@SonicTrance Am I allowed to use EL156 in Eternity? I see no problem but better to ask.
Tube rolling thread | UltraSonic Studios
- Thread starter OctavianH
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SonicTrance
Member of the Trade: Custom Amp Builder
I see no problems either. That's the beauty of Eternity with tube rolling add-on. You can use pretty much any tubes you like. You just need to find the correct bias voltage.
I already checked the datasheet and I expect them bias around -15V. No problem, almost the same as EL34.
hpamdr
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EL156 need around 2A by tube at 6.3V as the heating transformer is oversized no issues. You will need an adapter not too hard to build or to find. EL12N is easy to find and not expensive and have same pinout as EL156. (But it is not as elitist)I already checked the datasheet and I expect them bias around -15V. No problem, almost the same as EL34.
My own preferences as today:
Preferred output tubes are EL39 and GU50... But many other are not bad at all.
For input tubes, let say that pentode/tetrode el11, el3N, 6U7G have some swing (euphony) that pair very well with EL34, KT66, 6p7s, EL12sp, EL39 this is a very enjoyable tone !
6C5, 6J5, NR73 pair with everything and with KT88, KT77, GU50 Eternity is precise, fast and detailed and a bit dryer than with previous sets.
Depending of the mood and the music
we can fine tune our amp to have different sonic signature (Joy of tubes in well designed amp...).I enjoyed a lot today the T1.2. Since I've exchanged the headband and earpads I could not let these down. No colour scheme, no special woods, no limited edition, no painted versions. Just a headphone, but I love it and I will never sell it.
Could you please give it away then? I promise not to pay for it!!!
T1.2 has a place in my heart. I cannot give it away. This is also the reason I repaired it, but since the model is discontinued I doubt it makes sense to invest anymore in it. I said several times that this is my 2nd pair, the reason is that the first pair had a dead driver. The left one. So crap happens also at Beyerdynamic. The good part was that they provided 5 years warranty and I was able to repair them in service free of charge and then gave them to a friend. I bought the 2nd pair because I could not live without them during repairing.
hpamdr
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l have a T1 first gen, it is taking also a special place in my collection. Many would say that it is not the best sounding not the most detailed, not the most dynamic but to me it stay a very good compromise and very musical. You can use it during hours, it is very comfortable and the only goal it reach is to make the music enjoyable !
It was an headphone I got at same time as my first F.A Elise...
@OctavianH what kind of earpad did you got as replacement ?
I replaced mine with original velour version when I bought the headphone as it was a demo version.
It was an headphone I got at same time as my first F.A Elise...
@OctavianH what kind of earpad did you got as replacement ?
I replaced mine with original velour version when I bought the headphone as it was a demo version.
I have ordered standard T1 earpads (velour normal ones) on Amazon. Now I try to look into the account history and I cannot find them. Strange, I'll edit this post when having more information.
Found them, I ordered these. Yesterday I was looking on amazon.de and I ordered from amazon.com. LOL
Found them, I ordered these. Yesterday I was looking on amazon.de and I ordered from amazon.com. LOL
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You could at least try!
You know I was just kidding. They must be good phones for you. You should get another used pair.
They are and what I like is that they are quite indestructible, well, except the moment the driver dies. I cannot say the same for my other headphones.
So it begins. Interesting times on Discovery channel.
Almost weeked. Some cable rolling. I prefer silver or hybrid cables for these. The full copper ones are for me too much, almost making them sound veiled. Of course, the tube amplifier is also contributing here. But a decent silver cable or the FAW Noir Hybrid are a good match. Original copper cable is, as usual, below expectations.
And then some tube rolling. Tried 6-7 combos but I was not quite pleased until...
...I stopped at 6SL7 + KT66. Brimar 6SL7GT CV1985 + GEC KT66. A very nice and pleasant sound: clean, warm, full bodied. Wiser and more experienced people advised me to avoid high gain tubes for low impedance headphones but in this case I do not hear any distortion or have a feeling that this combo if affecting sound quality. Thekk have 42 Ohms, I set Eternity's impedance switch to low and I am around 10PM with the volume knob. Not bad. In terms of comfort and build quality these are great, no more mousepads to avoid paint falling off as on my other wooden headphones.
And then some tube rolling. Tried 6-7 combos but I was not quite pleased until...
...I stopped at 6SL7 + KT66. Brimar 6SL7GT CV1985 + GEC KT66. A very nice and pleasant sound: clean, warm, full bodied. Wiser and more experienced people advised me to avoid high gain tubes for low impedance headphones but in this case I do not hear any distortion or have a feeling that this combo if affecting sound quality. Thekk have 42 Ohms, I set Eternity's impedance switch to low and I am around 10PM with the volume knob. Not bad. In terms of comfort and build quality these are great, no more mousepads to avoid paint falling off as on my other wooden headphones.
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UntilThen
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If the Thekk is anything like the Kennerton that I heard from @Yetiman72 , then it's a sound signature that I would like. If that is the case, your choice of 6SL7 and KT66 is spot on because warm and full bodied suit the headphone's more linear and tight presentation. There's also quite a bit of talk on the Rognir model. The Kennertons are beautifully constructed.
From what I have read on several threads, each Kennerton model has its own signature and you cannot consider one model an upgrade above other. The flagship is the Thror but it has that classic leather headband and it is 100g heavier than Thekk. I was looking for a light headphone with a decently warm signature to be easy to listen for long periods. The Thekk is the warmish open back model, the Thror is more towards neutral and the most famous one is the closed back Rognir which I do not know where to put between these, being a closed back it was not in my focus. Soundwise, there are a lot of very good explanations here about Thekk, I'll try just to say how I perceive these from a personal perspective.
From the first time I put these on my head I had a feeling that they are very clean sounding, no distortion, almost the same feeling I had when listening for Eternity for the first time coming from Elise. No harshness, echo, sibilance or anything. Somehow soulless but very precise. I knew from the beginning that Eternity has a word to say in this signature. These are clearly not for bass heads, they lack subbass and in some tracks I have a feeling about lack of punch but in rest, these are nice clean and warm sounding headphones with an energetic and dynamic sound. Very easy to listen and get lost in them, also very polite. I made a few corrections to the "stock" signature by choosing a silver cable which added a little bit of life to them.
Now, I judge a headphone based on several things: sound, comfort and handling and in the last year while working from home during the hottest summer of the century I started to appreciate more and more the last 2 aspects. I'll explain. Since the sound is perfectly described in the thread I've mentioned above I'll say a little bit more about comfort and handling.
Comfortwise these are almost perfect, having around 390g and very nice leather earpads. BUT, they have a problem which I honestly do not quite understand at this price level. The suspension mechanism of the headband is made from a combination of plastic + some elastic material which for me is a minus. I mean they speak about aerospace grade aluminium on their website, leather and wooden finish and they put this kind of cheap stuff on one of the most important parts of the headphone? And even ignoring the materials, this kind of elastic suspended headband puts all the time a pressure on your head and tends to lift up the earpads. Ether 2 is miles above in terms of engineering and comfort of the headband. Anyway, all in all, I consider these easy to wear for long periods of time.
Now, handling. Nobody speaks about this anywhere. Nobody cares about this but I'll explain why for me is important. Handling for me is how easy you remove these from your head with one hand while working or needing to enter in a call. How fast you put these on the desk, how fast you put these back on your head during a busy working day. I also take into consideration how good are these isolating and how tight are these fixed on your head while working with several monitors or moving near your desk. Another aspect is if the earpads are rotating on the headphone or are remaining always in the desired position. Yep, I know, I have some strange needs which are important for me on a headphone and here Thekk gets almost maximum score. Very compact, tight. Durable in the areas which touch the desk, so you just put it without using a mouse pad, cloth or treating it as a piece from a museum. Earpads are fix, always in the good position you put them. You take these off fast, put them everywhere, you take and put these back fast, no adjustments needed.
So, soundwise good, comfortwise good, handling excellent. Now, there is no perfect headphone soundwise, and maybe this is why we use these amps and roll combos on them, to compensate. My job would be in the next day to see how these react on specific tube combinations and decide in the end if these are the headphones I am looking for. We will see.
PS. Ah, another minus is that Kennerton does not accept transfer of warranty. I bought these from classifieds from a very nice felow head-fier, so if the suspension headband has a problem, I'll repair these myself. Another thing I do not understand at this price level.
From the first time I put these on my head I had a feeling that they are very clean sounding, no distortion, almost the same feeling I had when listening for Eternity for the first time coming from Elise. No harshness, echo, sibilance or anything. Somehow soulless but very precise. I knew from the beginning that Eternity has a word to say in this signature. These are clearly not for bass heads, they lack subbass and in some tracks I have a feeling about lack of punch but in rest, these are nice clean and warm sounding headphones with an energetic and dynamic sound. Very easy to listen and get lost in them, also very polite. I made a few corrections to the "stock" signature by choosing a silver cable which added a little bit of life to them.
Now, I judge a headphone based on several things: sound, comfort and handling and in the last year while working from home during the hottest summer of the century I started to appreciate more and more the last 2 aspects. I'll explain. Since the sound is perfectly described in the thread I've mentioned above I'll say a little bit more about comfort and handling.
Comfortwise these are almost perfect, having around 390g and very nice leather earpads. BUT, they have a problem which I honestly do not quite understand at this price level. The suspension mechanism of the headband is made from a combination of plastic + some elastic material which for me is a minus. I mean they speak about aerospace grade aluminium on their website, leather and wooden finish and they put this kind of cheap stuff on one of the most important parts of the headphone? And even ignoring the materials, this kind of elastic suspended headband puts all the time a pressure on your head and tends to lift up the earpads. Ether 2 is miles above in terms of engineering and comfort of the headband. Anyway, all in all, I consider these easy to wear for long periods of time.
Now, handling. Nobody speaks about this anywhere. Nobody cares about this but I'll explain why for me is important. Handling for me is how easy you remove these from your head with one hand while working or needing to enter in a call. How fast you put these on the desk, how fast you put these back on your head during a busy working day. I also take into consideration how good are these isolating and how tight are these fixed on your head while working with several monitors or moving near your desk. Another aspect is if the earpads are rotating on the headphone or are remaining always in the desired position. Yep, I know, I have some strange needs which are important for me on a headphone and here Thekk gets almost maximum score. Very compact, tight. Durable in the areas which touch the desk, so you just put it without using a mouse pad, cloth or treating it as a piece from a museum. Earpads are fix, always in the good position you put them. You take these off fast, put them everywhere, you take and put these back fast, no adjustments needed.
So, soundwise good, comfortwise good, handling excellent. Now, there is no perfect headphone soundwise, and maybe this is why we use these amps and roll combos on them, to compensate. My job would be in the next day to see how these react on specific tube combinations and decide in the end if these are the headphones I am looking for. We will see.
PS. Ah, another minus is that Kennerton does not accept transfer of warranty. I bought these from classifieds from a very nice felow head-fier, so if the suspension headband has a problem, I'll repair these myself. Another thing I do not understand at this price level.
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