[tone]

Hey i just wanted to let you guys know that i got my mpx3 amp a couple of days ago. Just to remind everyone i went for the jensen paper in oil cap upgrade, solen stage 3 upgrade and the pre-amp upgrade.

As for initial impressions i must say that the amp is very quick and detailed with excellent frequency extension on both the bass and the treble. The mpx3 doesn't have any trouble with complex+fast classical music that would normally throw off my old rkv and mg-head tube amps. The only drawbacks that i can think of initially (bear in mind that i'm still burning it in) is that the soundstage isn't as big as i hoped it would be and the sound isn't as rich as i would have expected it would be either. I guess i'm still used to the enormous soundstage of the rkv! I'm still using the stock 6sn7 electroharmonix tubes so hopefully tuberolling will help. I am also still using the stock cable on my hd600 headphones as well (replacing the stock hd600 cable with the cardas cable should help improve the soundstage from what i hear).

This amp will be an awesome amp when i get the right tube combination together from what i hear. Hopefully it will approach the pricey ear hp4 sonic level once everything is set up (my all time favorite amp).

 

[enzoferrari650]

congrats.

 

[nanahachi]

*paging SACDlover, SACDlover to the amplification forum please*

congrats on the new amp, nice upgrades too.

I'm curious, why the Solen 3?

You definitely need to roll the tubes, from my experience. I'll leave it to someone else to name which tubes would best fit your sonic tastes, but commonly recommended tubes are the Ken Rad VT-231, Sylvania VT-231 or 6sn7GT, and the Tung Sol (VT-231?).

I second your idea of upgrading the HD600's cable. You may want to see if both of the ones in the FS forum have been sold; those seemed like great deals.

Again, congrats, enjoy your awesome new amp.

 

[Mikey01]

Yes; why Solen 3. The Solen 3 seems to be in question here as well as with some other HeadFiers amps I have either heard about, or actually listened to. The thinking is that it might be too much and hurting the sound. The jury is still out on this one. Hope it breaks in well for you. I have the Solen 1 and paper in oil caps and after tube rolling the sound stage is way out of the head on some recordings. My amp is only 2 days old. I initially had the gain/driver position backasswards. Changing it around set everything right.
Congrats. on a good NEW amp.

 

[tone]

Thanks guys.

I think that the solen stage 3 upgrade is supposed to improve the bass so i had to go for that mod. I read some reviews saying that this mod makes the bass too big but i haven't encountered that at all. it seems perfectly balanced to me but i like a big sound (aka rkv type). it was a required mod for the type of sound i was going for.

I will definetly roll the tubes and i want a richer sound (better mid range). Mullards would definetly do this (i have those in all my guitar tube amps) but unfortunately they don't make 6sn7 tubes. any recomendations?

btw the soundstage is getting better with more break in. the amp's sound also improved significantly with the addition of a set of borrowed silver interconnects (the outlaws where cleary inferior for this amp).

 

[nanahachi]

I'm glad to hear the soundstage is opening up. Give that baby a week or two of further burnin, and i'm sure it will continue to improve.

Thanks for the info on the Solen 3. I didn't mean it as a criticism, I was just curious.

Call up mikhail for tube recs, he's been great with suggestions when I have talked to him. But I believe the Ken Rads will be great for the midrange. I highly recommend you just do a search here for "6SN7" and read the posted impressions of the various tubes.

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nanahachi *paging SACDlover, SACDlover to the amplification forum please* congrats on the new amp, nice upgrades too. I'm curious, why the Solen 3? You definitely need to roll the tubes, from my experience. I'll leave it to someone else to name which tubes would best fit your sonic tastes, but commonly recommended tubes are the Ken Rad VT-231, Sylvania VT-231 or 6sn7GT, and the Tung Sol (VT-231?). I second your idea of upgrading the HD600's cable. You may want to see if both of the ones in the FS forum have been sold; those seemed like great deals. Again, congrats, enjoy your awesome new amp.

I sent him a pm last night.

He hasnt read it yet though.

 

[sc53]

Hi, congrats on joining the MPX3 club (I got mine about 2 weeks ago)! For recommendations and supplies for tube rolling, contact head-fi member Len. He has all kinds of good info and good prices. I bought the Ken Rad and 2 Sylvania's from Mikhail for my amp and I haven't even tried listening to the stock Electro's that came with the amp. I'm still trying to break in the NOS tubes. The amp sounds and looks gorgeous after two weeks of play time now. I only got the Solen 1 upgrade; what would the 2 or 3 have given me in addition?
Enjoy your new amp!

 

[tone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nanahachi Thanks for the info on the Solen 3. I didn't mean it as a criticism, I was just curious.

I guess i came off wrong in my reply nanahachi. i didn't take it as a criticism at all.

Hey congrads on the amp as well sc53. The solen 3 upgrade supposedly improves the bass from what Mikhail told me (i'm not sure if it helps anything else). I'm haven't heard what the solen 2 upgrade does. What does the solen 1 upgrade do?

 

[hop ham]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tone I will definetly roll the tubes and i want a richer sound (better mid range). Mullards would definetly do this (i have those in all my guitar tube amps) but unfortunately they don't make 6sn7 tubes. any recomendations? btw the soundstage is getting better with more break in.

For midrange, the best I've tried so far are Tung Sol RP. The reason I find this tube so good is because the midrange is incredible but it excels everywhere else. There are no faults with this tube. It won't have as much treble extension as some (certain Sly) or the kind of bass of others (Ken Rad) but these are the main stregnths of these tubes -- the other areas are hurtin with these tubes. So a combonation with a TS RP is what I found the best. Try tuberolling with TS RP's because once I put one in, I knew that it was something special.

Break-in is real with the MPX3. Give it some time and it'll open up nicely. It took mine about 2 months for me to notice a real change.

Contact Len for tube recommendations. He can help you out. Check out the Singlepower tuberolling thread too.

 

[tom hankins]

Congrats on your new amp. I dont think the MPX3 will ever be as "rich" sounding as your RKV....However I dont think the RKV will ever give you the detail or speed the MPX3 will. If you roll out the stock tubes you can get your amp a whole lot richer than it is now. (without loss of that speed or detail) Try the RCA Grey glass VT231 or some combos with the National Union tubes.
The big caps do take awhile to burn in and the amp will get alot smoother sounding than it is when its new. This is just my preference, but I like the Equinox cable alot better with the HD600 and Singlepower amp than the Cardas. (i've used both) Also I dont think the Solen3 will be a problem using the 6sn7 tubes. Have fun.

 

[tone]

I'm definetly going to give the rca vt231 with dual sylvania vt231 tube combo a shot. I may try the tung-sol rp in the input position later on.

After i finish upgrading the tubes then its on to upgrading my hd600 cable and interconnnects. When will the madness ever stop?