Thank you for your recommendation. And I agree, Telefunken ECC83/12AX7 tubes are legendary for a reason. I am also looking at Mullard’s from 60’s which are known for silky and pleasant top end without being rolled-off. The best of these tubes retain a fine sense of "air" at the top, and the upper midrange is smooth and liquid. These tubes reproduce the human voice, especially female voices, with haunting realism. And then there is Siemens ECC83 NOS 1968, that are favorably touted for phono stages and preamps.
I may end up buying a pair of each and see which one’s are the keepers:-)
Garrard 301 - Project
I have been contemplating for a while which turntable to pursue given so many choices. Every time I look around, I just can’t help drooling over a fully restored Garrard 301 or 401. Aside from being an idler-drive, I keep reading and hearing about their unique ability to reproduce music with its sense of drive and impact thus making them very desirable to own. And with available meticulous restoration services and gorgeous plinth options, what’s not to like, right!
Would you please share your experience, good and pitfalls (if any) with a restored Garrard 301 to avoid before I go down this path.
And what about the IEC inlet and power cord, would they be of any significance. My two choices would be Furutech FI-09 NCF or FI-06 (G) inlets.
I have already purchased a Reed 3P Cocobolo 10.5” with Finewire C37+Cryo tonearm/interconnect phono cable with KLEI RCA plugs option.
Still exploring Cart Options, so please feel free to share your choice of cart with Garrard 301 or 401.
And lastly, I would like to extend my gratitude to @fsonicsmith, @noromance @mdalton for the inspiration.
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I like Telefunkens, but, I never considered them to be tonally rich sounding tubes. The ones I heard were very lively and dynamic sounding, but, considerably leaner than the likes of Mullard and Amperex. The Telefunkens that I ended up using in my phono stage are ECC803S tubes that are very expensive. They came in their original box, This was quite a while ago when there were some concerns about fakes, but, the Chinese had not yet perfected the fake diamond molded into the bottom of the tube. The box looked suspiciously clean and new, but the ends crumbled when I opened them, which indicated that t boxes were very old. For warmer sound, I like Amerex Bugle Boy 12AX7s. |
Link to my aforementioned Black Treasures. |
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