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Old 01-19-2014, 07:12 AM
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prepress prepress is offline
Semi-audiophile
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Brooklyn, by way of Nashville
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Default Tube Possibilities (yes, that's right)

Tube Depot has received positive comments around here, and it's from them I got the JJ ECC803s gold-plated tubes I use now in my C2300 line stage. They have a new feature, a Tube Comparison Tool, which gives you graphic ratings for the various tubes they have, and even someone such as I find it interesting and fun to compare tubes this way. I spent way too much time doing that yesterday. My experience with the JJs seems consistent with how they're rated with the Comparison Tool. Based on the rating of the Gold Lion 759B (I assume that's the one so popular here), it's easy to see what the fuss is about. Unfortunately, the Amperex 12AX7A ECC83 tubes I got from my Mac dealer aren't listed; it would be interesting to compare them. The 15–20 or so hours they were in the line stage suggested open and clean sound, but bass performance was unclear.

As part of my cable clutter reduction project (another thread) I was thinking about using the 2300's MM section, swapping out the stock tubes there for something else and removing my phono preamp. This would eliminate a power cord and interconnect pair (it would also give me two empty shelves, but that's another story). My current JJs would seem to be too noisy for a phono section based upon their rating. Interesting—a non-tube guy (still, in some ways) exploring tubes. I'd never have thought it.
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