[adeadcrab]

I think LF339 may be similar to WA22, though I haven't heard both to compare. Tubes can be quite linear. Depends a lot on the tubes for 339i

 

[tintinsnowydog]

Agreed on the flexibility of tube rolling. The LF339 has inherently good technicalities with a really large soundstage, great imaging and details; its base tonality is also quite a warm, tubey and rounded sound. You can further tweak the tonality to your liking with warm power and driver tubes. The stock power tubes with tung sol mesh plate 6SJ7, or RCA 5693 are some of the warmer options I enjoyed. Other warm power tubes that are enjoyable would be RCA 6AS7G or Sylvania 6080.

 

[xmdkq]

I see you have (had) similar setup to mine. I have lcd3f with burson cv2+, which is fantastic. I want to have a bit darker/warmer/tubey alternative to burson (which i will keep for sure as well). I have just bought wa22, but it seems it is neither warmer nor darker than burson (maybe it is not burnt in yet). How could you compare lcd3f combined with burson cv2/wa22/ La figaro?

It seems la figaro may be the sound i am looking for. Tubey but with good soundstage/imaging/details. I was afraid of OTLs to be used with lcd3f, but you say la figaro coild do. I understand you still have both burson and la figaro so there is a difference in sound. You also do not still have wa22.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I didn't do 336se for a long time, and then I did the upgraded version 336c of 336se, and then 336c stopped production, so I did a good job of 339s.Http://www.diybuy.net/thread-265820-1-3.html

 

[UntilThen]

I see you have (had) similar setup to mine. I have lcd3f with burson cv2+, which is fantastic. I want to have a bit darker/warmer/tubey alternative to burson (which i will keep for sure as well). I have just bought wa22, but it seems it is neither warmer nor darker than burson (maybe it is not burnt in yet). How could you compare lcd3f combined with burson cv2/wa22/ La figaro?

It seems la figaro may be the sound i am looking for. Tubey but with good soundstage/imaging/details. I was afraid of OTLs to be used with lcd3f, but you say la figaro coild do. I understand you still have both burson and la figaro so there is a difference in sound. You also do not still have wa22.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I still have all of the 3 amps you mentioned except the WA22 is with my son. I bought the Burson Conductor V2+ from the local classified when I had Oblivion, Studio Six and Glenn OTL. I don't really need another amp then but I needed to find out for myself how that powerful Burson performed with 8.2w at 16 ohms.

Like you, I find the LCD-3f with CV2+ sounded excellent and for the price I paid, it was a bargain. You're right again when you said the WA22 is neither warmer nor darker than the CV2+. Granted you can tailor the tone quite a bit with different tubes but WA22 has always strike me as a tube amp with good dynamics and agile.

La Figaro 229 can be made to sound more tubey and darker... well relative to the Burson because I don't feel the LF339 is that tubey or dark, even with the Bendix 6080 power tubes. But it is warmer and more vibrant than the Burson. When I put the Burson and the LF339 side by side, I find myself using the LF339 more because I find the resultant tone with LCD-3f better.

A week has passed since I returned to Canberra and I still find the LF339 a great sounding OTL amp to my ears and as much as I find it interesting rotating HD800, T1.2, Verite and LCD-3f, I find myself using the LCD-3f with LF339 more. It has all the appealing traits that I look for - dynamics, clarity, details, slight warm, soundstage and impact.

There are no bad amps in the Burson Conductor V2+, WA22 and LF339 but it will be interesting to see which you prefer.

My ranking according to my ear preference would be 1) La Figaro 339 2) WA22 3) Burson Conductor V2+.

Can't believe I'm up awake at 5am and writing all these but it's the start of the weekend and golf beckons tomorrow and the music's great with these gear next to me...

 

[UntilThen]

I find swapping headphones more interesting than swapping tubes on the LF339... and more convenient.

Using ZMF Verite Open now and it's great with LF339 !

 

[adeadcrab]

There is a thread for power tube rolling - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/for-6as7g-tube-rollers-here.410326/

I found the 6AS7GA tubes to be nice and warm, one of these tubes was getting noisy though so I'm currently rocking the russian 6H13C which are pretty damn linear. Thinking about the 6AS7GA at the moment.. I do have two pairs after all.. and there seems to be a limitless supply of them on parts-express (https://www.parts-express.com/6as7ga-6as7-ge-jan-vacuum-tube--072-612)

In terms of warmth 6AS7GA > Bendix 6080WB. I've heard the Phillips and Mullard 6080 are also tilted to warm.. another day perhaps. Of course there is the venerable RCA 6AS7 proper, but I believe the smaller construction 6AS7GA is identical in terms of sound, just a different glass enclosure.

 

[adeadcrab]

Seems to me like the vented sides of the 339i chassis and refined transformer covers really help keep the new design running cool - it used to be I couldn't keep my hand on the amp for more than a few seconds without it being unbearably hot. Now it's really quite cool - must be better in the long-term for the internal components!

 

[UntilThen]

There is a thread for power tube rolling - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/for-6as7g-tube-rollers-here.410326/

I found the 6AS7GA tubes to be nice and warm, one of these tubes was getting noisy though so I'm currently rocking the russian 6H13C which are pretty damn linear. Thinking about the 6AS7GA at the moment.. I do have two pairs after all.. and there seems to be a limitless supply of them on parts-express (https://www.parts-express.com/6as7ga-6as7-ge-jan-vacuum-tube--072-612)

In terms of warmth 6AS7GA > Bendix 6080WB. I've heard the Phillips and Mullard 6080 are also tilted to warm.. another day perhaps. Of course there is the venerable RCA 6AS7 proper, but I believe the smaller construction 6AS7GA is identical in terms of sound, just a different glass enclosure.

I wasn't going to tube roll .... I thought I had given up on that. Sold most of my tubes together with the Glenn OTL and some goes to my son with the WA22.

But here I still have 5998, Mullard 6080, RCA 6as7g, Svetlana 6H13C. Also have a pair of GE 6AS7GA back in Sydney.

As it is raining today, I might stay indoor and roll some of these tubes

I can tell you though that the RCA 6as7g and GE 6as7ga isn't identical in terms of sound. The RCA is much warmer and more bloom. The Mullard 6080 is warm and sweet though, like a sweet candy haha.

Now to try the pair of Tung Sol 5998. This is my 2nd pair. The good pair is with my son !!! Perhaps I should get it back. May have to buy the Tung Sol 7236 again because I sold my NOS pair.

 

[bpiotrow13]

I still have all of the 3 amps you mentioned except the WA22 is with my son. I bought the Burson Conductor V2+ from the local classified when I had Oblivion, Studio Six and Glenn OTL. I don't really need another amp then but I needed to find out for myself how that powerful Burson performed with 8.2w at 16 ohms.

Like you, I find the LCD-3f with CV2+ sounded excellent and for the price I paid, it was a bargain. You're right again when you said the WA22 is neither warmer nor darker than the CV2+. Granted you can tailor the tone quite a bit with different tubes but WA22 has always strike me as a tube amp with good dynamics and agile.

La Figaro 229 can be made to sound more tubey and darker... well relative to the Burson because I don't feel the LF339 is that tubey or dark, even with the Bendix 6080 power tubes. But it is warmer and more vibrant than the Burson. When I put the Burson and the LF339 side by side, I find myself using the LF339 more because I find the resultant tone with LCD-3f better.

A week has passed since I returned to Canberra and I still find the LF339 a great sounding OTL amp to my ears and as much as I find it interesting rotating HD800, T1.2, Verite and LCD-3f, I find myself using the LCD-3f with LF339 more. It has all the appealing traits that I look for - dynamics, clarity, details, slight warm, soundstage and impact.

There are no bad amps in the Burson Conductor V2+, WA22 and LF339 but it will be interesting to see which you prefer.

My ranking according to my ear preference would be 1) La Figaro 339 2) WA22 3) Burson Conductor V2+.

Can't believe I'm up awake at 5am and writing all these but it's the start of the weekend and golf beckons tomorrow and the music's great with these gear next to me...

Thanks very much for this. I do want to stay with no more than two amps for my lcd3f. Probably makes sense to stay with cv2 and a good otl (like le figaro), capable to drive lcd 3f. Wa22 and burson seem too close to eachnother in terms of sound, although wa22 looks awesome

 

[UntilThen]

Thanks very much for this. I do want to stay with no more than two amps for my lcd3f. Probably makes sense to stay with cv2 and a good otl (like le figaro), capable to drive lcd 3f. Wa22 and burson seem too close to eachnother in terms of sound, although wa22 looks awesome

What are you going to do with the WA22 then?

What the bug bites deep, you will end up with several amps and headphones like me haha.

 

[UntilThen]

Rolled in Mullard 6080. Left channel has no sound. I thought the amp malfunction. It turns out to be a defective left driver. Fortunately I have a spare pair of Red RCA hots. Now it's sounding bright and warm. Yes bright and warm. Contradicting right? The Mullard 6080 is certainly brighter than the Bendix 6080wb. The latter is darker and warmer.

These Mullard 6080s certainly sound good and glows beautifully too.

Gosh I don't think I'll be back tube rolling. Had an overdosed of that with Elise, Euforia, Glenn OTL, Studio Six and previously my old LF339.

 

[UntilThen]

Unfortunately one of my 5998 has some noise. So will leave it aside.

These RCA 6as7g sound surprisingly good. Haven't use them for a while. Warmer for sure.

Rolling in different headphones and tubes, there are variety of tone to play with. Underlying all these, the sound signature of La Figaro 339 is unmistakable. It's a very nice sounding OTL amp and it has been on the scene for 10 years already.

 

[bpiotrow13]

Nice, thanks

What are you going to do with the WA22 then?

What the bug bites deep, you will end up with several amps and headphones like me haha.

That is something I would like to avoid... lcd3f and burson are staying. Wa22 is seems just too close to burson. I was looking something more tubey to have two different sound signatures I need to listen to wa22 for a couple of days, i have just bought it.. seems i should have bought le figaro instead... i was just agraidbof how OTL would work with lcd3f...

 

[bpiotrow13]

Besides i do not have a place to keep all that stuff, i need to live with the below stand...

 

[UntilThen]

That is something I would like to avoid... lcd3f and burson are staying. Wa22 is seems just too close to burson. I was looking something more tubey to have two different sound signatures I need to listen to wa22 for a couple of days, i have just bought it.. seems i should have bought le figaro instead... i was just agraidbof how OTL would work with lcd3f...

I wouldn't really say the WA22 is really close to CV2+. Someday I have to take back the WA22 from my son. I do like the WA22 too but it's just that now I'm more impressed with the snappier La Figaro 339.

This is the rack when I had the WA22, Studio Six and Glenn OTL. It's hard to justify any change at that point in time but I did move on.


Along with that change, I sold off all my golden nuggets. This lot went for US$1200 but perhaps I should have kept them because these are the most quiet tubes that I had in my collection.