Tube Suggestions Onix SP3

This forum is unbelievable - it really does shorten the learning curve and help avoid the trial and error track. Tooter is the Tesla you mentioned a JJ-6L6GC. The lower case L shows as 1? Just want to be certain. McFarland at my age I've learned that there's always 2 miles of ditch for every mile of road, so I'm just grateful to keep it on the road most of the time on those audio learning curves. Much gratitude to McFar, Newbee and Tooter.

I'm also dealing with an Eastsound CD-e5 that won't read a disk. Snowy at Cattylink has been helpful so far. I'll keep those up to date who are interested in the resolution.

get2it1

get2it1 - yeah, 6L6GC. There are several people on the av123 forum who second Newbee's recommendation of the SED 6L6. I haven't tried them yet myself but when my Tesla's die on me I plan on giving them a listen. My own experience has been that changing the preamp tubes, 12ax7, make the most impact on the SP3's presentation.

Good luck with your CD player.

get2it1:

Save yourself some money and call Sean Parque at AV123.com and order replacement Melody-branded 5881 power tubes. They only cost $10 per tube and they're decent tubes for providing good-to-great music out of your Onix SP3. I have this wonderfully affordable amplifier and I have found that the stock 5881s are fine. As Tooter recommends: where you can really make a vast improvement in the audio quality is replacing the two stock 12AX7 preamp stage tubes with two Groove Tubes 12AX7-Ms. These 12AX7 "Mullard reissues" will really open up the soundstage, improve the imaging and extend the frequency response. For about $40 per pair of the Groove Tubes 12AX7-Ms, you can't go wrong. Later on, if you want to upgrade the power tubes, you can get a matched quad set of the SED 6L6GC power tubes.

I received the SED 6L6GC tubes and installed. On immediate listening they seem much more harsh on female vocals than the original Melody tubes. Almost to the point of sounding like clipping. Could this result from no burn in time yet? It was as if I hooked up an inexpensive receiver, nothing close to the original sound. Do I need to change some settings on the Onix? I've heard others talk about bias but not sure if this is possible on this Amp. (No Manual came with it) Any suggestions would be helpful.

Power tubes usually do require break-in. I've frequently found that the top smooths out and the bass developes after 24 to 100 hours of operation, BUT.....

Proper biasing is manditory and the bias setting for the 6L6's would be quite different than the 5881's. I'm not up to speed on the bias arrangement for the Onix but if its not auto bias (as I suspect) you should contact the distributor, referred to earlier, and find out how to bias in your new tubes.