10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe. Elektra 1987
@spiritofradio
Lets just say I’m pretty happy. It takes a few albums to realize just how large the subtle changes are, which means overall, not really subtle at all when you sit and listen. Even makes In My Tribe much more listenable. That’s why I put it on, to see how much difference, if any, there was.
Big notes: Everything has so much more weight & realism. The instruments have weight, as do the vocals. Lots of punch in the mids and mid-bass areas. Sharp defined punch. I was interested in how much more ‘holographic’ it may sound with the tubes, but that didn’t necessarily improve as much as I thought, but rather, the whole soundstage seems ‘knitted together’ while also providing and maintaining very good imaging, if that makes sense. Like the whole soundstage is much bigger, rather than sounds over here, and some over there. It’s all connected, but not a ‘big glob’ kinda way. Overall very natural sounding. I’m experimenting with a couple tube dampers on the 2 12au7 ‘front tubes’ not the main 100 gain 12ax7’s. It’s interesting how much difference that makes. Takes a bit of ‘air’ off the highs and mid-highs, but perhaps more natural and realistic. Fun to try stuff and see what I may end up with.
The more I play, the more I listen, the more that I realize what this thing is doing. That Szell Sibelius LP earlier today was incredible.
@spiritofradio
Lets just say I’m pretty happy. It takes a few albums to realize just how large the subtle changes are, which means overall, not really subtle at all when you sit and listen. Even makes In My Tribe much more listenable. That’s why I put it on, to see how much difference, if any, there was.
Big notes: Everything has so much more weight & realism. The instruments have weight, as do the vocals. Lots of punch in the mids and mid-bass areas. Sharp defined punch. I was interested in how much more ‘holographic’ it may sound with the tubes, but that didn’t necessarily improve as much as I thought, but rather, the whole soundstage seems ‘knitted together’ while also providing and maintaining very good imaging, if that makes sense. Like the whole soundstage is much bigger, rather than sounds over here, and some over there. It’s all connected, but not a ‘big glob’ kinda way. Overall very natural sounding. I’m experimenting with a couple tube dampers on the 2 12au7 ‘front tubes’ not the main 100 gain 12ax7’s. It’s interesting how much difference that makes. Takes a bit of ‘air’ off the highs and mid-highs, but perhaps more natural and realistic. Fun to try stuff and see what I may end up with.
The more I play, the more I listen, the more that I realize what this thing is doing. That Szell Sibelius LP earlier today was incredible.