Totally Tubular: The Tube Thread

[DoubleM]

@DoubleM should be checking in soon. I would think the JoLida has landed by now.

Here I am, proud owner of my new Jolida 6802 with the 6550 tubes. I got things setup late last night and already really pleased with how everything sounds. It still needs a bit of burn in but it’s wild how huge everything sounds already.

The one thing I still want to mess around with is removing my Lounge preamp from the chain and going direct into the the Jolida. I know right now it might seem like I’m not getting the most of things in bypass mode but even that is a big change from my Marantz.

 

[kvetcha]

Here I am, proud owner of my new Jolida 6802 with the 6550 tubes. I got things setup late last night and already really pleased with how everything sounds. It still needs a bit of burn in but it’s wild how huge everything sounds already.

The one thing I still want to mess around with is removing my Lounge preamp from the chain and going direct into the the Jolida. I know right now it might seem like I’m not getting the most of things in bypass mode but even that is a big change from my Marantz.

View attachment 31718

ooh, I like the look of the thing in silver.

 

[HiFi Guy]

Here I am, proud owner of my new Jolida 6802 with the 6550 tubes. I got things setup late last night and already really pleased with how everything sounds. It still needs a bit of burn in but it’s wild how huge everything sounds already.

The one thing I still want to mess around with is removing my Lounge preamp from the chain and going direct into the the Jolida. I know right now it might seem like I’m not getting the most of things in bypass mode but even that is a big change from my Marantz.

View attachment 31718

Congrats! I’m glad you are pleased!

You can’t remove the Lounge from the system unless you don’t want to listen to records as there is no phono stage inside the JoLida.

Give it some time (100 hours) and it will sound even better. Keep us posted please.

 

[wooha]

Well I wanted to try a single ended amp, so this will arrive on Friday.

View attachment 31652

It’s an Icon Audio Stereo 30 SE integrated. I’ve got 60 days to see how I like it compared to the PrimaLuna, thanks to MD. Got $900 off a floor sample.

This is 18 watts triode or 28 watts ultralinear per channel. It has variable negative feedback and uses one Tung Sol KT150 per channel. Should be fun!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! If your SET experience is anything like mine has been with my Decware, you're in for a treat.

What a fun hobby this is...

 

[HiFi Guy]

It’s landed!



Initial thoughts:

I’m running in triode mode. 18 watts is more than enough with Zus. I’m getting how @wooha can run with two whole whopping watts. The meter serves 2 purposes- biasing the output tubes and as an output level meter. I’m hitting 94 dB peaks at my listening chair and the meter barely moves.

@displayname warned me it may run hot. The transformer cases are far cooler than the PL. Tube temperature is a bit less, but the Icon has 9 fewer tubes.

I checked the tube bias. Dead nuts perfect. No adjustment needed.

Documentation/instructions are excellent. Each amp is run in for 12 hours at the factory in England. It also comes with a spec sheet/test report for each amp- so I know how this exact amp performed on the bench.

The most important thing- sound. It’s different. I’m trying to wrap my head around it. But I get it. That’s all I can really articulate at this point.

 

[Splunders]

It’s landed!

View attachment 31933

Initial thoughts:

I’m running in triode mode. 18 watts is more than enough with Zus. I’m getting how @wooha can run with two whole whopping watts. The meter serves 2 purposes- biasing the output tubes and as an output level meter. I’m hitting 94 dB peaks at my listening chair and the meter barely moves.

@displayname warned me it may run hot. The transformer cases are far cooler than the PL. Tube temperature is a bit less, but the Icon has 9 fewer tubes.

I checked the tube bias. Dead nuts perfect. No adjustment needed.

Documentation/instructions are excellent. Each amp is run in for 12 hours at the factory in England. It also comes with a spec sheet/test report for each amp- so I know how this exact amp performed on the bench.

The most important thing- sound. It’s different. I’m trying to wrap my head around it. But I get it. That’s all I can really articulate at this point.

So is this being considered as a potential replacemrnt for the PL if it blows your socks off?

 

[HiFi Guy]

So is this being considered as a potential replacemrnt for the PL if it blows your socks off?

Yes. Nothing wrong at all with the PL. I quite like it. But I wanted to check out a single ended amp.

I really need to put this up against some rock. I can’t seem to get there.

Started with some classical guitar while I let it warm up. Nice. Immediately I hear a difference.

Then:

Leonard Cohen: You Want It Darker
This was damn near a religious experience.

Les Paul & Mary Ford- Nice

Jethro Tull- The String Quartets- Stunning. Jaw is on the floor.

I’ve messed with ultra linear/ triode modes as well as switchable negative feedback. I think I’m landing on lowest negative feedback setting and triode mode. On paper, these would be the worst measurements possible. My ears don’t care.

Don’t know if I’ll get to some heavier stuff tonight or not. No matter, I’ve got time.

 

[Splunders]

Yes. Nothing wrong at all with the PL. I quite like it. But I wanted to check out a single ended amp.

I really need to put this up against some rock. I can’t seem to get there.

Started with some classical guitar while I let it warm up. Nice. Immediately I hear a difference.

Then:

Leonard Cohen: You Want It Darker
This was damn near a religious experience.

Les Paul & Mary Ford- Nice

Jethro Tull- The String Quartets- Stunning. Jaw is on the floor.

I’ve messed with ultra linear/ triode modes as well as switchable negative feedback. I think I’m landing on lowest negative feedback setting and triode mode. On paper, these would be the worst measurements possible. My ears don’t care.

Don’t know if I’ll get to some heavier stuff tonight or not. No matter, I’ve got time.

Thats interesting about not getting any rock music in - I presume the lusher, intimate stuff is too intoxicating right now? (Love those kinds of listening sessions - thats the drug right there) Ive been going back and forth about my next amp, including a Decware SET, and I'm a little concerned the amp will drive my music choices to the point I only listen to music that "fits" that kind of sound. @wooha has alleviated some of those concerns as he seems to listen to similar genres and is happy all around. Maybe Im just projecting some naive preconceptions on SET amps?

 

[HiFi Guy]

Thats interesting about not getting any rock music in - I presume the lusher, intimate stuff is too intoxicating right now? (Love those kinds of listening sessions - thats the drug right there) Ive been going back and forth about my next amp, including a Decware SET, and I'm a little concerned the amp will drive my music choices to the point I only listen to music that "fits" that kind of sound. @wooha has alleviated some of those concerns as he seems to listen to similar genres and is happy all around. Maybe Im just projecting some naive preconceptions on SET amps?

Onto Desmond Dekker. Ska isn’t an issue. This thing can boogie. I’m pretty sure rock will be fine.

 

[Joe Mac]

Loving the initial impressions. I know mine isn’t single ended but the biggest surprise for me was how good really feedback and distortion heavy rock sounded on it, it loves it! On a side note I updated the power chords on the pre and power amps to the Pangea ones (14SE on pre and 9SE on each of the powers) and I’m shocked. I’ve always been a bit sceptical of power cable upgrades but all of a sudden a bit more bass appears to have come to the party!

 

[HiFi Guy]

Loving the initial impressions. I know mine isn’t single ended but the biggest surprise for me was how good really feedback and distortion heavy rock sounded on it, it loves it! On a side note I updated the power chords on the pre and power amps to the Pangea ones (14SE on pre and 9SE on each of the powers) and I’m shocked. I’ve always been a bit sceptical of power cable upgrades but all of a sudden a bit more bass appears to have come to the party!

Congrats on the new power cables!

I’m going to name this amp. I call it the Sleep Depriver. After Desmond Dekker, I listened to Manu Dibango, Tom Waits and McCartney.

Just one more album
Just one more album
Just one more album

And so it went until 1 AM. Unfortunately, I get up for work at 5 AM so I’m dragging ass today.

 

[displayname]

Yes. Nothing wrong at all with the PL. I quite like it. But I wanted to check out a single ended amp.

I really need to put this up against some rock. I can’t seem to get there.

Started with some classical guitar while I let it warm up. Nice. Immediately I hear a difference.

Then:

Leonard Cohen: You Want It Darker
This was damn near a religious experience.

Les Paul & Mary Ford- Nice

Jethro Tull- The String Quartets- Stunning. Jaw is on the floor.

I’ve messed with ultra linear/ triode modes as well as switchable negative feedback. I think I’m landing on lowest negative feedback setting and triode mode. On paper, these would be the worst measurements possible. My ears don’t care.

Don’t know if I’ll get to some heavier stuff tonight or not. No matter, I’ve got time.

Glad you're loving it! You Want it Darker is an album I'd really expect to shine on a ZU/ single ended tube set up. As far as triode vs UL, I almost always prefer the triode mode as long as it's still enough to get the speakers moving. Even when I went to a demo for the new Audio Research amp, I remember they did one track in triode and my instant thought was "why are they not doing this whole demo in triode?"
I prefer the smoothness and spacial cues that generally come with triode compared to the massive dynamic swings that come with UL. Based on my speaker choice I keep coming back to the idea of maybe going higher efficiency next, but who knows. Gotta do a house and wedding first, so I have plenty of time to think about it.

Glad you're loving it though. I doubt you'll find any issues, even as you get into the hardest rock you'd play.

 

[AnthonyI]

Loving the initial impressions. I know mine isn’t single ended but the biggest surprise for me was how good really feedback and distortion heavy rock sounded on it, it loves it! On a side note I updated the power chords on the pre and power amps to the Pangea ones (14SE on pre and 9SE on each of the powers) and I’m shocked. I’ve always been a bit sceptical of power cable upgrades but all of a sudden a bit more bass appears to have come to the party!

That whole power cable/cables thing is a tough sell, you just need to jump in and see what everyone else is hearing.........crazy, but it does make a difference, gratz!

 

[Allyn]

This is how I decided look into power cords. I had purchased some high powered tube amps around 2005. They came without power cords. So, to get those puppies burning, I used a couple computer power cords. They didn't sound bad but touching the cords while powered up thay were very hot, under sized conductors. I ordered some ends from Parts Express.com and then went down to Lowes and got Carol Cable industrial extension cord in 16, 14, 12 and 10 AWG sizes each at 5 feet. I ended up with 12 awg for the amps and 14 and 16 on the remaining components. Each size had a slightly different presentation. The 10 awg sounded bad no matter what I used it in my system. The cable I liked, is still in use today.

 

[Splunders]

So today included a very unexpected purchase, but first... a little background. My pre amp and amp is the current weak link of my system. Schiit Saga passive preamp and a DIY 8 w/ch class A solid state power amp. They sound really good for the total retail cost of the $750 I spent, but I've been wanting to upgrade to..... something else. My long term plan is very likely a Decware SET to pair with my Zu Audio Dirty Weekends, or whatever high efficiency speakers I'll have in the future. The Decware is about 3 years away, so I was looking for an integrated amp that would fit a few criteria: cost about a grand, used is fine, tube involvement in some manner, and something I would either keep long term as a second system piece, or be able to sell for very close to what I paid for it. One option I was looking at was the Rogue Audio Sphinx V2. It fit the bill across the board, especially if I could get used. I just noticed last night that Acoustic Sounds is selling their new stock for $1,100 - Great price! But could I still get a used one for a bit less?? Upscale Audio has had a used one for $1,200 for months. Perhaps if I point out to them this deal occurring elsewhere, they might cut the price on theirs to something more palatable to me? I emailed them this afternoon and about 2 hours later Kevin "Uncle Kevvy" Deal himself gives me a call. We speak for 15 minutes! He asks me what my current system is, I tell him thqt info and the role I envision for the Sphinx will be in the near and long term future. He tells me the Sphinx is noisy, you dont want class d with high efficiency speakers etc. He's not entirely wrong, but ok. Then he says "Y`know what I would recommend?" Oh what in the world might Kevin Deal possibly recommend???? (<-- sarcasm) "How about a PrimaLuna EVO 100?" How much I ask - he tells me $2,200. Too rich for me right now, and I keep the Decware plans to myself. He goes on to tell me about the point to point wiring, auto biasing, etc. I know the quality of PrimaLuna is top notch from many sources, including our little site here. Then he says, "Well I have some open box PrimaLuna ProLogue Four and Fives. Could do the Five at $1,199". Then I recall seeing only hours earlier that The Music Room, an online used audio gear seller out of Colorado just listed a brand new, still in the box PrimaLuna ProLogue Five for $999. This amp and this price firmly meet my aforementioned criteria very very well. So in a very unlike me manner, I threw out my goals of full USA made gear, skip the hemming and hawing I do for months, and buy the dang thing! I will soon be the owner of a 36w/ch, quad KT-88 driven tube amplifier, and I have a few of you to blame. I'll utilize the Schiit Saga for now and see if that pairs up ok with the amp. I imagine it will be fine. For the record, I also have a Technics SL1200, Musical Surroundings Nova II, Grado Gold with 8mz stylus, Bluesound Node 2i, and the Zu Dirty Weekends. It aint a bad rig if I do say so myself. Now I'm off to read all the reviews and do all the research I normally do BEFORE I buy any gear...

 

[HiFi Guy]

So today included a very unexpected purchase, but first... a little background. My pre amp and amp is the current weak link of my system. Schiit Saga passive preamp and a DIY 8 w/ch class A solid state power amp. They sound really good for the total retail cost of the $750 I spent, but I've been wanting to upgrade to..... something else. My long term plan is very likely a Decware SET to pair with my Zu Audio Dirty Weekends, or whatever high efficiency speakers I'll have in the future. The Decware is about 3 years away, so I was looking for an integrated amp that would fit a few criteria: cost about a grand, used is fine, tube involvement in some manner, and something I would either keep long term as a second system piece, or be able to sell for very close to what I paid for it. One option I was looking at was the Rogue Audio Sphinx V2. It fit the bill across the board, especially if I could get used. I just noticed last night that Acoustic Sounds is selling their new stock for $1,100 - Great price! But could I still get a used one for a bit less?? Upscale Audio has had a used one for $1,200 for months. Perhaps if I point out to them this deal occurring elsewhere, they might cut the price on theirs to something more palatable to me? I emailed them this afternoon and about 2 hours later Kevin "Uncle Kevvy" Deal himself gives me a call. We speak for 15 minutes! He asks me what my current system is, I tell him thqt info and the role I envision for the Sphinx will be in the near and long term future. He tells me the Sphinx is noisy, you dont want class d with high efficiency speakers etc. He's not entirely wrong, but ok. Then he says "Y`know what I would recommend?" Oh what in the world might Kevin Deal possibly recommend???? "How about a PrimaLuna EVO 100?" How much I ask - he tells me $2,200. Too rich for me right now, and I keep the Decware plans to myself. He goes on to tell me about the point to point wiring, auto biasing, etc. I know the quality of PrimaLuna is top notch from many sources, including our little site here. Then he says, "Well I have some open box PrimaLuna ProLogue Four and Fives. Could do the Five at $1,199". Then I recall seeing only hours earlier that The Music Room, an online used audio gear seller out of Colorado just listed a brand new, still in the box PrimaLuna ProLogue Five for $999. This amp and this price firmly meet my aforementioned criteria very very well. So in a very unlike me manner, I threw out my goals of full USA made gear, skip the hemming and hawing I do for months, and buy the dang thing! I will soon be the owner of a 36w/ch, quad KT-88 driven tube amplifier, and I have a few of you to blame. I'll utilize the Schiit Saga for now and see if that pairs up ok with the amp. I imagine it will be fine. For the record, I also have a Technics SL1200, Musical Surroundings Nova II, Grado Gold with 8mz stylus, Bluesound Node 2i, and the Zu Dirty Weekends. It aint a bad rig if I do say so myself. Now I'm off to read all the reviews and do all the research I normally do BEFORE I buy any gear...

Congrats! You’ll love it. Extra points for starting out with KT88s!

On a side note, the Bad Tube/Auto Bias system works great. As I’ve posted here, in the event of a catastrophic tube failure, there’s a fuse on the auto bias board that will likely blow- it happened to me. I’ve got a bunch on hand. If you’d like a couple of spare fuses, DM me with your deets and I’ll send a couple your way just in case you ever need them.

@AnthonyI if you’d like a couple of fuses as well, let me know.

I’ll put my PL back in the system tonight and run it through the weekend. I’m not entirely sold on the Icon (which I’ll detail later) and I’ll make my final decision on which amp I am keeping.

 

[AnthonyI]

So today included a very unexpected purchase, but first... a little background. My pre amp and amp is the current weak link of my system. Schiit Saga passive preamp and a DIY 8 w/ch class A solid state power amp. They sound really good for the total retail cost of the $750 I spent, but I've been wanting to upgrade to..... something else. My long term plan is very likely a Decware SET to pair with my Zu Audio Dirty Weekends, or whatever high efficiency speakers I'll have in the future. The Decware is about 3 years away, so I was looking for an integrated amp that would fit a few criteria: cost about a grand, used is fine, tube involvement in some manner, and something I would either keep long term as a second system piece, or be able to sell for very close to what I paid for it. One option I was looking at was the Rogue Audio Sphinx V2. It fit the bill across the board, especially if I could get used. I just noticed last night that Acoustic Sounds is selling their new stock for $1,100 - Great price! But could I still get a used one for a bit less?? Upscale Audio has had a used one for $1,200 for months. Perhaps if I point out to them this deal occurring elsewhere, they might cut the price on theirs to something more palatable to me? I emailed them this afternoon and about 2 hours later Kevin "Uncle Kevvy" Deal himself gives me a call. We speak for 15 minutes! He asks me what my current system is, I tell him thqt info and the role I envision for the Sphinx will be in the near and long term future. He tells me the Sphinx is noisy, you dont want class d with high efficiency speakers etc. He's not entirely wrong, but ok. Then he says "Y`know what I would recommend?" Oh what in the world might Kevin Deal possibly recommend???? (<-- sarcasm) "How about a PrimaLuna EVO 100?" How much I ask - he tells me $2,200. Too rich for me right now, and I keep the Decware plans to myself. He goes on to tell me about the point to point wiring, auto biasing, etc. I know the quality of PrimaLuna is top notch from many sources, including our little site here. Then he says, "Well I have some open box PrimaLuna ProLogue Four and Fives. Could do the Five at $1,199". Then I recall seeing only hours earlier that The Music Room, an online used audio gear seller out of Colorado just listed a brand new, still in the box PrimaLuna ProLogue Five for $999. This amp and this price firmly meet my aforementioned criteria very very well. So in a very unlike me manner, I threw out my goals of full USA made gear, skip the hemming and hawing I do for months, and buy the dang thing! I will soon be the owner of a 36w/ch, quad KT-88 driven tube amplifier, and I have a few of you to blame. I'll utilize the Schiit Saga for now and see if that pairs up ok with the amp. I imagine it will be fine. For the record, I also have a Technics SL1200, Musical Surroundings Nova II, Grado Gold with 8mz stylus, Bluesound Node 2i, and the Zu Dirty Weekends. It aint a bad rig if I do say so myself. Now I'm off to read all the reviews and do all the research I normally do BEFORE I buy any gear...

Gratz! This hobby seems to always boil down to opportunities, lol. The PL is probably the best choice I made in my system, you'll enjoy it and I'll eventually toss GL KT88 Output tubes in it as well

Congrats! You’ll love it. Extra points for starting out with KT88s!

On a side note, the Bad Tube/Auto Bias system works great. As I’ve posted here, in the event of a catastrophic tube failure, there’s a fuse on the auto bias board that will likely blow- it happened to me. I’ve got a bunch on hand. If you’d like a couple of spare fuses, DM me with your deets and I’ll send a couple your way just in case you ever need them.

@AnthonyI if you’d like a couple of fuses as well, let me know.

I’ll put my PL back in the system tonight and run it through the weekend. I’m not entirely sold on the Icon (which I’ll detail later) and I’ll make my final decision on which amp I am keeping.

Thanks for the offer my friend, but after your incident I went and bought 10 of them, they were cheap...........then I found the 4 extras that came with the amp, lol. So, if anyone every needs a couple you can add me to the list to shout out to

 

[Splunders]

Congrats! You’ll love it. Extra points for starting out with KT88s!

On a side note, the Bad Tube/Auto Bias system works great. As I’ve posted here, in the event of a catastrophic tube failure, there’s a fuse on the auto bias board that will likely blow- it happened to me. I’ve got a bunch on hand. If you’d like a couple of spare fuses, DM me with your deets and I’ll send a couple your way just in case you ever need them.

@AnthonyI if you’d like a couple of fuses as well, let me know.

I’ll put my PL back in the system tonight and run it through the weekend. I’m not entirely sold on the Icon (which I’ll detail later) and I’ll make my final decision on which amp I am keeping.

Thanks for the offer @HiFi Guy I'll see if mine comes with any spares first, like @AnthonyI got with his.

Other than fuses, and the various stages of break-in I should expect, are there any other PrimaLuna specific kernels of advice you can think of? Or re tube power amps in general? Advice/tips welcome from everyone.

 

[AnthonyI]

Thanks for the offer @HiFi Guy I'll see if mine comes with any spares first, like @AnthonyI got with his.

Other than fuses, and the various stages of break-in I should expect, are there any other PrimaLuna specific kernels of advice you can think of? Or re tube power amps in general? Advice/tips welcome from everyone.

Nothing crazy here, a little back and forth on which speakers terminals to run. On the Polks the 4 ohm posts sounded best, back to comparing 4 or 8 with the DWs. Outside of that its been no nonsense smooth sailing

 

[Joe Mac]

Nothing crazy here, a little back and forth on which speakers terminals to run. On the Polks the 4 ohm posts sounded best, back to comparing 4 or 8 with the DWs. Outside of that its been no nonsense smooth sailing

Do PrimaLuna advise that you run the amps with the source turned off when new to break it in? Mine said to do that for 4 to 12 hours.