I have a Zestos Andros Deluxe 2. To my ears it is fantastic, being richer in texture, more extended in treble and all around just better sounding than the Pass XP15 that preceded it (The Pass was no slouch). Despite the tubes, the Zestos is very quiet, seeming to add no noise of its own beyond my other tube equipment. Those who think tubed phono stages are noisy really hear the Zestos! For gain, I'm running a Benz LPS at 68dB (which seems high, but it sounds better this way). The "low" gain option is 62dB. I've done a fair amount of tube rolling and settled on Tesla E88CC for the 12AX7, and GE 12DW7 for the 12DW7 position (apparently the 12DW7 drives the output transformers), which the designer George Counnas himself recommends. To be honest, I don't hear much difference in the 12DW7 swapping, but quite a bit with the 12ax7. Long story short, I love this phono amp. I would prefer 47K loading as an option for MC carts, but the Zestos is limited to 1K max, which I have the Benz LPS running at. Still, it all sounds great. I'm liking Zestos tube work so much I'm thinking about my next power amp. That Zesto Audio Bia 120 is looking mighty fine. : )
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@gakerty +1. I also love my Andros Deluxe 2, the best among my several phono stages. Excellent description. Thanks for the tube rolling tips. Agree, should have 30k and 47k MC loading options. |
@gakerty BTW, you meant Tesla E83CC, correct? |
One cartridge is an Experion for quite a while now, but there are many others. Phone stage is a Conrad Johnson TEA 1, series 3, most often with a Consolidated Silver SUT, which is external, although the cj also has an internal SUT on one input that is also used often, mostly with a VAS mono cartridge that I like. I also like the Ortofon 2M mono moving magnet, which is based on the 2M Black and works well on many older 1950-1960 jazz/blues records. I also have other SUTs and other phono stages, but the above are the ones in heavy rotation these days. |
- 118 posts total