SONIC FRONTIERS LINE 3...TUBES & CAPS upgrade

SF SFL-1 was my 1st tube pre. Upgraded to SFL-2 and finally Line 3 then mod to Line 3SE+ by Chris Johnson @ Parts Connexion. Also had Power 3 and then mod to Power 3SE+ by Chris. Coincidentally all pre drove Krell amps. KSA100s, FPB300 and FPB600. SF pre is an excellent match with Krells.

With stock Sovtek or EH 6922, it was hard, flat and SS sounding so did lots of tube rolling. My favorite were Philip Holland or Amperex e88cc/6922. For the 6U8A position, Ediswan CV5065 was my favorite.

I remember Chris offered mod packages so I would contact him for his latest. In my SE+ mods, all caps were Audio Note copper and silver, rewired with silver ... lot of stuff.

PCX bills in US$. With US stop printing $ and the world printing Yens, Euros, Yuans ... US$ has risen so good for US consumers.

Funny story, I was dealing with a Canada Audio company. When CAN$ was higher than US$, his PayPal invoices were in CAN$. Now it has reversed, he tried to bill me in US$ so I asked him to be consistent and change it to CAN$. He refused so out of principle, I canceled the order.

If you think Chris Johnson is an audio designer or a qualified electronics technician, you know nothing about the history of Sonic Frontiers. Chris Johnson is a marketer and a boutique parts supplier who just swaps parts for high cost flavour of the month expensive parts.

Factor in the cost of a used Line 3, plus $$ upgrades, plus $$ 12 NOS tubes, and you have a lot invested that could go towards a much better, and reliable, preamp.

Test, your comment is not exactly the whole truth and certainly spun to your particular bias on and of Chris.

It's all relative. If you're comparing to current preamps, then it's NO contest. But for it's vintage, very competitive and probably one of few that offers the modern tube sound.

All I can say is I enjoyed my time with SF pres and Krell amps.