I replaced the Tungsol KT-66s with a matched quad of Gold Lions from Cryoset a couple weeks ago.  As I've been wandering through my vinyl I am noticing an increased resolution in song lyrics.  I assume that the increased resolution goes throughout the music.

That's cool. I couldn't keep the Tung-Sols in the main system after hearing the Gold Lions, and then the TADs, the Tung-Sols are definiltely the ones I like least. But then I think I go for a different type of sound than you.

Isn't it great when our systems sing? I'm enjoying mine immensely this afternoon, while I can (will be away from it tonight and tomorrow damnit!)

Yes, different systems altogether. I just remember your comment that the PWD MK 2 did not have enough treble for you. . . and it makes my ears bleed there's so much, no DAC I've heard has not made me turn the treble down on my amp, and I praise the Lord for Steve's treble cut circuit, I can't have an amp without one (the main reason I didn't jump on the ZMA wagon).

Have a nice safe one Larry!

Oh boy, the Tele's came yesterday and they did not disappoint!

I put them in this morning at 6 am. They are truly beautiful an neutral. 72 hour burn from Kevin an I have 5 hours on them now. The extra special clarity, musical resolution with even more timbre while remaining tight imaged an deep, is amazing. The ZMA deserves tube rolling in the A12 an B12 inputs/pre.

Cheers, back to the Listening Room for Stone...as a snow storm rages outside. Let me know when it's May!

Yeah, I hear you on being sick. I had a concussion in June an my appendix ruptured in October. Sick the first 10 days of December.

So, I treated myself to these awesome tubes from Upscale. I use a pair in the front positions A12 an B12 (see manual) inputs/pre only. I am so pleased as stated above.

I found the place for my Telefunken's......
http://www.upscaleaudio.com/telefunken-e88cc-6922/

...in the Input tube position of my CSP3. It is hard to mess with perfection of this Preamp (w/Jupiter Caps). However, this Telefunken (Platinum) with the 6N1P-EV's (pair for Outputs) from Steve is just brilliant running into the ZMA with his Tube Compliment. I do use Matsushita/National's (Platinum) in the Input A12 & B12 positions of my ZMA as well.
http://www.upscaleaudio.com/matsushita-national-pcc88-7dj8/

I'm sticking with this scenario for some time to come...... .


Listening Room:
Room Treatments from Michael Green & Home Brew
Sony as Transport
Illuminati D-60
Chord Chordette QuteHD DAC
Kimber Select KS1030 IC RCA
Decware CSP3 w/Jupiter Caps (NOS/Platinum/Telefunken 6922 / E88CC for input tube)
Kimber Select KS1030 IC RCA
Decware Zen Mystery Amplifier (NOS/Platinum/Matsushita / National PCC88 / 7DJ8 in A12 an B12 inputs)
Kimber Select KS3035 Speaker Cable
Vintage Polk SDA1 Speakers in Stereo (91db)
XLO Pro Power Cords to CSP3 & ZMA
PS Audio P3 Power Plant / Pangea AC-9SE from wall to P3
(Front End an CSP3 Regenerated/116, 118 an 120v are used/Multiwave off...ZMA on HC Output)

Decware SE84CS (w/NOS Svetlana SV83's from 1980's-not the New Sensor knock-offs) & Decware Super Zen CKC...when SE Pentodes run in Triode/Decware Style...needs to be in the System!

Decware New SET Mono's pending..... .

LOL - I did a not quite so quiet celebration of my ZMA on the 7th.

At least, I think it was the 7th I got my ZMA. I'd have to go back through that long thread where we spend pages pining over the build list.  :)

I can't comment on the ZP3. I do have a Vinyl Rig though in my SS System. One day, maybe a ZP3 for me too.

I would work the inputs as you can see I have done, with the Telefunken an Nationals. I am pleased with the results. I have the ZDSD coming in to run direct to my ZMA. However, I love my CSP3 with my Telefunken as input tube. Will see how direct vs. through CSP3 sounds.

Stone, if you like those stock Russian tubes Steve sends in the CSP3, you'll love those in the link below from a Russian Seller.  I believe they are older 1960's versions with triple Micas of the same type Steve uses.  Syd (Marky) and I both bought a pair and mine aren't going anywhere.  Shortly after, I changed the other Russian tube Steve sent to an Amperex 7308.  I can't remember which forum member turned Syd and I on to these tubes but they are great and worth the money and the wait.  Mark.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-RAREST-MATCHED-BALANCED-PAIR-6N1P-E-military-boxed-a...

Anyone roll EL34 (6CA7) tubes yet? If so, is there a characteristic sound difference with EL34's over the stock KT66's?

Cool. I have fallen in love with the KT66 sound in my Toriis so I probably won't move back to the 6CA7 sound but I bet these are good, and there's a lot of great listening with that tube type I bet in the ZMA (I know there is in the Toriis, I listened to several brands for a few years it seems).

I must say though that in my recent experiencee cryo'd Gold Lion KT66 took over 100 hours to really became what they promise to be and even more to really season and become jaw-dropping.  If you can stand to break them in further you may find they sound better than they have. If not, I bet you could sell a quad here pretty easily. . . .

I totally understand that! I have a great tube complement in my main system right now and am loathe to change one single part of it. I did roll a pair of Hytron OB2 tubes in place of RCA OA2 tubes and the sound was so . . . not right. . . with this complement that within 4 hours they were out and the RCA was back. It's amazing how each tube type is vital in these revealing amps, and synergy once found is hard to tamper with!

That's great BVictor.  I'm using PSVANE 6ca7-t in my Torii III and just can't take them out.  I completely agree with your well written description.

JD

Can we run KT-88's?   I though KT-77 was the limit.  Or more to the point what is available that would give max output?

bvictor,  after doing a google search, I found that yesterday.  If I buy them that's where I'll go.  Thanks,  Mark.

Brian,  I just ordered a Quad.  There were very few available on ebay and no quads and no US sellers.  Jim McShane that used to have them according to older threads else where also has none.  I also ordered a cryoed version of the valve arts 274b that I use in my CSP3.  Mark.

Syd,  this time you followed me.  Let's hope they sound good.  They are circa 1980's NOS Russian Military tubes and I've found more good than bad impressions on the internet.  Prior to researching these, I was going to buy the 6L6GC reissues Lon bought from cryoset for $95 that he likes.  Hope I made the right choice because I don't think I'll be buying anymore power tubes soon.  Let me add that there will be a 50 to 100 hour burn in period before everything gels according to other users.  Mark.

PS...the ones with the coin bases are supposed to be much better sounding than the larger black bases.

PSS...Syd,  I emailed Alex, our Russian seller, to ask if he had these...he did not have any more of them.  Of course he said the two other types he had were better...yeah right!

LOL Syd,  in this case, with a US seller using the US Postal Service, I should get them within a week...not over two months.  I did find a Russian site that sold them for $11 but I think it's money well spent to get them Cryo treated from a US Seller for $16.50 each. Mark.

PS...when I bought the Torii MK IV, I ordered it with the Tung Sol KT-66 but when I bought a used pair of RFT EL-34s, I loved the sound so much better that they have never come out.  I have come to the conclusion that I need to give the KT-66s a fair trial someday.  I doubt they're even broken in.

Syd,  you bought them from a Ukrainian seller?...mmm.  I've found 2 Russian sellers who sell them for 11 or 12 dollars...not on ebay.  Mark.

PS...I think I read about that rectifier in someone's "Rectifier Shoot Out"...maybe on headfi.  I won't spend that much on rectifiers.

PSS...when I initially looked on ebay, I must have used the wrong name for these tubes because when I looked just now there are lots of sellers...including many from the Ukraine.  But mine will be cryoed...hehe.

Hi Mark, funeral duty today, long drives + a nap when I got back.
We`re still in the ZMA thread but common tubes . I checked Rons site before I bought and thought you had bought these leaving one or two quads available.
Heres the link, double the postage of the 6n1p-E`s but twice the amount of tubes. Oh, Mark I think he`s out of them as well.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181620057977?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=S...
says he gives 5% discount for paypal ???
Syd

He has pairs available here.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6P3S-E-6L6-6L6GT-Matched-Selected-Pair-Gold-Grid-NOS-N...

These look a good price, much better than mine, same tubes
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6P3S-E-5881-6L6GC-Tubes-Gold-Logo-Gold-Grid-Lot-of-4-P...

Says he gives 5% discount for paypal ???
Syd

Syd, LR,  I'm not too wild about buying from these places but if I decide I want the tubes I may have to.  I think I may buy from a Russian tube seller and ask for tests to verify that I'm getting a matched quad...I have no way to test them myself.  Ron said he had gotten 400 of the tubes originally but quite a few were not usable, so I wouldn't want to buy from a foreign seller that doesn't test and match.  I would really prefer to buy from a US seller but I don't think that's possible now.  I'll do some digging around.  Might even get something different.  A used quad of RCA Black plate 6L6GCs went for $152 recently...a bit more than I'd like to pay...those are supposed to be real nice tubes.  

Syd, looking at those sites, it seems like a lot of these tubes have sold in the last 24 hours.  Who's buying these?  Besides Syd and Brian?  Mark.

Syd, the reviews I read except for those here were from years ago...I think.  To me the difference in price means very little.  Of course there are rather arbitrary limits to what I will pay...seems to change from day to day.  Like most things, it's a matter of supply and demand...and so far the demand for the NOS 80's Russian tubes isn't high enough to have caused the supply to become scarce, at least in former USSR countries.  If you read Joe's Tube Lore you'll see some of the prices he occasionally quotes...if only we could get those tubes for the prices back then..late 90's I believe.  His review probably had a hand in popularizing and making known many of the tubes he reviewed. Even the tubes you and I bought from Alex in Russia, have gone up $6 since our purchases, maybe due to those who bought after reading our praises.

My interest in the 6L6 type power tubes was to find a warmer presentation than the RFT EL-34s.  In recent reading I was coming to realize that included in all the traits I love about these tubes there is also an extended or pronounced high end that I don't particularly enjoy with quite a few recordings.  To tell you the truth though, since my experiments with resistors in the HR-1s this issue is becoming less important.  I may cool my jets on trying new power tubes for now.  I may pop in the KT-66s I already have to see what most people here are raving about...as I've learned with time, I probably hadn't even broken them in properly.  I will await others impressions of these coin based Russian Military power tubes and would definitely try them if a US seller stocked matched Quads for a reasonable price.  Mark.

Will,  I had been researching those for a while when I posted here for some user impressions.  Brian had them and really liked them.  The day before, I knew they were available in matched cryoed quads from Cryoset but didn't pull the trigger until Brian's endorsement. Unfortunately Brian decided to buy what would turn out to be the last Quad Ron had available...the Bastard...hehe.  So now I'm reconsidering.  It is very helpful to have had fellow forum members who have bought from and had a good experience with a foreign seller.  I'm always reluctant otherwise. My exchange was in the ZMA tube rolling thread even though I have a Torii MK IV as you do. Thanks,  Mark

Well that is digging in Mark! If they are similar to these 80s Reflektors, I am guessing they may be what you are after...I hope so...of the tubes I have they are similar/closest to the RFT sound, but notched back a bit, nicely so to me...sort of between the EL34s and KT66.

Sounds good. Seems with tubes, earlier is very often better. Hope they fit in your system!