tube upgrade for first sound

well done Paul! I am sure you will have many audio revelations with your new toy, and welcome to tubes.

After a month or so, do look into an upgraded power cord (electraglide, shunyata elrod come to mind), do look at platform/isolation system (Aurios), and since there is so much info here to guide you, do look at NOS tubes. In the meanwhile, enjoy that thing and once agian, welcome to the club of happy FS owners.

As to ther person selling his, he may be looking to upgrade up the FS line - who knows....

Congrats Paul. Make certain to follow Emmanuel's advice ... break in from the wall and stock for 30 days... and like Art suggested, a good powercord goes a long way on this preamp! I would highly recommend an Electraglide powercord, the "entry level" Mini Khan Plus can be had used for about $500 here on the 'Gon and does wonders, improved by the Ultra Khan II, as well as the Epiphany... depends on the cash outlay you want to spend.

After that you may want to look into NOS tubes, and there are threads on various tubes and the "house" sound they give in that preamp that are really quite accurate.

All in all, do follow the 30 day break in as you will "learn" the stock sound of the preamp, which will be hard to imagine it could improve at about 25 days... but it only gets better. :)

Congrats again on an excellent choice.

Artg & Audiofankj -
Thanks for the support. Making the decision was the hardest part of all. I just didn't want to make a mistake. I sure I didn't. :-) Still waiting for the bass to break loose. I't only been 4+ days though. :-)
So the breakin continues for a month? Is that 24/7 playing all the way? Thanks guys.

paul

One of the OA2's in my FS went out, so when I ordered replacements from New Sensor yesterday, I also ordered a pair of the EH Gold Pin 6922, which Emmanuel suggested I try. Not NOS and less than $30. I forget if this tube has been discussed here. Has anyone tried it?

By the way, the only reason I knew that the OA2 went out is that I happened to peak through the side vents and did not see the blue glow on one side. Of course, it *seemed* like things weren't sounding quite right, but the preamp definitely still worked even without the functioning regulator tube.