Originally Posted by hypnos1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Hi AFB.
I certainly second your recommendation re. mains filter/conditioning...I would have said essential...and shame on you for not having 'cleaned up' sooner!! And don't neglect the individual equipment power leads either, folks - upgrade 'em. And when funds are flowing, get rid of those cruddy fuses and pop in some nice (gold-plated?) ones - go on, treat yourselves...just don't tell 'er indoors!
[...] So perhaps the C3gs might just provide the extras, without affecting all those other qualities I have come to love in the Teslas...time will tell...
(It does however seem strange to be going back to pentodes, after all we have been doing for some time now! But if it's good enough for Yamamoto........)
Cheers everyone, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.
Yup, using that otherwise very basic mains filter made so much of a difference I'm still surprised about it...
I really think the C3g would be be worth the trouble of trying it; I mean, it's an extremely critical frame-grid pentode, and I read that the 6DJ8 would never have been developed in Eindhoven if it weren't for the earlier C3g frame-grid research. So, yeah, I'd say it'd be worth a try!
£30 is quite reasonable, but unfortunately, this filtering power strip is not designed for use in the US. Does anyone have a recommendation for a similarly-priced unit suitable for 120 volt mains?
I'm pretty sure I've seen "AC filter kits" ads at least once recently, looking for information on the MUSES opamps on Japanese forums.
Could be worth taking a look at, seeing as Japan uses the same 110V/60Hz power the US uses. Then again, you might be able to find such a kit directly in the US. It would just require soldering the toroidal and caps directly on some AC cable going to whichever power strip you use (one without a light indicator would be best).
So, no, I don't know of any similarly priced products either for 220 or 110V, and this product is pretty unique in its price range...
Since I am now using an external heater circuit, it occurs to me that I can provide enough heater current to use a 6N6P, 6H30P or even a 6N30P-DR as a driver tube in my LD 1+. Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or comments? Crazy? A good idea?
Please do! I've been waiting for an opportunity to try this one day, but haven't yet for this exact electrical reason.
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On a lighter note, I got my Amperex Holland 6922 D-getter tubes in the mail, both a pinched waist one and a regular D-getter one.
Just popped the pinched waist one in. Bear in mind I had been listening to a warmed up E188CC minutes before this and left the new 6922 tube to warm up as well before listening (used tube, no burn-in), so I could do a decent comparison between both.
Freakishly real would be the first word to come to mind. That and 3D extreme instrument placement. The PW 6922 has a crazy ability to convey music as emotions and in a being-in-the-room way. Spooky real... So much so that for some tracks, it actually takes a few seconds to "get into the song"; since that's what this tube does, it throws you
inside the song!
The typical Philips Heerlen E88CC/E188CC sound is definitely there, but just crazy good and real, with liquid musical details flowing so naturally you have to wonder how it's even possible. Even if I ignore the realistic and emotional traits of this tube, the sheer amount of "new details" I'm hearing - and that's compared to the excellent glorious 1960 E188CC - is just astonishing. Crazy I tell you...
Noise/tube rush: I believe my PW Holland 6922 is quiet and not particularly microphonic compared to what many reviewers have written (very very faint usual 6DJ8-type tube rush ), but I can just tell it will never be perfectly silent like my Holland E188CC which never showed
any noise or even the slighest "rustling leaves in your backyard" tube rush. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my PW is noisy, it is dead quiet, but it just shows - just like all the pragmatic tube rollers I've read comments from - that the E188CC type was invented for a valid reason: to make a perfectly quiet 6DJ8 type, which the the E88CC/6922 is not.
More on this tube and its younger D-getter brother soon. Need more listening time, too much Holiday Season partying time and not enough audio gear listening time!
A happy new year to LD rollers, note that this is the 365th day I've been registered on Head-fi!