audio valve eklipse or aesthetix calypso

I have owned the Eclipse for a year now and have not had any problems with it.

I tried the NOS tube thing and so far I have gone back to the stock EH tubes,the NOS tubes(RCA clear top)perhaps weren't up to spec,but other tube replacements were also not much better than stock.
Being a tweaker, that was a disappointment.

But the sound even with stock tubes is very good, and the build quality and the quietness of the pre amp is hard to beat for the money.

Lacee, you must have bad luck with NOS tubes. I agree that the RCA Clear tops are not that much better sounding then the EH tubes in the Eklipse. However either NOS Amperex long plate G getters or NOS Mullard long plate square getters bring the performance of this linestage to a much higher degree on all levels. If you can get a couble of pairs of these 12AU7's, I think you will be very happy.

regarding tubes replacement with NOS tubes, do we have to change all four of them or just the front or back set? also I notice the faceplate of the demo unit at the dealer is different from the picture I see in many forums, including audio valve website, the characters of the words "eklipse" is different, and also the characters on the input is different, other than that looks pretty much the same. I asked if the unit was made in germany and he said yes. is it the newest version?

Kabaraka, Audio Valve will tell you that the pair of tubes on the left, assuming your looking at the preamp from the front, are the lead tubes and therefore are more important then the other pair of tubes. My experience has been that both set of tubes are important to get the highest level of performance out of the Eklipse. So yes, change all four tubes when you tube roll. Can't answer your question regarding the spelling on the front plate, unless your dealer has an older model.

thanks again Teajay,I'll try tube rolling after getting the unit. I notice a little roll off on the high frequencies or may be it's the warm characteristic of the eklipse.may be the dealer set up.