[prepress]

Still at work (usually home now). I installed the Telefunkens on Saturday and seem to have a few minutes. They have about 7 hours on them.

First off, they don't sound like the JJs, leading me to wonder if JJ built them to Telefunken's specs, rather than something that's essentially a JJ tube which Telefunken then "massaged" to get what they wanted. The Telefunkens are not as warm, first off, and are crisper (more open?) on top. Brass has a nice bite to it; it's maybe a bit more bite than the Psvanes and GLs had.

But as soon as I heard that, I thought there'd be a problem with the brighter '60s material which was the downfall of the GLs and Psvanes. Yes, the CDs in question are bright to begin with, and I don't think any tube can solve that, but the warmer the tube, the more this brightness is mitigated. Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour was pretty well unlistenanable at my normal listening volume (42 on the C2300), and it almost hurt to hear the saxophones; another track or two was close to unlistenable. I was squinting my eyes at one point, as if sound were light. The tone controls were no help, as they dampened everything when I turned them down enough to make a difference on the top end.

The bottom end was satisfying as I went through my usual demo suspects. Not as hefty as the JJs, but satisfying enough that I didn't miss the JJ's bottom too much, despite the Telefunkens being a smidge less weighty. The Psvanes were similar in that regard.

This whole scenario brings to mind a couple of things. I remember at the C2300's audition that the Audio Research LS27 I compared it to had a darker sound, which tamed some of the top end better than the 2300 (the system was bright overall, and the 2300 had stock tubes in it). The LS3 I used prior to the 2300 never gave me any pause as far as the sound being too bright (there was a Byrds LP that was noticeably bright, but that's about it). Given that, and I admit this hasn't been thought out fully yet, it seems as if there are three options: reinstall the JJs and be done with it; 2) go through the tubes I didn't play the brighter material with (Mullards) just to be thorough, in case they do better and I decide I can live with the lighter bottom end; or 3) get a new preamp, either an ARC or one with an equalizer (C52). That last option is least likely, but is not impossible. The Telefunkens were burned in at the factory (100 hours?) so I don't think they're going to show me much more than they have, but I may still give them another 20 hours or so, to be fair.