Audio Horizons TP 2.0 Preamplifier

Best I understand, and I am new to this, is that in the family of 6DJ8 tubes which are used in the AH preamp, the 6922 and 7308 designations were premimum versions of the 6DJ8 rated as 10,000 hours with 6922 the premium industrial version and 7308 the guareenteed low noise version. European designations for these same tubes are the 6DJ8=ECC88, the 6922=E88CC, and the 7308=E188CC. According to Joes Tube Lore:
The Siemens E88CC is characterized by warm, lively, palable and real quality to individual performers, not recommended if your system is already bright. The ECC88 is similar with a slightly forward balance, the E188CC is preferred by him to the cca as slightly warmer, more vibrant and wetter, and is his favorite Siemens, though he prefers Amperex. He describes Siemens cca's (Victor's favorite)as pricey, slightly more dimensional, transparent, and focused compared to these others but lacking a bit of bass punch and slightly dry in comparison. And best I understand the early sixties version of all these tubes tend to be better than late sixties and newer. These early version ofetn come in yellow/blue boxes and have all gray plates. Later version may be in orange/blue boxes. A full guarenteed quad of early cc'a is currently selling on ebay for about $1,600 which puts them out of my league if I want to stay married, which I do:). Hope this helps. Anyone agree or disagree with the descriptions or terminology?

Guess what Gammajo ?

I returned from Joe's Tube Lore and a couple other sites after Googling ECC88 and E188CC !!

Sorry to put you through the paces dude, I was gettin lazy.

Hey, at least it will be there for the rest of the groupies to see !!

Thanks much.

No problem - thought it would be good to have it here as a reference. Plus I wanted to hear any varying opinions about its accuracy to see if we can use it as our Siemens Bible.

Hi guys. I don't know if eveyone remembers but about a week ago, I replaced Joseph's upgraded Hovland output caps with the V-cap OIMP caps and after 150 hours of break-in my jaw is still on the floor. I will post a little mini-review when they reach their 300 hour or so final break-in. I can, in the meantime, confidently state, IMHO, that after 96 hours, the V-caps handily surpassed the Hovland by many orders of magnitude. I have e-mailed Victor to order a pair for he and Joseph's evaluation, so when and if this happens, you might want to get some more opinions, but at this juncture, I feel that Chris Ven Haus has developed a revelatory cap that turns Joseph's already amazing bang-for-your-buck preamp into a truly world class preamp of immense musicality. I am drawn now into the music more than ever before and am hearing things that surpass what any tweak or component that I've ever added to my system. I am truly amazed at the differences. Stay tuned for a final update in about a week or so.

Regarding "Joe's Tube Lore", this is one man's opinion, of tubes in his system, in one component(his dac, I believe), so take his recommendations as a " your mileage might vary" standpoint. Here's hoping that you'll all find the one tube that sounds best in your preamp.