Awhile back I had read some readers' comments about how good the Bendix 6106 sounded in their Zen 84CS amp.  So, I set about shopping eBay and bought one.  Had it in there for awhile and thought I was happy.  Well something did not sound right in the amp, especially with vinyl.  Sound was harsh at high energy passages, sounded distorted.  Because I had just got my vinyl system back up and running and was testing some new garage sale vinyl finds, I thought the LPs were the problem or perhaps my low cost phono preamp.

Well, I was not convinced it could be so bad.  So I took out the 6106 and put back the original stock rectifier.  Aaaaah, the world was good again (well at least in my sound system, not the economy).  Dynamic response returned, distortion mostly gone, volume and beautiful full panoramic sound.

So, is the Bendix a bad match for this amplifier or do I have a bum tube (not that one, the glass one ! )?  I thought the Bendix 6106 were indestructible.  How can I test the 6106 if it is thought to be a bad one?

Oh, the glory of wonderful vinyl and cheap record finds !  I just built a record cleaning machine and can now finally go through all my bargain records and discover my new 'treasures'.

Thanks Veryoldcat:

Makes good sense and clears the question for me.  Thanks for finding that grain of wisdom and letting me know.  I think I will keep the Bendix for another project, my modified CS is sounding good with my old rectifier and I will just keep it that way for now.

rs