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  #111  
Old 08-31-2016, 06:41 PM
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The Black Diamonds shipped Monday. I'm hoping I can get them in time for the weekend.

I just dropped over $1K on a Jazz at Lincoln Center subscription, so for now at least, no more new audio stuff if it's more than a few bucks! The modest cost of these tubes is about all I can stomach for a while.
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  #112  
Old 09-01-2016, 06:52 PM
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Originally Posted by prepress View Post
I just dropped over $1K on a Jazz at Lincoln Center subscription, so for now at least, no more new audio stuff if it's more than a few bucks! The modest cost of these tubes is about all I can stomach for a while.
Good for you.
Which series did you go for? The Max Roach one looks good (along with a dozen or more others).
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  #113  
Old 09-02-2016, 07:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2 View Post
Good for you.
Which series did you go for? The Max Roach one looks good (along with a dozen or more others).
I went for a package of individual concerts. Six, in fact, plus one bought separately. Looking at the schedule again, there's one or two concerts I'd like to add. Totally unnecessary, but I might. The concerts I bought tickets for are:

Handful of Keyes: A Century of Jazz Piano
Elio Villafranca's Letters to Mother Africa
The Jazz Age: Untamed Elegance
The Swing Era: Revolution in Rhythm
Rosa Passos Quartet w. Special Guest Kenny Barron
Lucky Peterson: Roots of Acoustic Blues
'Round Midnight: Monk's Legacy


The first, third and fourth are the JALC Orchestra with special guests. The first and last on that list include performances by Joey Alexander, an amazing thirteen (yes, thirteen) year-old jazz prodigy, who's especially fond of Monk.

The next challenge will be to find someone(s) to go to these with, and to manage my money going forward. The Christmas holidays are coming.

Speaking of Christmas, it came a bit early. Today, I received the absolutely awesome apple cake from the Vermont Country Store (shipped directly from the bakery!) AND the Telefunken Black Diamond tubes. I hope to install them this weekend. Given the weather forecast, I'll be indoors for most of it.
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  #114  
Old 09-03-2016, 04:39 PM
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Let me check those dates. If interested, would be nice to meet another member and take in some live music. Been too long since I've done so in the city.
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  #115  
Old 09-07-2016, 04:23 PM
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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.
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  #116  
Old 09-07-2016, 04:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2 View Post
Let me check those dates. If interested, would be nice to meet another member and take in some live music. Been too long since I've done so in the city.
One, two and four are spoken for, as I found dates for them; waiting to hear on the others. But that's not a bad idea.

I'm thinking about going to the upcoming NY Audio show, though with my schedule I'd have to go on Friday.
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Last edited by prepress; 09-08-2016 at 11:05 AM.
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  #117  
Old 09-07-2016, 09:01 PM
rnrmf1971 rnrmf1971 is online now
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I was interested in the Telefunkens for my guitar setup as I like JJ's in that capacity. I spent some time reading reviews, last week, and your review aligns with what the guitar players were saying - compared to the JJ's, the Tele 12ax7 tubes were cooler and brighter. They weren't that well thought of.
Conversely, the amplifier tubes are supposed to be darker and have a stronger, more defined low end compared to their JJ counterparts and people liked those.
I'm surprised that the sound varies in opposite ways between the Tele and JJ tubes.
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  #118  
Old 09-09-2016, 04:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnrmf1971 View Post
I was interested in the Telefunkens for my guitar setup as I like JJ's in that capacity. I spent some time reading reviews, last week, and your review aligns with what the guitar players were saying - compared to the JJ's, the Tele 12ax7 tubes were cooler and brighter. They weren't that well thought of.
Conversely, the amplifier tubes are supposed to be darker and have a stronger, more defined low end compared to their JJ counterparts and people liked those.
I'm surprised that the sound varies in opposite ways between the Tele and JJ tubes.
The Black Diamonds are cryogenically treated. Would that affect the sound this way? My understanding is that cryogenics are more about durability.
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Last edited by prepress; 09-09-2016 at 04:54 PM.
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  #119  
Old 09-10-2016, 12:49 PM
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The Black Diamonds are cryogenically treated. Would that affect the sound this way? My understanding is that cryogenics are more about durability.
I'm not sure. I was always under the impression, perhaps, incorrectly, that cryo treating tubes would make them less bright, less noisy, and more focused.
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  #120  
Old 09-10-2016, 03:25 PM
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Cryogenic Treatment of Tubes: An Engineer’s Perspective | Effectrode
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