drum solo with lots of toms and kick drums and this tubes hit like Thor's hammer.
 
Next 'Lady in Black' by Uriah Heep live at Koko version. Boy I haven't heard this song since my younger days. 
Oooh yay....'ah ah ah haaaaa ah ha ah ha,
 
'She came to me one morning, one lonely Sunday morning
Her long hair flowing in the mid winter wind
I know not how she found me, for in darkness I was walking
And destruction lay around me from a fight I could not win.'
 
I tried more delicate female vocal tunes and it's sounded not as polish. A little raw. Still listenable.
 
Conclusion:- These are exciting dubsteps and rock and roll tubes. So much raw energy. It's even forgiving with lesser recordings. I think you should have a pair when you want to hit the dance floor. You'll impress any girl or boy. !!!
 
I find these Fotons to be mid and bass centric especially the latter. Forget Dr. Beats. Get this and even your HD800 will sound good with Dubstep.
 

 

[Suuup]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-X-C3g-Pentodo-SIMENS-Tube-Valve-Rohre-/281840822017?hash=item419f05a701:g:zjcAAOSwgQ9V6AHd&rmvSB=true
 
What's the catch?

 

[JazzVinyl]

As H1, I too might have stumbled upon a winning lottery ticket. I bought 5 tubes from a UK seller. He thought he was selling 6N7G tubes, but they looked quite like ECC31 to me. Right now H1 is listening to them, and preliminary reports indicate that it is indeed ECC31's.

If I'm right, I got 5 ECC31 for the cost of 5 6N7G.

WOW!!!

Great deal, Suuup!!! Score City....!!!!

Congrats!

-)

 

[UntilThen]

Lady in Black..here it is...sing it..London...New York...Paris...Sydney...or wherever you are !!!
 
 

 

[mordy]

Hi UT,

Happy to hear about all the sonic excitement and bliss that people are achieving!

I use the Elise as a preamp, and all the RCA jacks are occupied. How do i insert a ground wire? Do I put it into the center pin hole and push in the RCA plug? Wedge onto the outside part of the female side of the RCA plug?

The RCA plugs I use are of good quality, and I don't see how a wire can fit between the center hole ( or the outside part of the plug in the chassis) and the RCA plug when inserted.

My solid state Sony amp/preamp has a little knurled screw for a grounding wire, probably for the phono preamp section. I put in a ground wire there from my voltage regulator with a minor decrease of the hum. However, using the 6BL7 tubes as drivers I can only hear marginal hum at the very loudest unlistenable levels. Does this grounding method suffice?

The headphones that I use - Yamaha MT-220, used to hum badly with the 6N7G tubes, but that hum is almost totally gone now, and not really noticeable. However, I would like to eliminate it completely. Curiously, playing through my speakers, the annoying hum that I used to hear with my headphones, is not there at normal to loud listening levels. Using the built in headphone jack on my amp also eliminates the hum, but it does not sound as good as directly from the Elise.

Listening to the 6BL7 tubes now - they really sound very good as drivers. I know that Renderman used these tubes as drivers, but he was afraid of overloading the Elise. Having an external power supply takes away this worry, and maybe it helps for the hum as well.

Did anybody else try these drivers? They have exceptional clarity and timbre.

A different topic:

As stated, almost all of my listening is through speakers. Am I correct that I cannot expect the same impression of a wide sound sound stage with headphones compared to speakers?

 

[UntilThen]

Hi Mordy I'm out atm so my reply will be brief until I get home.

The ground wire will curl into the receptacle of the RCA plug ...this is the plug at the end of the cable coming from your DAC or source. Obviously it cannot be too thick wire or else your RCA plug cannot go in fully into Elise left input.

Headphone soundstage can NEVER be compared to speakers. There is no comparion even with headphone with the widest soundstage. However a good HP soundstage can give you out of the head experience. I mean they extend a bit beyond your head.

There is width and depth of soundstage.

Ttyl.

 

[UntilThen]

Wedge onto the outside part of the female side of the RCA plug?   ----> this
 
I'll show 2 pictures that JV has so kindly send to me to show me how. He's awesome. So helpful.
 
This is the ground wire...the other end you combine with the negative wire from the AC adapter to go into FDD20 adapter negative plate.
 
This end of the ground wire cannot be too thick or your RCA plug won't go in fully. If too thick just thin it.

Btw there are 2 wires here in the photos because he also has his turntable grounded here I think. JV assured me that Elise is so well grounded ....

 

[UntilThen]

My solid state Sony amp/preamp has a little knurled screw for a grounding wire, probably for the phono preamp section. I put in a ground wire there from my voltage regulator with a minor decrease of the hum. However, using the 6BL7 tubes as drivers I can only hear marginal hum at the very loudest unlistenable levels. Does this grounding method suffice?

Will leave it to the technical guys to answer this. I've just learned grounding on Elise hahaha.

The headphones that I use - Yamaha MT-220, used to hum badly with the 6N7G tubes, but that hum is almost totally gone now, and not really noticeable. However, I would like to eliminate it completely. Curiously, playing through my speakers, the annoying hum that I used to hear with my headphones, is not there at normal to loud listening levels. Using the built in headphone jack on my amp also eliminates the hum, but it does not sound as good as directly from the Elise.

If you insert your headphone jack into a powered Elise with no music playing and you hear hum, then there's hum. There's no other way to determine hum. When you play music the hum disappear because the music drown out the hum.

I find that the cause of hum is usually from tubes and nothing else. Burn in can get rid of it. So far on my Elise NONE of my tubes hum. I only have hum when I was connecting the 12V and that went away completely when I had it grounded properly. Such bliss no hum. Dead quiet. Even my iMac is dead silent. The only noise is from my stand fan. That really keep me and Elise cool.

Listening to the 6BL7 tubes now - they really sound very good as drivers. I know that Renderman used these tubes as drivers, but he was afraid of overloading the Elise. Having an external power supply takes away this worry, and maybe it helps for the hum as well.

Did anybody else try these drivers? They have exceptional clarity and timbre.

Never tried the 6BL7. Maybe one day. As it stands I have a lot more tubes coming. It will take me to Christmas to try everything because I'd double check and compare, write notes as I go but most of all I'll be bobbing my head in time to the music. 

 

 

[JazzVinyl]

Lady in Black..here it is...sing it..London...New York...Paris...Sydney...or wherever you are !!!

I have this original LP (Salisbury) from long long ago....1970, if I remember correctly.

The sound quality on the LP is absolutely stunning and a favorite, that I play often

Saw these guys around 1973...they put on a great show.

 

[UntilThen]

6N23P Russian Voskhod Rocket logo 1975 / Mullard 6080
 
The 1975 version (deemed the best) was reviewed by a gentleman in Head-Fi who spends considerable time reviewing a whole bunch of tubes he was conferred the title of Contributor by Head-Fi.
 
I want to talk about this tube here together with this song 'Nine million bicycles'.
 
First of all this 6N23P when paired with 5998 was a bit too much on the bass. A bit overpowering. It's a case of 5998 not fitting every situation. I then switched to Mullard 6080 and in this pairing it became incredibly sweet, punchy, dynamic with excellent detail and clarity. In fact I was astounded how good this pairing sounds. I most wholeheartedly recommend this combination. I just wonder how much better the more expensive Amperex 7308 would be.
 
I paid $33 for this pair of 6N23P and $56 for my Mullard. You also need to buy 6922 to 6SN7 adapters. $19.80 a pair.
So it's incredibly good sound for not too much money. My tubes are already burn in on the DV whilst waiting for Elise.
 
For auditioning these tubes, I play one of my favourite tracks by Katie Melua, 'Nine Million Bicycles'. Those of you in UK and Europe should know her. In 2006, she was UK's best selling female artist and Europe's highest selling European female artist. She's also incredibly rich from her record sales. 

 
Nine million bicycles in Beijing
Six billion people in the world
Twelve billion light years from the edge    

 
Again I have no hum in using 6N23P. I'm incredibly happy with Elise so far.
 

 
  

 

[UntilThen]

Just switch back to Frankenstein again..I mean Fur Elise but this time swapping 5998 for Tung Sol 7236. Good as the 6N23P above sounded but 20/31 with 7239 is out of this world. Sigh looks like my AC adapter will be around forever.
 
7239 is not that unlike 5998. On some songs I thought it sounded more spacious and airy but on bass heavy track like 'It's my secret life' bass again punches like Rocky. I still prefer 5998 for sure but 7239 is a very nice variation. Also the fact it's IBM branded.

 
20/31 continues to astound me. I'm inviting someone to sample this. Any takers? You've to make your way to Australia or send yourself with more tubes.

 
 
...and the nightmare continues. RCA 6BQ7A/6BZ7 that used to hum badly on my DV336se is now totally silent on Elise. I'm really impressed with Elise...she is hum free 100%.
oh boy 6BQ7A sounds so GOOD. Talk about it another day. Music time with it now.

 

[UntilThen]

Anyone with Elise that hums from tubes or amps? Mine has been 6 days at 8 hours a day in operation and totally silent. I've been running an assortment of adapters and small tubes even. None of these are recommended by Feliks Audio but all sounding good except the rogue tube 1635. Those that hums badly on DV are totally silent now on Elise. I'm using ordinary no frills cables and RCA interconnects yet everything totally silent. No fancy power cords or USB cable.