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In Reply to: Sounds a little like my Grado break in. posted by tubesforever on February 28, 2006 at 21:10:51:
Tubes,My cartridge and tonearm are a good match. I have switched out the gain tubes in my phono preamp and the results were incredible! I want to do a little more listening for verification - even though its probably not necessary. The improvement was awesome, even with my equipment cold from being unplugged over-night.
I plan to describe the results in a new post because this thread is getting so many pages back I don't think many people are seeing it. The results are something many of us need to be aware of. That is, tubes with an alledged 10,000 hour life are degrading subtley over time at a much, much shorter lifespan.
Nasty said he routinely replaces the 12ax7's in his preamp every year. This problem came up so gradually that I didn't notice it until Christmas, and even then I only had suspicions that something was amiss. The Mullards in my phono preamp were 13 months old this past Christmas. Two $12 each E-H tubes absolutely smoked the $85 each Mullards. (It wasn't so when I initially put the Mullards in the phono preamp). The body and weight of music has returned. Bass has significantly improved. The soundstage has significantly widened and filled out (more meat, more magic)! I still hear the high frequency limitations of the E-H 12ax7's, i.e., some grainyness (sp?) and mush, but they are clearly delivering the goods.
I really appreciate your and Nasty's suggestions as you both pointed to the tubes in my phono preamp!
Terry
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Follow Ups
- Mysterey solved! - It was subtle tube degradation - Terry P 03/1/0609:54:36 03/1/06 (1)
- Glad you got your Mojo back. Tubes are the best! - tubesforever 06:49:31 03/2/06 (0)