Charles - absolutely. my system has went from a nice marantz receiver and oppo to now the LM502 and soon enough a SET phono. Surely more of a pure audio angle approach has been taken and I'm very happy, and am appreciative of the input, encouragement, and help from yourself almarg and a few others.
Miyabi- indeed the LM Amos are great from the factory. I am utilizing the pre amp in my 219ia and have no plans of changing that right now. The tele 12AX7's made a dramatic change. The soundstage larger, much more imaging, separation, you name it, it literally improved everything. The WE310A's were the least effective tube swap. I did it bc I got them for a good price, NOS, and hell, WE tubes last forever. The 300's did however make a nice change. The KR's improved the bass, and sweetness. keep in mind I am running through horn tweeters and midrange. With this, sometimes too transparent or receiving if a system can become TOO overbearing on the ear. So eq'ing through tube rolling allows for the balancing of all of this. The KR's helped well here. I listen to classical and jazz, all the way to thrash metal. When you get into the heavy guitar driven music, this is when a fatiguing system can kill you the most. The stock full music 300B's are very very transparent and can have some bite on that high end. They are a great tube and we're fine by me, but the KR's have sweetened things. As good of a source piece that the oppo is for the money, it CAN be shrill, and fatiguing. The LM502Ca with what little hours are only on it now, has greatly improved listenability. The biggest very audible improvement from the oppo to the LM is in acoustics. The upright bass on my jazz albums sounds wonderful. I hear much more wood, much more resonance in the body of the bass, and in the cello. There is just.'more' there. It manages to depict and extract MORE details while somehow NOT making the extraction more fatiguing. Wonderful
