Title: Re: Any thoughts on tube rolling rectifiers?
Post by Giggsy on 07/15/22 at 15:53:11
Apologies for taking a so long to report back. Last couple of weeks have been a journey with the Torii which started with dismay and has led to a tear.
Let me start with what I was replacing the Torii with. It's a Bottlehead Kaiju 300B that I had built. It's a beautiful sounding amp, so much so that I sold the Pass Labs XA30.8 I had been using because the 300B just sounded better in almost every department.
For a pre i've used a BHK Pre for a few years and that's important because although it uses 12A7U tubes, you can switch it to 6V and use the 6922 family of tubes. So I have had some 6922/7308 tubes sitting around.
After letting the Torii settle in for a few days (which was hard) I started listening using all stock tubes. Dismay. This wasn't the sound I was told to expect. The soundstage was flat, there was a sheen to the higher notes that smeared any clarity and separation through the midrange. Instruments I would normally hear were not there anymore. In simple terms I could not listen to it.
I continued to let it burn in and listen but no real change in the way it sounded.
Tube rolling begins
I already had some Cryotone KT77's due in but decided to try the Sophia Electric Aqua 274B. Immediately on putting these in things were looking up. The High hats and cymbals which were sounding tizzy were now sounding much better and the clarity was almost back and separation was better. Soundstage was improved but was still mostly flat. I could hear the instruments now but they didn't have a presence.
Then I remembered the 6922 tubes I had kicking around. I put in a pair of NOS Siemens 6922 in the front holders and now the soundstage gained some depth. I was almost back to how the Kaiju was sounding. Things were coming into focus.
The KT77's arrived and on putting those in, instruments became easier to pick out in the mix. I could follow individual instruments now but they still lacked a presence.
I have a pair of psvane cv181-t mkii (6SN7). They had been sitting in their box for a couple of years after trying them in the BHK Pre and pulling them out, not because they didn't sound good (because they did) but people had started reporting issues that may have been caused by these tubes in the BHK.
So I switched the 6922's for the 6SN7's and it the sound snapped into place.
Instruments now had a presence. I wasn't just hearing drums as a sound, it's now like someone is playing the drums. The sound was no longer flat but was layered and had depth.
The sound now surpassed anything I had heard in my system before. With every I tried I was emotionally involved, being drawn into the music. Vocalists were like they were in the room. I put on Lindsey Stirling's Crystallize. Goosebumps, was like holographic enveloping wall of sound. Power, control, depth everything I was looking to achieve. Went to bed that night buzzing unable to sleep so happy with the listening session.
I ordered a ZR2 with the Torii. Haven't used it and don't think I will need it.
I think it's important to note that these are my findings with my equipment in my room so it could be it could be that i was having to make changes to compensate for my room/equipment shortcomings.
Well that's it so far, have no urge/need to change anything else, Torii will continue to improve i'm sure.
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