Aftter few hours of test and desperate by the output, I switched back to the CCA and decided to pass the big test, the one of Bruckner's monuments.
First the 7th Symphony of Bruckner by Karajan and the Wiener Philharmoniker
This symphony has been written with the premonition of the death of Wagner (he died before the achievement of the symphony), and was dedicated to Wagner, with some musical references to Wagner. Apparition of the very big tubas (the wagnerian tubas), which are monsters. These monsters can cover an army of heavy metal groups. Karajan at that time was very ill and was feeling his death coming, but wanted to leave a last testimony of his art and he did... A lot of people testified that Karajan could even hardly move, because of pain.
Karajan has always been very directive a kind of tyrant, and for one time, he did not try to impose his will, but he let the music flow, acting as a catalyst. The result is a miracle... and the tubes gave life to the miracle.
Starting with the Brucknerian fog, string tremolos rising... what a ductility, what a splendour when the Wiener strings are backed by the horns and the woods. I could easily hear the colour of the altos, horns, woods. when the overwhelming tubas at the end of the allegro moderato in the final climax of the movement pushed the music beyond any words, I think I had my hairs rising on my head.
The splendour of the strings colours, the munificence of the brasses in the Adagio's climax is out of this planet. With the impression of being able to touch the sound! All is there, basses well kept and not invading or hiding the mids, trebles like old golds, I never heard such a fever, the whole room is vibrating and when the orchestra stops, you still hear some air vibrations vanishing.
I have been stucked for over one hour, I could not leave my attention of what I was hearing : greatness in all its splendour.
So if someone is asking are these tubes worth, my answer will be immediate: "more than that", because these rare moments are the salt of life (my testimony is made upon a certain setup and could be only valid for that setup). Let's turn now to the 8th symphony, still with the Wiener but this time with Boulez (Bruckner and Boulez are like water and fire, but sometimes miracles happen...and I will not bother you with this one).
Oh, bother us! I'm taking notes
Glad your Lyr and tubes are working out, to put it mildly
I wanted to test the CCA with classical piano. A lot of my recordings are old recordings (Sviatoslav Richter, Miecyslaw Horszowski, Clara Haskill, Clifford Curzon, Claudio Arrau...), meaning a lot of coughings, doors closing, sonic distorsion, 'Rauschen' and all these beautiful things which are making the charm of those recordings...
Obviously the CCAs are not very forgiving, as soon as there's a little distorsion in the trebbles, it becomes harsh and induce listening "fatique". As I am listening at high volume (but reasonable), this is really exasperating!!!
Maybe the tubes, I have ordered could cope with that!
These are the monsters, I ordered:
Buggle Boys,
Orange Globe,
Brimar CV 2492 Cryo,
Ediswan 6BQ7A Cryo,
Tesla E88CC golden pins,
Some Russian rockets at very low price.
I would like to have your advices on that... As I am listening to a Beethoven sonata the Appassionata played by Annie Fischer and it's again a miracle of articulation and timing, dynamics are just perfect! Basses are now to die for (they have improved with the Burn-in and still do (+- 80 hours) and middles are liquid gold.
Timing is essential in playing Bach 'The tempered Clavier', as this music is really about time and space (listen to Miecyslaw Horszowski or Sviatoslav Richter).
So the qualities requested for the new tubes would be those of the CCAs , but maybe a bit less analytical though not too warm, an a huge sense of timing. + Rich mids with a touch of liquidity + forgiving trebbles whith lot of air qualities + Bass well mastered. If anyone know a tube corresponding to that desciption, please tell me (but maybe it's a Graal again) + a large stage and enough depth.
For the sonically good recordings of Piano, the CCAs are just perfect and I am currently relistening all my recordings matching. When I will receive all my tubes, I will make a complete review of the tubes which are of interest (but maybe I am spoiled by the CCAs!!! Naturally this review will be targeted vs classical music...Nobody's perfect...
Have all a nice morning or afternoon or evening.
Charles
On the
![size]](http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies/beerchug.gif[size=13px][/size])