Thinking about a tube roll to Brimar or Telefunken

Joe S is a friend of mine, we have spent dozens of hours on the phone over the last few years and traded countless emails.

Joe is a VERY intelligent person and a very careful listener. His reference speakers and amplifiers are the ones I sold him, Sound Lab M-1 and Wolcott Presence 220.

He and I agree on some things and disagree on others . The rating of the Telefunken 12AX-7 is an obvious example.

For what it's worth, most audiophiles and tube experts classify the Tele 12AX7 as the "reference" design for this type. Needless to say, I agree with the majority :^).

As for the RCA 5692, I have tried many versions of it and agree it has merit. Some equipment, particularly the Aesthetix, simply DOES NOT work with the RCA, offering dismal results with it plugged into it's circuit.

As with all things audio, the associated gear, personal taste, room acoustics, listening volume and many other factors enter into the equation.

I advise you experiment with Tele's, confident that if you don't like them, there are a hundred people waiting to take them off your hands.

Good luck with your tube rolling adventures.

Albert, Thanks again for the added info. and tipping us off to your association with Joe S. Again I find your help invaluable in my pursuit of the music.
Audiogon threads can sure be a lot of fun with banter flying every which way. In this particular case the wisdom of those that have already "been there" is saving the rest of us great expense and frustration. Thank you.

Just my 2 cents.This past winter,both I and my friend(who has almost the exact same rig as me)decided to do a fairly thorough "tube rolling" discourse,with our phono stages.I'll begin by stating that the Joe's Tube Lore piece was,and is,extremely accurate for the most part.I believe that Joe does state that his is a digital based set-up,and this MUST be taken into consideration,though the final findings are really amazing to me,in their thoroughness.

Some of our findings,done with usually two sets each,of tubes,for accuracy,in phono ONLY!The Tele's "sort of sucked",and were not cheap.I say this based on price,and compared to other tube types.Russian sovteks were "EHH"!Gold pinned Mullards were "pretty good",not great,but a nice smooth sound.Amperex 7308(non PQ) was very nice,nice violin sound,a bit lacking in slam.Amperex PQ was "exactly as Joe described", really a fine tube,in all areas.Ediswan 6922's were a real surprise,though well reviewed,they had a "ton" of dynamics,and were really very nice,in all areas.Very similar to the PQ Amperexes,to us.The tube that we liked the best,though I'm not advocating getting these,due to high pricing,as well as getting really good low noise ones,was the Siemens CCa's.WOW!!!We were privy to an EXTREMELY low noise batch(not easy to find them this quiet),and they were stunning with a capital "S"!!Incredible high freq. extension,with a never ending top extension,that is SO "PURE",I would not have believed it.Fabulous "SLAM",and dynamic impact.Gorgeous tonality too.But, way too expensive.IMO,the Amperex family,for alot less money,is the value here,though I'm hanging on to my CCa's,with an iron grip!They work so well in my ARC phonostage that I'm not really interested in trying the "Pinched Waist" Amperexes!Actually I lied.I think I'm sort of like the guy in the movie "Close Encounters Of the Third Kind!I feel forced to try them.If I'm lucky enough to find a few.Best regards!

sirspeedy70680@earthlink.net, Thank you for the detailed review. Sounds like you two had a great time and have found the magic for your ARC pre's.
As things are shaping up for me, sticking with Albert's recommendations based on his long time Aesthetix background is caring a lot of weight on my choosing.
As most everyone is pointing out, this thing is very system specific and one has to do some careful listening to be sure. Telefunkens for my system appear to be a sound place to start. Enjoy!

R F Sayles,I was not trying to be dismissive of anyone's advice,especially a well heeled hobbyist like Albert Porter.All I was trying to do was add some thoughts as to the process my friend,and I experienced.Yes,it was really great fun.More fun for me,since my pre/phonostage is on my top shelf,with really easy access.

I did not mention,and this could kill any of the credibility of our findings,to some hobbyists,that we did,CONSISTENTLY,enjoy a couple of bottles of fine wines(shared with the usual audio group,present)during ALL our comparisons!!Funny thing!My system seemed to sound SO much better,while "Slightly Tipsy"!Boy,this hobby can be fun sometimes!

Best wishes!!