12ax7 vs 5751

Xti16 stop right there!!!!!! lol. i can`t hear you!!! i kind of had a little delve into the gecs, wow! very expensive! but i bet they sound amazing! let me know what they`re like when you get them it`ll be very interesting. not heard of the EATS, i`ll do a little research into them and the tesla KT88`s. i was thinking of those psvane KT88-t`s too. i`m just looking around my room to see if there`s anything i can sell lol i can see me ending up sitting on a wooden box listening to the only bit of furniture i have left lol. funny enough i do have plenty to sell that will make a good bit of money but my sensible side tells me to keep the money for a rainy day, but then i have this little devil on my shoulder poking me in the ears until i give in!

just a very quick update on those sylvania 5751`s in there currently..... they sound really nice. nice and clear and a really nice focused soundstage. listening to them right now with the volume cranked up a little louder than usual. there`s nothing really lacking in them anywhere. they have a nice punch to them too but not the slam that the ei elites gave me. but there`s lovely detail all through the frequency extremes. damned good considering i only paid $18 for the pair. stunning bargain!

They are good tubes have a few and i like them, I also like the 12ax7 Mini Watt too. Both in my VTL 5.5 pre-amp.

Grayf
The upgrades included replacement of all signal caps with V-Cap CUTF/OIMP
MUNDORF silver/gold hook up wire
WBT Nextgen RCAs for 2 inputs and output
DACT 24 STEP Attenuator

I would contact Ted at highendaudio.com for any upgrades.
He is part of the new owners of Thor Audio and you couldnt ask for a more available and polite person to deal with. I plan on sending my unit to him to do some housecleaning.
They work on all units though.
The particular unit I bought had a bit of history b/c the upgrades they offer/suggested were done by another outfit. Long story short I think I came out ahead due to the fact that Thor didnt do the upgrades...otherwise a 5 year warranty and stamp of approval would have driven the price up.
This is really an incredible preamp. My sound floor is at 1 on the volume. ALL the sound is there as soon as the volume is engaged. I was a volume hogg because I had to turn it up so loud to hear detail before. Cheap imitation.haha
I think this is a glimple of how a 30 or 60 watt amp can produce quality sound. Just for the record the new Thor will retail at around 17K and the old unit upgraded is supposed to be in the same ballpark. I feel like I got a sports car for a work truck price!
WHERE IS THAT STINKING POST MAN???????

Grayf the Treasure Z's you are getting are supposed to be a very good tube. A big step up from the EH KT88's. Now I'll be honest I don't have or heard the Treasure Z's but from everything I've read they seem to be a step down from the EAT KT88 and a step up from the EH SED and Gold Lion re-issue). I also have a few original Tung Sol 6550 solid black and grey plates. Very different - more seductive and a little less detailed. It just amazes me that I can swap some tubes and change the type of sound. In my PERSONAL opinion the EAT's are the best (won't have the Gec/Tesla for up to couple more weeks to compare). I have a pair and a quad of the EAT's (which I bought used) and after 300 hrs I only have 3 stable tubes. 2 with a bias drift and 1 that puts my Octave into protection mode. So I can make a quad but have to monitor the bias every hour or so.

OK that's the long story - Short story unless there is a real dissatisfaction with the Treasure Z's (very unlikely) just be happy with what you have. You have a lot of combinations of tubes to play with.

Have fun because tube rolling can be a real treat ;)
Disclaimer: I own SED EL34 - 6550 and KT88's Gold Lion reissue KT88 original Tung Sol solid black plates and solid grey plates - EAT KT88 diamonds and Ei KT90's. There is NO bad sounding tubes. Only better sounding ones!!!

Xti16 thank u so much for that info thats invaluable. i really will have to draw the line at the treasure tubes because of the expense. i did some digging for info on decent kt88`s yeaterday and the ones you have are a fantastic collection and i can only imagine how much enjoyment you get from all the different sounds available to you. i`m so impressed by all the different sounds i get with all these tubes i have too. it`s like a whole new world has opened up to me and i`m just as impressed with all the advice i`ve had from the tube amplifier community and i`m so pleased to be part of that.

i completely agree with you about the fact that there are really no bad sounding tubes and i can also say that what doesn`t work in my amp will work in others sound wise. but the beautiful truth so far is i haven`t really come across anything that hasn`t worked decently in my amp apart from when i switched positions of the brimar cv1988/rca vt231 6sn7 tubes but that was literally down to just switching positions.

gonna cut this short now, i just got the telefunken 12ax7`s through the post! i`m like a kid with a new toy lol. i`ll post a review of these later today guys and thankies again Xti16 for that fantastic info. chat later guys