Recommendations for MM Phono ~ Tube or Solid State

Lalitk, upon re-reading your “drive” statement, I now see that it should have been obvious to me what you meant. My bad. As far as tube rolling goes, and I’ve written this many times here, keep in mind that tubes age and can change character, even get noisier, as they age. Especially in the first 50-100 hours. So what you fall in love with on day 1 may not be lasting, and two, having spent big bucks on a rare or selected tube, we all have an expectation bias that inevitably colors one’s judgement. No one is immune to that. What I do agree with is selecting the best possible tube for a given job. This means for example don’t use a 12AX7 as a cathode follower if you expect it to drive even a middling load, and don’t use a 12AU7 for gain. There are several inherently better sounding tube types with near identical electrical parameters, no matter what exotic brand of 12AU7/ECC82 one cares to name. Unfortunately there are many preamps and amplifiers that commit one or both of those sins.

@lewm 

Your point duly noted!

In essence, tube rolling is as much about understanding circuit design as it is about personal taste. The idea of swapping tubes to enhance a particular sound can be fun and rewarding, but it’s important to recognize that tube aging, expectation bias, and circuit compatibility are all major factors that can impact the perceived results.

I agree with you on being selective about the type of tube to choose for a specific role is far more critical than simply choosing the most exotic or expensive tube, and in many cases, this can lead to better results than relying on the often subjective differences between brands of the same type.

For now, I am just letting Model 4 play out with stock tubes and keeping my eyes peeled for NOS tube options. 

If you are still looking for an SUT I just got an Uesugi Bros Type H 1:10.

Might be a bit better than my Hashimoto HM-7.

Only one record in but so far so good.

The Type L is 1:20.

The SUTs were done in collaboration with Tamura, rumor says.

@theflattire 

Thanks for the mention. Yes, SUT’s option still very much under consideration. It will happen, just not sure of the timeline. Looking more like early next year. 

Dear @theflattire  :  Uesugi was made it by TEAC and looking ist frequency rsponse deviaiton level of +1db  -0.5db I seriously doubt that Tamura was invloved down there ( Tamura was a lot better in several ways. )

"Tokyo Electro Acoustic Company (TEAC)
A big Japanese manufacturer of audio, video & instrumentation hardware. Makes consumer equipment and computer components under the TEAC name, semi-pro and professional audio and video equipment under the Tascam name and high end audio under the Esoteric and Uesugi brands. "

As you said probably only a " rumor ". I own true Tamura SUT and were in the vintage times a expensive ones and not like the Uesugi at 88K Yens. 

Look, I´m not saying is a bad SUT.

R.