Hello everyone,
Just want to share my experienced so far with the Chenin Preamp that I currently own.
After religiously following what Ecclectique and Cello suggested to me to leave the stock tubes and wait until about 100 hours or so for the preamp to open up a bit, my complaints on my posts above are now non-existent. I logged in about 100 hours or so and the preamp starts to show what it is really made of. With the stock tubes (Russian), I could live with this preamp for a long long time. With some tube rolling, the preamp is definitely a keeper IMHO and more.
I am into vinyl a lot and the phono section of the Chenin is vastly superior to my old one. Sadly I will sell my other phono preamp because with the Chenin I now cannot find a reason for me to keep it. My phono preamp before the Chenin is a decent one(see my system) and is respected for its value/performance by many including myself. After side by side comparison with the Chenin phono stage with the same table, arm, cartridge, and loading, the Chenin phono stage is absolutely not on the same level (and is much higher) than my other preamp. No contest! At least in my system. Maybe because the Chenin has the Cortese phono stage which is a 3 stage RIAA type and not just the normal 2 stage or maybe just a single stage. Mick mentioned to me that it is impossible to get a very accurate RIAA using a 2 stage type, let alone a single one.
So, here are some of the tubes I tried in my preamp which I absolutely love.
For phono, I found the Sylvania Gold Brand Gold Pin 6C4 and the Tungsol black plates 6C4 as very nice tubes for the Chenin. Next to them are the RCA(black plates not the grey type) and the GE's. The stock National Union is good too but I believe is inferior to the tubes mentioned above. At present, I am listening to the Motorola and liking it. I am excited about this tube because they are easily available (cheaper) than the other brands. I have two types of Motorolas. One in an orange, blk., and yellow carton and the other in a white and blue carton. The former sounds better to me.
As for the 6922(6DJ8) tubes of the phono, I cannot discern any difference yet wether I am using an Amperex PQ 6922 Gold Pin, Siemens 6922 Gold pin, Amperex BB Holland 6DJ8, Mullard 6DJ8, CBS 6DJ8, or the Telefunken 6DJ8's that I am currently using. Maybe the money tube for the phono section of the Chenin is the 6C4, who knows?
For regulators, I tried Tungsol 5881, RCA 6L6GC, the stock Sovteks(?), and the GE(pinkish base) 7581/KT-66(currently on the unit). The GE's are very very good in my system. The RCA's did not excite me at all!
For rectifiers, I am using the Mullard 5AR4/GZ34 and sounds much better than the stock tubes.
The linestage? Well, there are lots of people(owners) here who posted their findings already and I am just following what they recommended. Frankly, the linestage is amazing on this preamp so much so that even with all stock tubes (after 100 hours, take note) I finally have a desire of using my cd player often again (but not more than vinyl!) and with anticipitation of excitement in doing so.
Thanks to all who extend their help in answering my inquiries when I post here regarding my concerns (at first) when I just got the preamp.
Now I can subscribe and "feeling it" why Slowhand included "Deal of the Century...." on his first post. Like my friend who owns Odyssey Audio says, "you have to own one to understand..." how special this preamp really is!
Now it is time for me to save and hunt for the Tungsol round plates and RCA grey glass 6sn7's to experienced what others commented about their performance in the Suprateks. I wonder if Mr. Malecki(Tubeseller.com)have some pairs in his possesion(I am not affilited by any means to him or his business)? Hmmmmmmm....
Abe
