Will the Big Ben improve the 24 MXL?

Sutts: I agree it's no contest between either Siemens or Teles vs. Sovteks, particularly in terms of longevity (I've already had two of the Sovteks go bad on me) as well as sonically, as you mentioned. Tabl10s should wait a while before he starts playing with the high priced tubes, if he just wants to get a feel for the unit and his revised system. I always liked the Bugle Boys, they sound great in the phono section of a Jadis preamp, maybe I'll give them a try. I just wish there weren't so many damned screws in the chasis, it makes changing the tubes a royal pain.

Sutts
Are you from Ontario and have you used the 1009 mono's?

Tabl10s- yes, and yes :-)

What did/did'nt you llke about the amps?

they were great sonically (except for a slight mid-bass hump), but the build quality is not up to par with what I would expect at that price range- chassis not that solid, and my pair had a problem holding the bias properly; use of resistors that were under-spec'd for the given voltage...