Not sure where it came from, but last night while listening to the system, there was a still small voice that said, "put the JJ tubes back in." I wasn't thinking about doing that; the thought just appeared. I've said before that the Amperexes are more open but a bit light tonally compared to the JJs. I have one pair each of Mullards and Gold Lions as well, so there's another option. It was more curiosity than dissatisfaction that led to changing the JJs out before, plus the Amperexes were twice the money.
What happened is I have a "reference" DVD, Yes Live at Montreaux, which I can use to evaluate things, and it still sounds a bit thinner than before, even with AQ King Cobra replacing the Kimber Hero ICs; the KC has a slightly fuller sound (though close), at least it did compared to the Kimber when used as a pre/power connection. And the BD player is a Pioneer Elite BDP-09, with its excellent analog section and full, rich sound. So that's not the issue.
My other "reference" BD/DVD disc is The Avengers. The Soundgarden song that plays during the closing credits sounds better now than I remember. If I put the JJs back in and don't get a consensus with these two discs, I may get confused.
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SOTA, Grado, SME, Van den Hul, Gingko turntable setup; Pioneer Elite LD, BDP; Sony OLED TV; Magnum Dynalab tuner, antenna; MIT S-video cable; Pangea HDMI cables; DVDO video processor; McIntosh SACD, preamp, power amps; Telefunken Black Diamond preamp tubes; Kimber IC; Transparent IC, PC, SC; Mirage speakers; PS Audio, Shunyata PC; Audio Additives RCA caps; Furman power conditioning; Sanus: racks
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