[soidera]

with rca cleartop the imaging is superb.
I hear the song autumn in seatle by Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, and very surprised, It is like someone playing piano in myroom!! in front of me.
But maybe all tube sound like this eh?
But I still feel the rca cleartop feel boring in guitar acoustic reproduction. Anyone feels the same about it?

 

[plonter]

just got two short plates mullards, the sound is impressive and noticeably warmer than the rca cleartop. this is the tube sound like i imagined it.

while the mullard is very warm,i hope that after a couple of hours of use it may even become bassier. right now it got an 45 minutes on the clock.

overall, tubes sound is really amazing.

 

[K_19]

I always thought that my short plate Mullards actually helped with the mids and detailing (it's much more upfront) more so than adding pure bass to my headphones. I'm on the Tungsram tube for now as it gives better balance for my two main headphones, but I do miss the Mullards mids and warmness a lot sometimes and sometimes I switch it back in. If you don't mind bit of a shrink in soundstage and slight rolloff in highs, then it's perfect.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K_19 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I always thought that my short plate Mullards actually helped with the mids and detailing (it's much more upfront) more so than adding pure bass to my headphones. I'm on the Tungsram tube for now as it gives better balance for my two main headphones, but I do miss the Mullards mids and warmness a lot sometimes and sometimes I switch it back in. If you don't mind bit of a shrink in soundstage and slight rolloff in highs, then it's perfect.

HI k_19..i also ordered myself a tungsram and a tung-sol and wait for them to arrive. i got the tungsram mainly to balance my denons, i heard so much good comment about the tungsram that i can't wait.

the mullard are especially for my grados RS-1 to warm them a little. and like you said,the mullards are not only warm but also detailed enough, although maybe less than the rca cleartop. Do you know a tube that is warmer than the mullards and give more bass quantity? (EQ like...) from all my research so far,the mullards are the warmest sounding tubes, but if there is a warmer tube out there with a HUGE bass i would like to know.

you know what... maybe i should put it like this:
Dear headfiers, what is the bassier tube in the market?? (a 12au7 type)

 

[K_19]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plonter /img/forum/go_quote.gif HI k_19..i also ordered myself a tungsram and a tung-sol and wait for them to arrive. i got the tungsram mainly to balance my denons, i heard so much good comment about the tungsram that i can't wait. the mullard are especially for my grados RS-1 to warm them a little. and like you said,the mullards are not only warm but also detailed enough, although maybe less than the rca cleartop. Do you know a tube that is warmer than the mullards and give more bass quantity? (EQ like...) from all my research so far,the mullards are the warmest sounding tubes, but if there is a warmer tube out there with a HUGE bass i would like to know. you know what... maybe i should put it like this: Dear headfiers, what is the bassier tube in the market?? (a 12au7 type)

Tungsram is a great tube, it extends both top and the bottom ends like the RCA cleartop does (and in-between is dead flat), but is nowhere near harsh and still retains some of that tube warmness that cleartop IMO lacks. It also has excellent soundstage and is pretty fast (especially compared to the sometimes-slow Mullards). Best balance I've heard thus far in a tube... hope you'll like it with your Denons.

I haven't tried the Tung-sol but I've always wanted to, and have heard great things about it... I'll look forward to your impressions on those!

Unfortunately none of my tubes are really classified was warm/bassy other than the short plate Mullards (got the RCA cleartop/Sylvania/Tungsram/Siemens/Mullards), so hopefully oleblue/skylab and other tube gurus can help you out there.

 

[Skylab]

I don't know of a warmer/bassier 12AU7-type tube than the Mullard CV4003.

 

[olblueyez]

The RCA 12BH7 is much warmer than the short Mullard, I am not sure if the EF1 can use the 12BH7 but its worth looking into.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif The RCA 12BH7 is much warmer than the short Mullard, I am not sure if the EF1 can use the 12BH7 but its worth looking into.

thanks. don't know about the 12BH7...but i do know that i am really paranoid about those stuff so i will probably not try to put it in if it's not supposed to be used with the EF1. thanks anyway.

so i guess the CV4003 is the warmest i can get with the 12AU7. it also not expensive so maybe i will pull the triger sometime. the quesion is how much difference is there between the short plate mullards and the cv4003 tube..?

 

[Skylab]

I'm not sure if the 12BH7 is OK for use in the EF1 or not. The tubes are close, but the 12BH7 draws 2x the heater current of the 12AU7. I'm not sure if that is OK in the EF1 or not.

 

[plonter]

I didn't quite get it...what is the sylvania tubes sound signature like? cold..? warm? neutral..? and what is the mean of "double mica" and "triple mica"?
what is mica exactly?
i noticed that the sylvanias are really cheap (not the golden). is there a big difference between the golden triple mica and the regular?

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plonter /img/forum/go_quote.gif I didn't quite get it...what is the sylvania tubes sound signature like? cold..? warm? neutral..? and what is the mean of "double mica" and "triple mica"? what is mica exactly? i noticed that the sylvanias are really cheap (not the golden). is there a big difference between the golden triple mica and the regular?

Double Mica Tube

Triple Mica Tube

The difference between the Gold Sylvania's and the standard Sylvania's is the difference between night and day. You can try standard Sylvania's but your probably better off with a small collection of good tubes than a large collection of mediocre tubes, know what I mean?

The Gold Sylvanias (GB's) are very warm, more balanced than the Mullards (Mullards put more color in the bass), and the roll off, on both the highs and lows is less extreme so the mids dont get trampled by the bass coloring or the rolled off highs. On your Grados it would tame the highs and warm up the bass and leave the mids less colored than the Mullard.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif Double Mica Tube Triple Mica Tube The difference between the Gold Sylvania's and the standard Sylvania's is the difference between night and day. You can try standard Sylvania's but your probably better off with a small collection of good tubes than a large collection of mediocre tubes, know what I mean? The Gold Sylvanias (GB's) are very warm, more balanced than the Mullards (Mullards put more color in the bass), and the roll off, on both the highs and lows is less extreme so the mids dont get trampled by the bass coloring or the rolled off highs. On your Grados it would tame the highs and warm up the bass and leave the mids less colored than the Mullard.

thanks, too bad that the gold pin sylvania is a little expensive. i already have another two tubes on the way (tungsram and tungsol) so i cant afford it right now.

although i am very happy with the mullards...i kind of expected some magical bass increase. i guess this is the price for having a hybrid and not a full tube amp. anyway, the sound is nice and the bass is felt enough, i will try to mod my grado for a little more bass and it would be perfect!

 

[olblueyez]

Yeah, the GB's wont give you more bass than the Short Mullard, they just wont put a veil on the mids as much.

 

[plonter]

anyone can tell if the cv4003 mullard can give more bass power than regular short plate mullards?

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plonter /img/forum/go_quote.gif anyone can tell if the cv4003 mullard can give more bass power than regular short plate mullards?

I know one person who can, YOU!