pokey77--agreed, that comment and the Saturday event results prompted me to put the EL34s I had neatly foam wrapped in the cabinet back into my PL HP last night for a couple more hours of listening, and I have them playing right now again as I verbosely type.
Quite lovely, actually. I bought my PL HP used and don't really know if it was fully broken in when I was first listening to it, if my system synergy has changed, etc., I don't know...perhaps it sounded this good with EL34s from the beginning. My system hasn't changed that drastically in the 2 or so years, but I concur that the difference in sound is not that great (probably not as great as I imagined). The EL34s are even better than I remembered, and it's not that they weren't great when I got it, I just had the itch to try KT88s, KT120s, and KT150s because the amp let me, and they all sounded good to great to greater. The move up the KT "line" to 150s was fun (expensive, in retrospect) and each move removed a bit of things I didn't love with each move, and gave me more of the things I did love.
I think the EL34s simply feel a little softer in the lowest register, but not weak, and there is maybe the slightest loss of ultimate sparkle in cymbals, etc., with maybe the slightest shrinkage in soundstage. But overall they are a really lovely tube, with more drive and immediacy than I had remembered. And the tones and texture are absolutely gorgeous. I can see why people love this tube and see why it still ships in a number of the PL products--it's really a great sound.
I'm going to keep them in for a week or so before I go back to the 150s and see if my opinion changes again, but I agree that the changes are more subtle than I had originally remembered.
It just struck me that in some part of that driver tube upgrade journey I also swapped out the 12AU7s for something that was reported to be a better-sounding-than-shipped tube set (and were)--but that sends me back to this unfounded conclusion...as Kevin astutely called out earlier, the sound can change a lot with the two amplification pre-tubes. Perhaps that contributed as much to my improvements at the time as the upgrade to KT150s, and now going back to the EL34s that difference alone isn't that big?
I do maintain that the pre-section of the integrated, while great, is actually holding back the last ounces of amazingness that this amp alone is capable of. Put a really, really, really nice and transparent pre-amp in front of it through the HT bypass inputs and you will get more of what it's capable of. In my experience...YMMV. I make that point merely to suggest more experimentation in your own system.
The headphone amp is rarely mentioned, and that is a phenomenal addition to this amazing amp that probably doesn't get enough praise by itself.
Quite lovely, actually. I bought my PL HP used and don't really know if it was fully broken in when I was first listening to it, if my system synergy has changed, etc., I don't know...perhaps it sounded this good with EL34s from the beginning. My system hasn't changed that drastically in the 2 or so years, but I concur that the difference in sound is not that great (probably not as great as I imagined). The EL34s are even better than I remembered, and it's not that they weren't great when I got it, I just had the itch to try KT88s, KT120s, and KT150s because the amp let me, and they all sounded good to great to greater. The move up the KT "line" to 150s was fun (expensive, in retrospect) and each move removed a bit of things I didn't love with each move, and gave me more of the things I did love.
I think the EL34s simply feel a little softer in the lowest register, but not weak, and there is maybe the slightest loss of ultimate sparkle in cymbals, etc., with maybe the slightest shrinkage in soundstage. But overall they are a really lovely tube, with more drive and immediacy than I had remembered. And the tones and texture are absolutely gorgeous. I can see why people love this tube and see why it still ships in a number of the PL products--it's really a great sound.
I'm going to keep them in for a week or so before I go back to the 150s and see if my opinion changes again, but I agree that the changes are more subtle than I had originally remembered.
It just struck me that in some part of that driver tube upgrade journey I also swapped out the 12AU7s for something that was reported to be a better-sounding-than-shipped tube set (and were)--but that sends me back to this unfounded conclusion...as Kevin astutely called out earlier, the sound can change a lot with the two amplification pre-tubes. Perhaps that contributed as much to my improvements at the time as the upgrade to KT150s, and now going back to the EL34s that difference alone isn't that big?
I do maintain that the pre-section of the integrated, while great, is actually holding back the last ounces of amazingness that this amp alone is capable of. Put a really, really, really nice and transparent pre-amp in front of it through the HT bypass inputs and you will get more of what it's capable of. In my experience...YMMV. I make that point merely to suggest more experimentation in your own system.
The headphone amp is rarely mentioned, and that is a phenomenal addition to this amazing amp that probably doesn't get enough praise by itself.