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RE: OTO Phono SE 9 tubes or 10?

Posted by Frank E (A) on May 26, 2008 at 11:17:54

In Reply to: RE: OTO Phono SE 9 tubes or 10? posted by MRanfft on May 26, 2008 at 09:34:55:

Mike,
You may want to check what type of caps you have already because my OTO SE Line was stock with Jensen PIO's.

If I might make some comments about your tube queries, I found the Sovtek EL84/6BQ5 (not EL84M) to be surprisingly dynamic in an OTO, but they are a quite forward sounding and need a darker, richer sounding driver to balance the sound. I'm using Mullard 12AX7M's for OTO drivers and in the phono stage and they match the Sovtek EL84's really well. Good 12AX7M's are now unobtanium, unfortunately, but apparently the more recent Mullard New Sensor reissue 12AX7/ECC83 is very close. They are carried by thetubestore. I tried a matched quad of the JJ EL-84's but found they were very dull and lifeless in the OTO, no matter what 12AX7's as drivers; quite astonishingly dull. I didn't leave them in very long because I couldn't stand it, but they may open up somewhat after a couple of hundred hours.

As for the ECC82 you may want to try some NOS RCA 5963 blackplates, if you haven't already. I bought some from Partsconnexion and they sound very good in my preamp. On all multi-section tubes it pays to get the sections matched.

YMMV of course, because a certain tube or combo of tubes will sound different from system to system, and what I like with my ANJ's you may not like with your ANE's - especially your ANE's because of their much higher efficiency. I also found that the speaker cable and interconnects make a big difference to how the tube combos sound, but I think we're using similar cables (Lexus biwire & ANV?).

I've had some good NOS finds at Pacific TV with fresh material still trickling in, and he carries lots of current product, although I don't know how good his tube matching is, but may be out of line in saying so. I've found that both thetubestore and Partsconnexion have good product, but assume they rely on factory testing for current production and do their own testing on NOS - I usually ask them to provide low microphonic signal tubes, whatever that means to them. Jim McShane's service was very good and apparently he tests every tube meticulously. I always re-test all tubes I buy and have never found any big problems with the test results of the 3 aforementioned sellers. Can't say the same with a lot of what I've bought from eBay.

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