[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari The Tube-Rolling pack is in my hands!! I will post after I ship it to the next person in line. I request a PM from the next recipient with their full name, address, phone number and email address. Cheers!

Gsferrari, do you have an old or new version of the ppx3?

 

[Hirsch]

I just made this a sticky, so people won't have trouble finding it when they need to make contact with others and post progress.

Also, as you finish with the pack, if you post impressions of the various tubes, it might help others who aren't participating

 

[gsferrari]

1] Received address and other information from the next recipient.

2] I dont own a PPX-3. The tube kit is for the HeadFi meet on Friday and Saturday (longest HeadFi meet ever - 2 days and it may spill over into the third (sunday) ).

3] Several members expressed interest in the PPX-3 and other singlepower amps and Mikhail will be there personally to show off his designs. We will have a few examples of the PPX-3 IIRC and the members will have fun trying out this amp and exploring the limits to which it can go with the right tubes. I have no doubt Mikhail will be flooded with orders after the meet.

4] After the meet you may get not just a couple but several impressions of the tubes and the PPX-3. I will certainly post a rather long winded (As usual) write-up.

5] Thankfully I will have superb sources (Shanling/Meridian) , Superb amps (PPX-3 in this case) and superb headphones (HD-650 with an assortment of cables and two or three R-10's, leatherheads, PS-1 etc.)

FUN TIMES AHEAD!!!

 

[NightWoundsTime]

GSFerrari has gone home to India but left me with the tuberolling pack which I will send on to Frank Chung in VA (not sure of his username). It's going out on Tuesday.

 

[Hirsch]

Feel free to post impressions of the tubes to this thread. Other people might find them very helpful in trying to decide what tubes they want.

Where is the pack now?

 

[sir poulet]

I haven't received it yet but I'll post again when I get it =).

 

[NightWoundsTime]

CR@P!!! Sorry guys I totally forgot this thing. Remember that I didn't sign up for it and it kind of got left with me as GS was leaving for India. I just was cleaning out my trunk and found the box... I feel like a complete moron. I realize this also messes up the whole schedule and I sincerely apologize. I promise this is going out first thing tomorrow morning.

Again guys... sorry

 

[carterondrums]

You are killin us, NightWoundsTime

. Anyways how much is shipping on this pack, for those that have already sent it off?

 

[Canman]

I have some notes on the tubes, but I have to get off my butt and post them. There were some interesting differences, but at the end of the day I was happy to say the RCA cleartops that I have did a very nice job in comparison to all of the other combinations I tried. More to come...

 

[NightWoundsTime]

OK despite my promise of a Monday shipment... tubes went out yesterday. *Runs and hides in corner*




*checks for hostile crowd*
*cowers under heavy fire of rotten vegetables*

Ok seriously folks.... you have no idea how bad monday and tuesday were for me.... I'm an asphalt paver in florida (300 degree asphalt plus 95 degree weather means pretty close to hell) and 3 straight days of dry weather wiped me out like you wouldn't believe. Sorry for all the excuses but they DID go out yesterday afternoon. Just glad this whole fiasco is over. Frank look for them tomorrow (Friday) since I sent them usps priority.

Shipping for those who asked was 13 and some change. This was usps priority with $150 insurance and fragile status.

As for impressions.. sorry. At the meet I believe Mikhail picked out an interesting set and as far as I know they stayed in the whole time. Not much tuberolling going on with the tuberolling kit

Really I have no idea why we even had the dang things.

Again I apologize and sincerely hope to make it up to the head-fi community in the future.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightWoundsTime As for impressions.. sorry. At the meet I believe Mikhail picked out an interesting set and as far as I know they stayed in the whole time. Not much tuberolling going on with the tuberolling kit Really I have no idea why we even had the dang things.

We did quite a bit of TR'ing to find the right set of tubes for the PPX3. Mikhail went through all of the tubes before settling on what he felt was the right sound. Actually we used some of his personal tubes as well and it was a bit confusing keeping track of all the sonic changes...nice to have the tube-rolling kit there. It was an option for those who were interested in the PPX3 - thats why it was there and thats why I bothered to request for the kit.

How far did we exploit the range of tubes? I think it was very insightful for me and it was even better having mikhail on hand to explain each and every tube and describe the sound. Others were too busy playing with the R-10 and maestro and other super-pricey amps to worry about the ppx3...their loss

 

[sir poulet]

Sorry I forgot to say I got the tube pack yesterday. Thanks NightWoundsTime =). I already got the address for the next in line for the pack so I'll send it out as soon as I'm done with it! (It will be before next friday)

 

[Canman]

Here are some very basic notes from the tube pack. I used the new Charlie Hunter recording, Friends Seen and Unseen to test for any differences. My standard is a trio of RCA cleartops.

RCA Blackplate driver w/ Cleartop outputs: The midrange was more liquid and treble detail was a little smoother, however the bass sounded a bit round.

Raytheon driver: Bass more pronounced however a little bloated.

Tung Sol driver: great treble extension and tight all around

Tung Sol trio: great sense of space and excellent tone. A Grado type snap with bass rhythms. The midrange sounded a little too forward

mazda brimar driver/selectronic long plate outputs: more coherent than the tung sol trio. This was my favorite combo. It maintainted the best liquidity and palpability while maintaining tight and extended frequency response. Very refined. The downside is that the bass lacked a little bit of texure in comparison to some other combos.

RCA cleartop trio: this is my standard and the trio I am sticking with. They have great transparancy in the top end and the tonal balance is even throughout. Some of the other tube combos had tighter bass and better liquidity through the midrange though.

 

[sacd lover]

I am with you canman. I am back to 3x RCA clear tops with a sylvania 5u4g rectifier tube in my singlepower supra 6cg7. The RCA's remain my favorites too.

 

[averydonovan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canman RCA Blackplate driver w/ Cleartop outputs: The midrange was more liquid and treble detail was a little smoother, however the bass sounded a bit round.

This has become my overall favorite out of the sets I have. Has just the right amount of speed and the bass has a wonderful thump and impact and always puts a smile on my face. I've tried other combos but this keeps on beckoning me to come back to it.

I can't wait to get the tube rolling pack, it'll be interesting to try some of the more exotic tubes and I'll be especially interesting in seeing if I can find a combo I like better than this one. It looks like the tube pack will miss my vacation so I'm not sure if I'll be able to spend much time with each tube but hopefully long enough to write up some impressions.