Audio Aero Capitole - 6021W subminiature tube ??

Again, thanks for the responses. I own the Lector MkII and will soon have the MKIII board installed. I suspect it will retain the same sound with a bit more resolution. I have considered trying the Capitole primarily on the strength of all the positive owner comments, but as I do more research I wonder if that would be a lateral move from the Lector. I was curious about the Capitole tubes because it seems they must last a long time, which is a good thing for someone who doesn't particularly like dealing with tubes, but of course no tube rolling. I recently installed a pair of special NOS RCA triple mica 12AT7's in the Lector, and they are a noticable improvement over the stock tubes, which are also good to begin with. I don't particularly like dealing with tubes so what I would really like is an excellent solid state redbook player that does the same soundstaging and organic midrange thing as the Lector. I just don't know where to start looking at a reachable $3K or so price range.

Its not that difficult to solder in a pencil type tube with flying leads. You clip the leads of the existing tube near the glass. Then grab the lead with a tweaser, apply heat to the circuit board connection and remove each cut lead. Then just solder in the new tube.

I have owned the Capitole Mark ll and now the Prestige Reference with the cryoed tubes. The new cryoed tubes are expected to last up to 15000 hours or more even though the book still says 10000. Since these are run at a tricle the new cryoed could go way beyond even this. When I had my capitole and replaced the tubes with the new cryoed set (big change) I simply found an experienced audio repair technician in my area to replace mine that had a soldering station. With the unit delivered to them you simply retard any risk of shipping damage. It is really no big deal and Aero designed it this way to keep noise from the signal path developed by tube sockets.

I have had stock 6021Ws go out after three months in 3 differnt Prima CD players. In fairness, one channel or the other not both. Since the player mutes in "stop" position, you have to start a disc and then pause it to hear the noise.

The distributor is very hard to get a response from, even through a reputable dealer and the experience has really damped the otherwise nice sound this player produces. Clearly Audio Aero has purchased a bad batch of these but has yet to rectify the problem.

I have currently been waiting over three weeks for a response on my latest 6021 problem.

Having owned (currently still do sort of) a Capitole, I recently sent it to Arizona for new tubes to be installed - a fairly easy process and not too expensive. The company is Sedonix and are the official service center in USA for AA.

Unfortunately my CDP came back via UPS and no longer works - thanks again UPS.

Plan to replace the tubes every 3-5 years. You should be able to have a local service shop do as long as they have very good soldering skills.