Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[PaulInWA]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

Famed amp builder and tweaker Dave Gillespie has raved about the new Tung-sol 7581a. Put it through extensive bench tests and found it to be quite good. I'm tempted to get some, but I really like my Gold Lion KT66 and just don't know if the 7581a would be an improvement, given that they are from the same factory and the KT66 are said to be their top of the line 6L6-type.

The following is taken partially from my own notes and partially from a reply I made on Audiogon. I have never tried the KT66's and until a couple of weeks ago my experience with the Dennis Had amp was limited so take it with a grain of salt:

I had a Dennis Had Universal SET amp lying around that I had never really liked. But I got a new preamp with gain and I decided to bring the Had out and give it another go. I still didn't like it as well as my main set up, but I had read the glowing reviews of the Tung-Sol 7581A's and they sounded like just the thing to kick the Had into higher gear and at $30ish a tube they seemed cheap enough to try.

All I gain say is WOW. The 7581A's brought a ton of dynamics with strong bass and a sweet midrange and detailed highs. It sounded good enough that I decided to do some tube rolling on the 6SL7 input tube. I tried a few NOS tubes I had lying around and then decided to put in a new production Tung-Sol 6SL7. What an amazing combination. Holographic soundstage, huge dynamics, detailed with excellent everything. I'm usually very sensitive to glare and this combo had just the slightest touch of that but changing out some cables tamed that. This is an amazingly dramatic, lively presentation coming from what can't be more than an 8 watt amp. This is not a mellow, easy listening, smooth boring sound. I've tried quite a range of amplifiers and tubes and I have to say I've never heard my system sound like this. How much of that are the DIY SP14 preamp or the Cary SLP-70 preamp that I've been trying with the Dennis Had/7581A combo I can't say yet but for anyone that likes tube rolling I say the 7581A combination is a must try.

Since I wrote that I have also gotten the Tung-Sol EL34B’s and the Tung-Sol 6L6G’s. The 6L6G’s didn’t strike me as being that special. They were less dynamic than the 7581As and more rounded and mellow in sound. I didn’t really listen to them that much.

The Tung-Sol EL34B’s are a very interesting tube. They are richer, denser sounding than the 7581A’s but still dynamic with an excellent sound stage. Not as lively sounding but that is partly because the 7581A’s sound a little thin and brittle in comparison. I go back and forth about which ones I like better. I think it is likely that the EL34B’s would be my preference for vocal or acoustic music. Unclear which I would like better with electronic or jazz etc. etc.

As an aside, price gouging, at least in Tung-Sol tubes, has already started.