Interesting…the RCA Cleartop 12AU7 I purchased from Andy’s Vintage Tube Services were pretty thin and bright sounding in my then Rogue RP1 preamp. I tried them in the Rogue ST100 amp as well and got exactly the same results.
Ended up selling them. The 12AU7 that worked great for me were Brimar CV4003, Gold Lion.
YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) - it’s all component/system dependent.
Retirement integrated amp for a “fiscal conservative”
I’ve taken the plunge and am now enjoying the 2nd week of retirement after 44 years of work, including 42 years with the company I just retired from.
One of the retirement goals I’m really looking forward to is spending much more time enjoying music with my main system!
I’ve pretty much gone digital (but do have a Linn Sondek LP12 to enjoy LPs purchased in the 60’s - 80’s).
My system consists of a Rose 150B streamer/DAC and a Primaluna CD player for digital playback. I use a Roon Nucleus for Roon/Tidal new music research and listening. Speakers are original Joseph Audio Perspectives.
I enjoy all types of music, but mostly listen to jazz (preferably smooth but am exploring all of the various forms of jazz).
I’m currently using a Primaluna Dialogue HP Premium integrated amp which I’ve enjoyed for many years. Here’s where the “fiscal conservative” part comes in; this amp has 8 power tubes. Even with Primaluna’s great low tube stress design concept, I’m not looking forward to replacing power tubes every couple years with my retirement bonus listening time. Also, I’d like to get additional damping factor bass control than my current amp provides. I love the tube midrange and treble range sound, but would like an upright bass to sound more like a wood instrument (hard to describe in words) and hear more natural note attack and decay
I’d like to get ideas/advice from A’gon music enjoyment experts on a replacement integrated that still provides the acoustic sound of tubes, but doesn’t require new tubes every couple years/2,000 hours and is a great match to enjoy jazz on the rest of my system which I plan to keep. I’m open to used or new with a cap of say $8,000.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.
Eric
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@audphile1 Yeah, I could see that. If you recall about 6 months ago when I was searching for a warmer, thicker midrange sounding power cable and got the Audioquest Hurricane, as Squeeze/squeeze which is quite a bit cleaner and thinner sounding than Roon, combined with these RCA cleartops was a little thin and bright, even for me! As I love my details and transparency. The gap has narrowed now between softwares, but Roon still is richer and thicker than squeeze/squeeze, so matched up with these thinner cleaner RCA’s I suppose that is why I don’t mind Roon 90% of the time of late. Like I said I have yet to try another tube, heard good things about the Brimar’s and they are also on my list. @ezstreams for sure along with the bass leaning and tightening which is what I focused on above, you may find the midrange/treble has leaned out too much as well- I suggest reading other threads for information and talking to Brent or Andy (I believe he only talks on Friday’s) for advice- I am a tube rolling rookie. But hey, you think power cables are a rabbit hole? Be careful with your tube appetite |
You did read this, right? I see here in this you just have the 2 gain tubes, whereas my EVO400 has 4 gain tubes, so yes 2 is all you need. But I noticed this quote from there: If you want to go to a "larger" tube like a 6550, KT88, or KT120 the result may be a little more "pop" to the music, and while the bass may appear to go a little deeper, it will not be as "round" as an EL34. A little less round is what you are looking for, yes? It's also worth stating some of those bigger tubes can last 10,000 hours, reportedly. There are plenty of PrimaLuna threads here on Audiogon, but after searching and if you don’t specifically find what you are looking for perhaps start a new thread regarding your particular issue/desire? |
Sorry to keep pummeling this thread, but just read this on Brent's website: Same amp! "This is the original 1950s RCA black plate that will never be duplicated. This is probably the last time they will be offered at this price. Good supply now, but when they are gone..... Warm blackplate sound with a nice top end. MATCHED PAIRS ARE JUST $109.00. CLIENT COMMENTS: "Hi Brent, Wanted to give you an update. Tubes arrived just as you said they would. Thanks for being in the business you are in, and running it the way that you do. Changes in my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP are not subtle. Tightened bass, liquid lush (but not syrupy) midrange! Increased height and depth to soundstage. But to me most importantly, the Beryllium tweeters on my beloved Usher BE-718 “Tiny Dancers” are now tamed! What was tizzzz is now sustained shimmer on cymbals. All this with only around 12 hours on the tubes. I suspect things will continue to change, and not for the worse. Thank you!! R.J." " |
I'm expecting the delivery of my Atoll IN200 evo (said to be much better / closer to the IN300 sig sound that ABA loved in his review) with the DA100 card in it to help consolidate my system also (audio refinement / yba separates). Fingers crossed that the new IN200 evo sound improvement is that significant and is enough with my 91db efficient ProAc Studio 148 speakers... |
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