tube upgrade for first sound

Great insightful post. I spent $$$$ getting the famed Siemens 7308's, but was ultimately was very unimpressed. well, it turned out they were late 1970's vintage, which makes a big difference. I think that a subpoint within your thoughts are that a name brand (Amperex, Siemens, Mullard) and design label (6922, 7308 6DJ8) arent enough to predict performance - the VINTAGE of the tube is KEY! As other know, the older the better....I currently have those pinched waist 1959 US-made 69ss's, and FINALLY have found audio heaven.....

Rayhall, what upgrades did you apply to your First Sound pre?

Guidocorona,

Emmanuel offered an upgrade in '03 for owners of record at that time. He was a little vague on what he did, but I think there were some grounding changes, some internal wire changes and, in my case at least, some replacement of capacitors. There is a professional review which reviews the unit after this upgrade. Here is a link to that review here:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue11/firstsound.htm Emmanuel said what the upgrade would do was further lower the noise floor, thus improving dynamics. I would say this upgrade was an improvement in just about every way that I could perceive except one: The unit doesn't have that pin-point imaging anymore. Instruments and voices are painted as much larger within the stage and their boundaries are more diffuse and indistinct. Otherwise, dynamics, bass extension and upper midrange smoothness were all improved and the noise floor was lowered. This was all determined before the tube change. Of course, after the tube change the F.S. made music for me like it had not done before.

Thanks, Artg, for your kind words. Now that I am sure that the F.S. is a keeper at my house even though it and the Pass amp may not be the best match, I am contemplating my options in developing a second system. As I almost certainly will keep the Pass amp, one option is to look for a second amp for such a bedroom system. One thought was to try to bring in a Berning ZH-270 for the bedroom. Any thoughts you wish to share about the sonic qualities of the Berning or its match with the First Sound beyond your other posts? Understanding that the Berning is very transparent, how does it stack up on top of the F.S.'s transparence? Down the road, I'll be looking at that option as well as bringing in another smooth solid state amp for the main system, like perhaps a Claytom M-100 or maybe trying a French amp named Lavardin. I will be listening to as much as I can and soliciting info from people who have experience with all the above and other equipment as well.

Rayhall- they do mate very very well together. In fact, I received an email from Emmanuel last week letting me know he had heard his preamp with a Berning amp, and to his ears, it was "fabulous." To be more specific, they're both very accurate, very neutral, soundstage and image well - yet perhaps most important to me is that they are pure of timbre and really allow an emotional conection to the music. I can't say enough about the Berning. I found about about it when I discivered that Sonus Faber use it in their factory test room, where they developed their $40K Stratavari. If you read my (longwinded) virtual system info intro, you'll see the rather extensive road i travelled before falling hard for OTL's, and the Berning in particular.

I am sure that the Berning mates well with many good preamps, and have heard great things from people using it with Supratek, Joule Electra and CAT preamps. I wouldnt be able to comment on comparisons amongst them, but it's a very versatile amp. Similarly, I am positive people have mated the FS with many amps, and have corresponded with people who love theirs with Jeff Rowland, MLevinson and Clayton M100's.

Bottom line - as biased as I obviously am, i cant recommend either component more highly, and together (esp w/ NOS tubes) they are magical!

I could just scream! I was expecting delivery of the Frist Sound, yesterday 3/18. I looked up on the UPS tracking site, and lo and behold.....the "RESCHEDULED" delivery date is now 3/24! How does that happen? The unit was obviously shipped - then UPS decides to delay delivery by 6 days? Any ideas?

Sorry for sidetracking this otherwise very enjoyable thread :-)

Paul