Feels like Christmas at the Stangman household! Focals and Rhumba are here!

halo

@heiney9 & @stangman67,

What about Mullard (NOS - not the "new" Mullard tubes)?

Clipdat

Strange. I ordered from Upscale and they shipped super fast.

stangman67 wrote: »

I’ll post some photos of them when I receive them. Upscale seems to have a very slow shipping process

tonyb

http://www.audiotubes.com/bjtubes.htm

heiney9

halo wrote: »

@heiney9 & @stangman67,

What about Mullard (NOS - not the "new" Mullard tubes)?

Depends on the Mullards. I prefer the early long plates w/the square getter from Blackburn. Mullards tend to have a bit of exaggerated midrange and can be slightly rolled off. But a nice warm sound, great for vocals. The short plates from Mitcham are a bit more balanced. The long plate square getters are superb and superbly rare and expensive.

stangman67

Got some new tubes in today from Brent Jessee! Got some NOS Mullards and NOS Amperex bugle boys based on his recommendations. I’m going to give the Amperex a listen for a few weeks and then throw the Mullards in and go from there. The Amperex has great bass response and the highs are not as crazy energetic as the rca clear tops so far (although a second set of rcaI bought actually sound pretty good to my ear).

stangman67

I have a quick question for the tube experts. The Mullards I bought from Brent are “Mullard shied logos”. They are labeled differently and a few years apart, Brent assured me they are the same tubes, just made by Mullard for different companies. He said in order to make the best matched pair, different labeled tubes would be best. I said no big deal as I wasn’t planning on selling them. I threw them in today and one of the tubes “flashes” bright when I start my prep amp and the lower part of the tube stays fairly lit up. The other does not flash and the lower part of the tune stays way dimmer than the other tube, almost to the point where I can’t see any light from it. The difference follows the tube when I switch channels. Is this something that should concern me or just normal differences in tubes?

@heiney9

Clipdat

Is it the plate that's lighting up excessively, like this?

stangman67

No not at all like that. That’s a bad sign! The heater glow in one of them is of normal brightness and the other is almost nonexistent

Clipdat

Well I have no idea, maybe @mhardy6647

stangman67 wrote: »

No not at all like that. That’s a bad sign! The heater glow in one of them is of normal brightness and the other is almost nonexistent

stangman67

Got another new toy today! Pictures to follow

stangman67

SA-8005 to replace my CD-6006. The sheer weight difference between the two units is substantial

Clipdat

Nice, any first impressions?

stangman67

Nope, nothing yet. Gonna give the time ample burn in before I start critically listening. I can say the convenience of the (quality) onboard dac is a welcome thing. Switching from CD to my streamer is now just the press of an input button on the Marantz remote. My MF dac was great but so far the Marantz dac doesn’t seem to be worse than the MF

indyhawg

Very nice system you have. I enjoyed the Rhumba in the short week I had it on the demo tour.

Clipdat

Do let us know if you come across any "must hear" SACDs on your journey

stangman67 wrote: »

Nope, nothing yet. Gonna give the time ample burn in before I start critically listening. I can say the convenience of the (quality) onboard dac is a welcome thing. Switching from CD to my streamer is now just the press of an input button on the Marantz remote. My MF dac was great but so far the Marantz dac doesn’t seem to be worse than the MF

stangman67

Rocking out to some Pearl Jam right now. Sounds absolutely fantastic on this rig

PSOVLSK

That Marantz is a great unit. I absolutely love mine.

kharp1

I love my Marantz and question whether I can actually better the sound with a DAC addition, and, if so, at what cost.

tonyb

kharp1 wrote: »

I love my Marantz and question whether I can actually better the sound with a DAC addition, and, if so, at what cost.

There ya go again, limiting yourself because of money.

Off the top of my head, a dac in the 2-3k range used may offer enough substantial improvements to be worth moving up. Add the extra costs of good cables to that though.

heiney9

stangman67 wrote: »

I have a quick question for the tube experts. The Mullards I bought from Brent are “Mullard shied logos”. They are labeled differently and a few years apart, Brent assured me they are the same tubes, just made by Mullard for different companies. He said in order to make the best matched pair, different labeled tubes would be best. I said no big deal as I wasn’t planning on selling them. I threw them in today and one of the tubes “flashes” bright when I start my prep amp and the lower part of the tube stays fairly lit up. The other does not flash and the lower part of the tune stays way dimmer than the other tube, almost to the point where I can’t see any light from it. The difference follows the tube when I switch channels. Is this something that should concern me or just normal differences in tubes?

@heiney9

Sorry I missed this until now. Totally normal for a European made tube to "flash" on start-up, nothing to worry about.

All that matters on Euro tubes from Philips (Mullard, Amperex, Valvo, etc, etc) is the manufacture code. Labels mean very little and as long as the construction is the same or similar there are no issues. I have several Hamburg tubes with various labels on them.

I'll let you in on a little secret. If (2) tubes are the same build code and one has a Mullard label and one has a Dynaco label, chances are the Mullard label will sell for more. Some people want that label. I don't care and only look at the manufacturing code and have gotten some steals because they are no name labels.

I have a pair of Zenith labeled Valvo Hamburg coded tubes, paid about 1/2 what a Valvo labeled tube of the exact same build code would be. This is also why it helps to learn the construction cues of certain types of tubes, so you can recognize them instantly. If you buy by labels, they can be extremely unreliable in identifying a certain tube. Back then tube companies swapped inventories all the time.

Amperex is the American label for Holland made Philips tubes, Bugle Boy is a marketing label, that's all! So many people state the BB's sound better than regular Philips Holland tubes. BB was an American marketing tool only! They are NO different than any other Philips made Holland tube. So many people pay more for BB's, it's a waste of money unless you like the way the BB label looks. The only exception are BB's with a treble cleft on the tube. That means it's specially screened for low noise and tight match. Those are worth a little extra $$$

But you can find Amperex labeled tubes that aren't from Holland, so again labels don't mean much, codes and construction cues, rule the day.

H9

stangman67

Thanks for the response! My major question is should I be worried in the brightness of the two tubes?

heiney9

stangman67 wrote: »

Thanks for the response! My major question is should I be worried in the brightness of the two tubes?

No, unless it's cherry red all the time, I wouldn't worry. Tube heaters vary in intensity and brightness. Tubes are hand made so there are variances in build that can cause them to have a dimmer or brighter visuals. Most times you can't just look at a tube and tell if it's bad or going bad, etc. Power tubes are a different animal. I'm talking about small signal tubes.

heiney9

I have a Euro signal tube that one of the heaters (wire connected from the PIN to the grid) is bright pink all the time. I've run it quite a bit, no issues. Also have tubes where the top of the grid rods are very bright, others barely show.........all normal variances.

stangman67

Great, thanks for the info

tonyb

Brock should have told you the truth....that one tube flashing like that will create a wormhole sucking you into another dimension where Russ is a clean cut Disney land employee changing lightbulbs in "It's a small world".

The risk is yours my friend.

heiney9

The cat is out of the bag! Shhhhhh Tony, some things are just better if they are experienced. I do want to see Russ as a clean cut Disney Tech....lmao!