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Old 05-27-2013, 11:40 PM
mulveling mulveling is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 589
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I roll like crazy, and I've never had McIntosh tube amps (though I've love to hear them one day). Got lots of vintage tubes, and I believe that lots of the new production stuff is excellent. No, I haven't found new production tubes that are as lovely as say a Tung-Sol round plate 6SN7 or a Mullard long-plate 12AX7, but they do offer many fine options for perfecting system balance that are affordable, available, and sonically competitive with all but the best (sometimes unobtanium) vintage types.

In fact, I'm looking at various new production 6CA7/KT77/KT88, 12AU7, and maybe 12AX7 to roll into my system. My preamp uses 8 of the EH 6H30pi, and these superb sounding tubes are known for their extreme reliably (not much in the way of rolling options here, though). EH KT90 and KT120 both work great in my amp.

Some gear and some positions react more to rolling. Changes in my amp's output tubes and phase splitter/inverter are currently the big sensitive slots in the system; well worth rolling here. My prior VAC preamp and current phono stage are less rewarding to rollers, but fortunately they both ship with new production tubes and sound great as-is.
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