This time, however, everything worked out perfectly – good price, I finally had pre-linear (Conrad Johnson PV12A), and as if that were not enough Audion 300B Silver Night Parallel SE with a set of other 300B lamps, so you could have fun for a good day Tube Rolling.
The tip makes a very good impression – it is very solidly built, in a very classic, chrome look, which I love. It looks great on the shelf with proudly displayed four 300B lamps in front of transformers.
I plugged it into a set with JMLAB Electra 920.1 with the mentioned Conrad Johnson PV12A and the Ayazi MK2 ideon on the source. The first impression is a much softer sound at the top, more velvety, but also much less detail in the middle than with an Audion. The Parallel Single Ended vs. Push Pull.
Nevertheless, Cary put this comparison in a lost position, because Audion is packed in great Kondy Audio Note Copper Foil and Duelund Alexander. In addition, small lamps are great noses of Siemens Gold Oin. Replacing the power tubes for genalex with Audion gave a lot of improvement, but it was still far from what I would like.
So I ordered Jantzen Superior coupling capacitors, as well as the 6SL7 RCA Gray Glass control lamps.
The sound has improved significantly. The capacitors themselves brought a lot of air, speed and precision, the lamps slightly improved the color and legibility of the midrange and the mountain. Bass from the initial state in relation to this after the changes is a completely different shelf.
As I still felt some shortcomings in the midrange, I decided to use virtually vintage Audio Note Alu Foil oil capacitors. And we have the next step forward – the color has become much more natural and fuller, the bass is a bit slower, but the whole thing has definitely gained a lot.
There is still not as much taste in the midrange as on the Audion, but it got much more interesting. Cary likes a bit louder playing. When Audion starts to get tiring – a bit too bony and the mountain starts to get nervous … Then Cary plays the most complete sound.
Enough of the comparisons to Audion. Audion are outstanding monoblocks, probably the best power amplifiers that I have had, with separate power transforms and single-ended topologies.
So how does Cary play?
The sound is quite clear, not tiring. The diameter and the top are smooth, the bass is slightly rounded. The scene is positioned between the columns rather than the front. The bass is very nice for a 300B lamp. Generally, you can feel that the American prefers to play a bit louder, although he does not lack charm and with a quieter listening session. Of the two preamps with which I tested it, it fares a bit better with the more dynamic and more resolving Audio Note M1 with the Telefunken lamp in the amplification.
After the capacitors are laid, with RCA lamps, we managed to get a really good quality sound.
With many philosopher’s advantages, it also has many melomaniac advantages – it is not tiring, less picky when it comes to repertoire than Audion.
18W is quite a lot to drive a decent majority of not some very power-hungry speakers. I have not had the opportunity to combine it with other loudspeakers than the JM Lab, and I think it would be great with both slightly more dense diameter speakers and more detailed sound – smoothing and making them musical.
There is sweetness, timbre, space, nice dynamics in this sound … and some general calm and fluency.
He does not hit sibilants, even with Genalex, which is quite tough on top. If I have some time, I will definitely try to combine it with the Duntechs. I am still looking for loudspeakers of another brand to experiment with its sound, because something tells me that it will show full possibilities with slightly different speakers.
