Jadis Defy can't sing with super high Fidelity PART 2

12AX7 is very different than the 12AU7 and each serves a different purpose. AX7 is a high gain tube often used to drive the output tubes in an amp. The 12AU7 is the soul of the amp or preamp; it produces most of the sonic signature.
Due to the AX7's high gain they may have increased noise compared to other tubes. You should always request low-noise tubes. The dealer tests each tube for noise.

Longplates may be more open with better dynamics. They also may have better bass performance. These are early production tubes from the 1940s and 50s.
Short plates are 2nd generation and were designed to be less susceptible to microphonics. With some brands you may not hear a difference between the two. But some brands such as RCA will have noticeably different sound. Blackplates (long) are more lush, have a bigger soundstage and are more dynamic than short grey plates.

In the process of testing Philips miniwatt ax's,, Sylavnia, and have some rebranded Siemens arriving next week. 
Trying to get a  few RCA's long black plates. 
will take some months to gather some opinions. 
as the preamp distorts the fq's, its pretty hard to get a  solid opinion.
I really need to get the cayin SC6 to gather solid evidence as to how each tube voices the fq's. 
Right now, i am of the opinion ~~~most every old stock tube are very close in voicing, with only a  subtle dif, = meaning , why spend $$$$$ ona  old tube,w hen others can be had for less than 1/2 the price?
~~My 2nd opinion, not based on solid evidence as yet, is that the ~~~Siemens may offer the finest nuances in mids/highs~~ That not by much,,,raisiing the Q<<Is it really worth it  to pay near $100 fora   old stock AX tube?
I should confess right here, that my hearing is not perfect, thus limiting my ability to hear the slightest nuances in the ax's. 
The refinery where work, hgavea  hearing test, which showed i have loss in registering the highest fq's. 
balancing out this hearing loss is my experience of some 30 yrs in speaker shootouts. 
I know what high fidelity is, and what lacks. 
My system is a  class B sound,, But hope to bring it to Class A/B by the end of this year. 
The Defy is certainly the star of the show, requiring all back up support to come up to Class A/B. 
The Thors need new xovers. 
The cayin Cd17 is about to go off to Richard Grey's shop for new caps. along with the solid copper posts, etc etc.
I have my work cut out and will post YT vids as these mods are employed. 

The mic in this cheap camera, is holding back what is being presented in the room, yet you should be able to hear how poor the preamp is voicing the entire system, 
Which leads to this conclusion. 
~~The weakest link/unit in your system, will hold <<Center Stage Spot light>>, IOW the <<singer>> in my system is the Lite LS9 Preamp. 
The weakest ubit in your system will produce the colration to the entire system. 

Ck ourt all the Jadis systems at Audio Exhibitions, the rooms have 100K Jadis sets ups, and yet the sound comes across as class C, if not class D. 
Why is this?
The speakers Jadis employs in these audio shows are class D speakers. 
So although the jadis units are all Class AAA, by employing Class D speakers, the system is  dragged down to ~~~Class D sound~~~


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh9nf1GTM9Y

Just cking the new Defy 7 well actually it is a  quite dif design, as the PA employs 4 AU's,/2 AX's,. whereas the Defy has 2 AU's and 4 AX;s..I'd perfer  4 AU's, as then i could swap out the crappy AU's for the incredible E80CC;s, WOW 4 E80's in one amp,,, UNREAL,,also I noted Bluebirds listing of the PA,,which says **2 Ecc83/4 Ecc83***
obvioulsy they are nor proof reading the text.
also i noted ,,,~~120 lbs~~~, I had tio again go to jadis' page to double ck this figure,,its correct,,~~120 lbs~~~, wayyyyyyy too heavy for my wishes. 
I think Jadis madea  huge error there..as the Defy was at the very breaking point of ~~over weight~~~,,at over 70 lbs,, the Defy is a  a  beast to move around. 
I mean how many Jadis techs are in your area?? None near New Orleans,,although i have a local tech who works on tube amps and am certain he would not have a  problem repairing ~~~IF~~ she broke down,(note the ~~IF~~ = jadis builds like german  tanks = indestructible = never breaks). also havea  tech guy in Baton Rouge who also could work on the Defy,,~~IF~~ EVER~~~ that ~~did happen~~ to come up,,,but still, who wants to loada  120 lb amp in the acr???? 
Not me thats for sure. 
The weight of 120 is a huge issue for me, and i am sure for others. FEDEX,,,well actually if i did buy one,,i'd drive to Bluebird,,well not wait,,,the only seller is Brooks in Cali,,thats too far,,and who wanst FEDEX,,,no wait,,has to go  crate = $$$$$$$$ shipping fees, = completely rediculous. 
Had i seen the specs for this design,,i'd have told Jadis ~ain't gonna sell as many with that monsta weight~~~, But its too late now,,its a  done deal.
No wonder the only Defy used is selling at 6500, past year,,he aint budging lower and note,,,no others for sale. Once you sell it, what if you want to upgarde,,to a  PA100? = not a option as the weight is a huge issue now. 
Anyway my 2 cents,,,My cayin cdp just got back with 8 M caps installed, and has made a  ~~~significant~~ mod in sonics,,,,have 8 more caps to go in,,,,,just waiting for M to list the .022 cap. 

IMHO new M caps offer a   much greater mod than a  tube upgrade,,,with the lone exception of E80's going in the AU section,and maybe Tele's in the AX section vs all other branded AX's. 
There are quitea  few tech geeks who are of the opinion ~~new Caps ain;t gonna make any dif~~~. = ~~if it ain't broke, don't fix it~~ theory. 
Well from my experience new M SGO caps made a  huge sonic mod. 
With the new M caps the Spakoslab discrete opamps can not ~~sing~~,,= stock Real caps in cayin , blocked  the Spakoslab ops from opening up,,,which i knew the ops were crippled by the cheap stock Real caps installed by Cayin. 
Caps were like $300/tech fee $250, well worth it. 

OK so the Defy will 
~~~NOT ~~~ accept the E80's as a swap for the REQUIRED 12AU7,,,so my tech guy here in new orleans also did some reserach and explains ~~Some curcuits may accepta  swap of the AU for the E80,,but not the Defy~~~, so thats that,,gotta dump my stash of E80's on ebay, got about 50 of em.
Prices just reduced from 130 to 45 each...anyway,,he is now cking to see if the Defy will take the 150's, which i know will, and he is cking the bias,,as i bought 12 froma  ebay seller who buys stuff 2nd hand, these tubes were tested at ARC and some say *bad* *archs* etc,,but all in all most are good. They were ARC's *rejects* nothing really wrong with em,,got em for a  good price,,will post follow up,,,he says the amp was distortuing badly,,but i figured it was the preamp when turned above 1/3 vol gain,,,. anyway,,,i'll keep everyone posted on updates.
Just a pair of the 150's with 4 88's one channel, madea  HUGE sonic gain,,so i am expecting the Defy with 150's to be a  ~~Mind Blower~~~..now gotta find some Tele AU's in my stash,

OK new YT vid
with M SGO  EVO the Sparksolab opamps can now finally open up and sing their magic...My theory is, a  weak link can cripple stronger components within a system.
The cheap 2 cent caps in the pre, blocked the magic of the Sparksolab.descrete ops.

12 M SG caps for the Defy7 on the way.
= big brothers to the SGO EVO, about 40% more for the 12  caps, value is .47uf. ,. Audiogon member highly recommended  go with the non oil SG caps,,so  canceled the Oil and ordered the non oil,,they are larger,,my local tech guy Randy Cohen, in St Rock area of New Orleans,  may have to stand them up, or go sideways install.

bass /highs are good/clean. Mids a  tiny bit stressed.
My goal since late 1970's has been zero fatigue,,which has now been acheived. 
as i mention in the vid, 88/90/120/150's, all pretty close, We are talking nuances in each. My  20th C classical composers  collection is worth the extra expense of the 150's and I'd say the $800 investment was well worth it. A *nuance* superior over the 88's,,but when you add a  tad here,,a bit there =  nice sonic gains. 
After randy installs the M caps in the Defy7, will upload another YT vid,,My comment sections are blocked due to a  CV vid i made and am now censored for life.
*disruptaive dis-information*
No big deal, 
Plan to add a  cayin SC6 pre, shootout  Lite LS9 and Cayin SC6, one stays the other sold off.
last note, these M caps in the pre, really opened up the system. Contrary to some tech geeks on YT, with high tech testing data which claims a  cap is a cap is a cap, *as my tests show  near equal*,,,there is some nuances/musicality which test equipment can not measure. 


  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E81daXW4n4Y