[]eep]

Hm. I didn't know these REL caps. Now I understand to be REL RT polystyrene and tin foil and really good (according to 1 yest I finally found). So, maybe, maybe not it will be an upgrade. But certainly very determining for the whole sound of the amp.

Personally I don't fret to much over tube matching. I have never heard anything strange with just popping 2 of the same tubes in. Maybe I don't know what to listen for or I've always been lucky to have used close matches. Maybe I'm totally wrong.

There are some really nice PSVane tubes now too. Reverse engineered from old types and new types that are newly developed with new techniques. I haven't kept up with all the tests but new production has gotten a lot of new impetus over the last decade.

 

[FYFL]

All sorts of things to explore with Valves (tubes) the Russian EH stuff is pretty good and they do a gold pin version too, lots of expensive options with NOS but for new stuff I prefer new Russian Gold Lion to EH in my preamp FWIW …

Going with premium NOS option isn’t out of question at this time. I don’t really see many negatives other than price that some vendors ask for their glass eye candy. Getting those “NOS” tubes from eBay for example, presents a little different issue. Counterfeits, poor shipping practices and misleading descriptions are all issues I don’t have time and energy to deal with.

Since we are talking about vacuum tubes for a phonostage, don’t we suppose to place quite a bit of emphasis on getting tubes that are perfectly matched and with lowest possible noise/hiss? At least that’s something that I feel could be a deal breaker with riskier NOS tube purchase. If I decided to go that route, there’s only a few vendors I would feel comfortable purchasing from.
Other than phonostage applications, I’m really not that picky. With phonostage, any sort of noise is obviously a huge issue.

 

[FYFL]

Hm. I didn't know these REL caps. Now I understand to be REL RT polystyrene and tin foil and really good (according to 1 yest I finally found). So, maybe, maybe not it will be an upgrade. But certainly very determining for the whole sound of the amp.

Personally I don't fret to much over tube matching. I have never heard anything strange with just popping 2 of the same tubes in. Maybe I don't know what to listen for or I've always been lucky to have used close matches. Maybe I'm totally wrong.

There are some really nice PSVane tubes now too. Reverse engineered from old types and new types that are newly developed with new techniques. I haven't kept up with all the tests but new production has gotten a lot of new impetus over the last decade.

I was looking at those PSVane tubes for a while now. For other applications as well. They seem to be well made and fellow audiophiles seems to like what they have to offer. Don’t have much experience with their signal or power tubes but, I got one of their rectifier tubes in my HP amp and it’s very, very nice tube indeed.

As to capacitor rolling, I think I’ll try few pairs just to see for myself if the swap was worthwhile or it isn’t as critical in this particular case.
Not saying that Consonance went all out with premium parts in this phono but, it doesn’t appear to be bottom of the trash bin either. We will see.

 

[]eep]

My experience with changing capacitors is that it makes more difference than tubes.

 

[FYFL]

@The Jester & @]eep.
I took both of your recommendations and decided on
Gold Lion Genalex tubes and Jupiter copper foil paper/wax capacitors. Appears that one of the distributors got both of those items in stock. Since I’ll be leaving for vacation soon, I think it will be best to hold off the order till my return.
Thanks guys.

 

[FYFL]

Also, Cyndi Lauper's “She's So Unusual” is back in stock from MoFi if anyone is interested.

 

[]eep]

I think I already have that. Not the mofi though.

 

[FYFL]

Just mentioning some titles that hit re-pressing as they were out of stock for a while. For some reasons MoFi titles seems to be flying off the shelves and then they’re gone for a while or worst.
Pretty sure I don’t have that one in my collection.

 

[The Jester]

Closing in on 30 years old ….
Bought mine late 1983 …. Time flies …

 

[FYFL]

Closing in on 30 years old ….
Bought mine late 1983 …. Time flies …

Probably first pressing….

 

[]eep]

Closing in on 30 years old ….
Bought mine late 1983 …. Time flies …

You are getting old. It is 2022-1983=39 years. That is almost 40 years ago when girls just wanted to have fun. It just pains my heart to see how young people can only dream of it now.

 

[The Jester]

Even worse …
Yeah, coming up to 40 years old, they say the memory is the first thing to go…

 

[FYFL]

Even worse …
Yeah, coming up to 40 years old, they say the memory is the first thing to go…

Haha, don’t believe them. If they speak of it from personal experience than how would they know?

Since Blue Note is knocking out more Jazz albums out of the park in early 2022, I’ve bought few at some discount. It’s going to be a great year if you are into Jazz/vinyl.

 

[]eep]

This evening I was disappointed bij an ELO lp, I thought it sounded very like a bad pressing. Then after playing I looked at the runout groove and how the angle was very off. I thought; how can this be? Then I saw the overhang was way more than 15mm. And I found out the armboard had twisted on the pillar/foot. I have no idea how this happened. I must have nudged it somehow. Back to the alignment gauge and reset it. Checked point A and B again. And then put the same record back on. Oh yeah. There was that glorious Soundstage again. Pfff.

Now give the tube phono a second chance. And this time fair. Tss. So stupid.

 

[FYFL]

This evening I was disappointed bij an ELO lp, I thought it sounded very like a bad pressing. Then after playing I looked at the runout groove and how the angle was very off. I thought; how can this be? Then I saw the overhang was way more than 15mm. And I found out the armboard had twisted on the pillar/foot. I have no idea how this happened. I must have nudged it somehow. Back to the alignment gauge and reset it. Checked point A and B again. And then put the same record back on. Oh yeah. There was that glorious Soundstage again. Pfff.

Now give the tube phono a second chance. And this time fair. Tss. So stupid.

Happened to me more than once. Coincidentally, it's usually the phenomenon I notice after my return from being away for a a while. Interestingly, we can tolerate crappy sound for a while, eventho, deep inside, we know that something is terribly off.