[cacatalysis]

Jian, Could you tell me whether 7189 tubes could be used in Leben?
 
Tube rolling is about to start.  I received a pair of sylvania 5751 black plates triple mica (not goldpin).  Does your 5751 have gold pins?
 
I am listening HE6 right now from Leben speaker tab now.  I finally feel that I see the full capacity of HE6.  I read your beautifully written review on headphoneclub, my impressions pretty much mirror yours.  Clean, tight sound with a touch of tube magic, leben does this at an extremely high level.  

 

[Jian]

Glad you like the leben and my post! My 5751 have gold pins, but the gold faded quit a bit. The 7189 is designed for circuits operating in the 400 volt range, and the EL84/6BQ5 is designed for the 300 volt range. I think you can safely substitute a 7189 tube for a 6BQ5, but not vis versa. I'm not 100% sure, and I think Skylab knows better.

 

[cacatalysis]

Thanks for the information regarding 7189.  I am listening to HE6 with Mullard EL84 and Sylvania 5751.  The sound is more refined and smoother than that from the stock EH 12AX7 and Sovtek EL84.  Nontheless, I still enjoy the stock set very much.  Reading your post is critical to my final decision to buy a Leben.  I have a pre-out on my WA22.  At certain point I will try that with Leben as a pre/amp pair to see what happens.      

 

[Skylab]

I wouldn't use a 7189.  First of all I don't think it would behave optimally, but second of all, the 7189's i have heard (in other amps) didn't sound very good.  I know it's tempting as 6BQ5's can be expensive.  But I would resist the temptation.

 

[cacatalysis]

Thanks Skylab for sharing your knowledge about 7189.  By the way, I tried a pair of Mullard 6085 with a set of Mullard EL84 in my Leben today.  There is no problem.  The soundstage is wider compared to RCA command 5751 and Sylvania.  The sound signature seems to be brighter (never overly).  For HD800 I prefer RCA command 5751 and Mullard EL84 (a very nice combination).  But I wonder whether the 6085 may work well with a LCD.  I will try to get a set Sylvania 6BQ5.  It is a wonderful amp, overall better than the WA22 even for HD800 to my ears.  

 

[vert]

So are there any differences between the 300x and 300xs besides the tubes? I've been reading online, and I think there was a review of a custom version of the 300x, so that confused me.
 
edit: I found out they are both the same except for the tubes.

 

[badwisdom]

Heyall,
 
well picked up my 300xs from the dealer yesterday and while its a bit early to say anything, i just got my ***** kicked badly with some orchestral music (Crimson Tide by Hans Zimmer).
 
Wow, just wow can this thing sing.
 
More impressions to follow.
 
Cheers
Xavier
 
PS: associated equipment -> Wadia S7i GNSC -> Leben 300xs -> LCD-2 rev 1
 
PPS: Leben is 230V and even with the LCD-2, there is a ever so slight hum... very low and not a real issue, but some people asked the question so thats my XPerience with it

 

[Jian]

Glad you like it! Congrads! The hum is not an issue, and changing tubes may lower your noise floor.

 

[Detex]

Congrads on your new Amp. This is one of the nicest amps I have listened to in a long time. There is a place down the street from me called In Living Stereo (NYC) who has this through some Devore Silverbacks and it really singes. I keep telling myself I will have one someday!

 

[cacatalysis]

congratulations!  I got mine last week and am having great fun.  I am sure you are too.

 

[cacatalysis]

Just a follow up of my previous post about 6085 tubes.  I tried a pair of NOS mullard 6085 and a pair of NOS amperex 6085.  After 7-8 hours, the  mullard performed very well for the HD800, very good for the HE6 too (speaker tap).  The amperex, although just put in for less than one hour this morning, sounded very, very promising for the HE6, much better than the sylvania and RCA 5751s I have.  All of these were tested with Mullard EL84 as power tubes.  I read the Mullard EL84 new issues are quite nice also, have anybody tried that in the Leben?  
 
Quote:

Sky, I asked Leben about the 6085 tubes.  The following is the answer from Mr. Yosshi Hontani.  
 
6085 is not perfectly compatible to 12AX7, as this tube is a similar
tube to 12AU7.
6060 is compatible to 12AX7/5751 perfectly.
6085 does not cause a damage in CS300, however, input sensitivity
of CS300 will decrease by using 6085 and you need to increase the
volume level more than 12AX7.
 
From my reading the 6085 has a higher gain than 12AU7 (also draws more current).  It is generally advised not to treat it as a drop in replacement for 12AX7 or 12AU7, always check with the amp designer and manufacturer. 
 
I am expecting to receive a CS300 in the near future.  I have no idea how the 6085 tubes will sound.  Hopefully, the lower sensitivity will work well with headphones and bring lower level of hiss and hum for certain phones.  I consulted quite a few here before my decision to buy, thanks for your advise and for sharing your impressions and views.

 

 

[badwisdom]

Noticed something weird today while changing inputs. While a CD is playing on CD input, I can still hear music in my LCD2's when i select the other inputs. It is low volume but you can clearly hear it. Is this normal ?

 

[Makube]

Hi y'all, first post here!

I've got a couple questions about the Leben cs300 (not the XS version).

Having read nearly every post in this thread I feel like I understand a bit about this amp, but I'm a bit worried about my upcoming purchase of a used Leben cs300.

First of all: it has had at least two owners before me. The second owner bought it from a well-known store though, but should I be worried about the fact that the amp has got at least 6 years (maybe more) on it's neck? Except for a possible tube-switch, is there anything that could have gotten severely old in this time period?

Second: my girlfriend is going to visit some friends in the texas, and since we live in sweden I thought she could get some tubes for me while over there, since the swedish currency is quite strong compared to the dollar right now. I like a "rounded off" treble, don't mind the sound beeing a bit on the warm side, and preferably a tight bottom end.

Any suggestions? Has to be new tubes because of the RoHS directive in EU. Exception is if there are NOS tubes that can be imported to sweden without problem.
 
Thanks!

 

[Jian]

I wouldn't worry about the unit Itself, as long as you roll the tubes. As for buying tubes in US, let's wait for US headfiers to answer.

 

[Skylab]

Makube,
 
One cannot really buy NOS tubes in the US from a physical store.  Those basically have to be bought online.  It may be that Guitar Center stores sell Current production tubes in their stores - I'm not sure.  And there might be a very few high end audio stores that do, but that certainly will not be the cheapest place to get them.
 
I buy NOS tubes from the UK online all the time.  You might consider that - I have have had good luck with this company : http://www.langrex.co.uk/