Hello I have been in this for 40+ years seen and done everything
I have a moderate system for the Mrs ,and building a real smart $$ doing many mods for stock gear never top parts especially Loudspeaker Xovers,
And electronics 4-1 ratio or more Vs $ cost of parts - R&D overhead and markup
keep this in mind , I have a Great Vacuum tube guru friend designer Radu Tarta
who will be building me a bucket list 6Sn7 preamp for $6k would cost you without any Bas $20k retail . Being an ex dealer I pop the hood to see the quality or what’s
lacking ,for example the inexpensive ST Freya+ There are 4 wima caps. Upgrade to the VH audio Odam great improvement ,but only if you plan on keeping it
and synergistic purple fuse Yes does makes a noticeable improvement 3 x better conductance then junk steel zinc buzz fuse
vacuum tubes especiallly new old stock matched. You can literally tune your preamp to your taste, who gives a 💩 if they have to be replaced you are talking 3-3-5 years . There being 4 tubes R side voltage gain ,L side cathode- output ,Right side has more influence I put specific ones R side ,L side another to complement the attributes you are looking for ,, tube amp and preamp can be too much of a good thing ,depending on tube types li grew on tubes in the 70s , these tubes 1950
Sylvania-RCA venture don’t buy the fake tungsols and mullard they are all made in Russia ,they are ok. But fir an extra $100 day $300 a quad night and day better
100 hr runin. Don’t forget back then there was no Solid state inspection of filaments 10 x better, and critical extracting the gas to create the vacuum not even close
10%+ distortion vs 3-4 % max and their secret sauce every mfg hsd
go look up Andy at viintage tube services a true expert kcheck out his website in depth you will learn tons about how they build them ,Andy has the original testing equipment from the real NJ Tungsol ,and RCA . If you want to be a true Audiophile don’t get caught up on $small change , if I don’t have it I save a month
go see Vintage tube services , online Ebay onky if the person has a great feedback rating .
the Solid state tubes ok at best ,as I stated real nos tubes you Taylor the sound to your taste and last far longer then new fake name tubes. And the Freya+ has 3 modes you can click passive ,no thanks , a active solid state mode decent , then vacuum tube , the new tubes they use are decent but not close to good ,
enjoy your 🎶 music 🎼 !!
