You won't regret it. Welcome to the club. I've placed an order for a second one for my Preamp. It's indispensable

Hi Tony. Thanks for the offer.  I have been experimenting with 8020 tubes, and wanted to try two at the same time but only had one 845-300B adapter.

I had a bit of a light bulb moment for a workaround - I have Al's 845 - 5U4G. I also have a 5U4G to 5Z3 adapter, so I stacked them. Not ideal but it worked.

I am finding that some of the 8020s are the most resolving and transparent to the music of all tube types I've tried. They also produce a scale/envelopment beyond most of the other types I like. The only issue is a leanness to the sound, which I am trying to combat with incoming fleshier tubes for my DAC, or once my STR-1002 comes in for my preamp so I can add more meat to the bones.

I will report my tube findings once the dust has settled. I will encourage anyone with the 845-300B adapter to jump on the 8020 tube wagon - they are cheap as chips and you can't beat the clear light bulb glow they produce either. And, oh, yeah, they sound great.

Stacking wasn't the lightbulb moment. It was the fact that I had an old 5Z3-5U4G adapter that didn't readily scream 300b pinout to me until I fortuitously realized that it would work.

Thanks for sharing that pic though. Besides loving the look, it reminds me that I have some AD1 tubes and adapters I can try. Funny how things work.

Congrats! I’m sure you’ll love what it brings! It’s exciting when Al sends that email with the first look of your component burning in. Shouldn’t be long now!

JHC, sorry to hear about your AL woes and the stress it has caused.

After my first month with the STR 1002-Super, something blew, and I had to return it. No problem with the fix; Al did that, and there's no charge as it was under warranty. When he shipped it back however, it went through LA at the time when fires were threatening the LA area. The shipment was put on hold by the LA USPS for over a month. Upon its arrival in Berkeley, the shipping box was damaged, and one of the internal components inside the STR 1002 was hanging by a thread. I was able to tighten everything, and it has worked well ever since.

At the time, I thought it was more about the fires in LA and the resulting lengthy delay. Still, when I have received shipments from Decware, they are impressively packed. Hopefully, these experiences with Space-Tech Labs shipping are rare, but I wonder if others have had similar experience.

Sadly it seems like there are just too many problems with AL and STL. I have been considering getting STR-104s for my UFO25s, but I'm over that. Not worth the worry at this point.

Unfortunately, another Str-104 owner who had several issues with the unit.  First the unit would shock me when touched, loud pop sound when turning on/off, one socket pulled out, power switch light stopped working, an 866a tube arced, kept blowing rectifier fuses in my Torii Jr. After spending many frustrating hours and 10’s of emails with Al trying to diagnosis and solve the issues I sent it in to be repaired.  Cost me round trip shipping to Canada and Al repaired the unit under warranty.  Repairs included new upgraded ceramic sockets and a new soft start power switch.  Worked fine but it still had the loud popping sound. I lost confidence that the unit might have repeated failures and I  was reluctant use 866A tubes.  Decided to sell it while it was working properly and not fret over it damaging my amp.   Now I use a  superb Stradi 5U4G rectifier without worry.  Intrigued with Steve’s new rectifier unit being developed.

Campo007, I hope it makes it safely, please keep us posted.

Is anyone looking to sell their 3B22 adapter? I'd rather not go through the wait and tariffs for a new one from Al.

This 5U4G to 5Z3 adapter will allow you to use 300bs in tandem with your 845 to 5U4G adapter stacked. The 5Z3 Pinout is the same as a 300B. Which 8020 did you get?

https://ebay.us/m/HtGztD

I received my second STR-1002 yesterday to use with my Preamp. My first is used with a Lampizator DAC as well. Like yours, the packing was carefully and securely done, and it sounds fantastic.

Congrats on the new gear, you are in for a treat. I have to admit, I am a bit jealous.

Adamaley (and any others who are using their STR’s with Lampi DACs with VC and Standby button on remote)—I was curious whether you turn off your DACs completely (from the back), or let it be on standby mode with the STR attached.  

In other words. would the sequence be—-turn STR on, and then flip the DAC to ‘on mode’ OR does the use of the STR necessitate that the DAC must always be completely powered off?

Quote:


I'm not exactly sure how the DAC works but the STR has a standby mode. So in general what you do is power up the STR (in standby) and the DAC/AMP in "operate" mode. The STR won't pass high voltage until you switch from standby to operate so until then only the heaters for you component are on. This way all the tubes warmup then when you're ready to listen you switch the STR to operate, your tubes get high voltage after everything is nice and warm and you're ready to listen. This is essentially soft start on steroids.

I believe the Dynagrid works the same way.

I always have the power on in the back of the DAC. My sequence is as follows (Both power and engage on STR are in off position when not listening to music):

1. Turn STR power on - wait for a minute - longer if using gas/transmitter tubes

2. Turn engage switch on

3. Turn DAC on with remote/front switch

To turn off:

1. Turn off DAC with remote/front switch

2. Turn off engage switch on STR

3. Turn off power on STR

Hopefully, I've been doing things the correct way  :D

@CAJames

For some reason, I still don't have the option to quote/or simply can't figure it out, but here goes.

I thought the delta would be minimal, and for $300, I didn't have too much to lose.

I had recently come to terms with the fact that using at least one 845 was a must because the scale - soundstage and image size - can't be replicated by any other tube. Not a 4B32, 805, 8020, DCX4/5000, etc. Having only the Linlai 845 (provided by Al), I had no option but to stick with it although it doesn't bring much else to the table, has some etchiness to it, but at least it's tonally pleasant.

I had been using it in my preamp STR, but never as a pair because that seemed to magnify its shortcomings too much so I always needed to tamper it with some other model of tube. This tended to be a 300b or 5U4G variant most of the time.

I paired the RCA 845 with the Linlai 845 in my Preamp STR first. Then later determined its effect in the DAC was magnitudes better for the overall sound. I will classify this as transformational akin to first trying the STR itself.

Tube Depot has two pairs of RCA 845s as of yesterday because I was looking for backups and the 3 I ordered are coming from scattered sources overseas with long shipping times. I decided against buying them because #FINANCIALDISCIPLINE  ;D

Quote:


I'm certainly not going to tell you to disregard AL's manual, but to me it makes a lot more sense to warmup both the STR and component to which it is attached before putting the STR in engage, or operate in my case. JMO/FWIW and all that.

Also FWIW "quote" is the button that looks kinda like a sheet of paper with an arrow pointing to the right. On the top row of buttons 8th from the right, below the Subject line. You have to copy and paste the text you actually want quoted.

Thx Adamaley and James for your input.  I never turn off my DAC either (unless I’m changing output tubes) and instead use the remote standby button once done for the day.  As Dynagrid is also nearing completion and I am trying to make up my mind, I wanted to research what, if any, changes, I’d need to incorporate in my start-up routine if I decided to pull the trigger on either solution.  A large part of why I’ve continued to shy away from the STR (in addition to the QC issues), is the added complexity of the start-up (and shutdown) sequence.

Fair point, and perhaps complexity isn’t the right word to explain my agida of having to remember a particular sequence vs. just going in to the rig and turning on the amp.

While there is something to be said about simplicity (and the peace of mind that comes with it), I also recognize the fact (or have been recognizing it since this thread started) that the age of outboard rectification is upon us.

The following two para’s from Steve’s recent post from the Dynagrid thread were so telling:

“Anyway, this is about the third or fourth time I've made myself less than thrilled with the sound of the amplifier when running a stock rectifier tube,  even a $400 one.  Proof that everything is relative and you can't un hear things.

The best way I can describe the difference in sound between the $400 ACME 274B in a Sarah, which was one of the better sounding so far, and a DynaGrid Jr. in the Sarah, is like going from LP to a master tape.  The extra density, body, space, ease, dynamics, realism clearly demonstrates that rectifiers are a weak link in the chain.”

I think that admission sealed it for me.  Now, it’s not a matter of if, but when (and which unit).