So for me, this past weekend was more about shoring things up around the homestead than audio: mowing the lawn, getting information on river rock for our garden at several landscaping supply yards, visiting several nurseries, purchasing a pair of potted exotic flower arrangements, digging up some dead knockout roses and replacing them with five more. And then of course, being Chicagoland, overnight the temperatures dropped, threatening our new exotic florals, so we brought them inside for the time being. That said, with the cooler weather, I felt encouraged to remain indoors after work and play around with some tubes on my Digital to Analog Converter's power output stage. Swapping in the original Emission Labs 45 tubes that came with the Lampizator Lite 7 DAC (since upgraded to a Big 7 SE), I pulled out the Shuguang 300B-98B Mesh anodes that had replaced them and while the stereo warmed up, I buffed out the prongs of the latter tubes with contact cleaner. Wow! I was surprised with the black residue that came off in paper towel, as I recalled cleaning the sockets with rubbing alcohol several months earlier and could have sworn I'd done the same with the tubes.
Regardless, I noticed that the older Emission Lab tubes provided a balanced and detailed presentation. It sounded good. I wondered if I wasn't aware that I'd swapped out the tubes if I'd really notice the difference. Sampling through various favorites like Anthony Wilson, Michael Franks and Cassandra Wilson, it was good. However, there seemed a certain lack of dynamics, gain and lower end; I notice that I had to turn up the volume higher than usual on my preamp to reach my normal listening level. After an hour or so, I brought back Shuguangs and the difference was palpable: it was as if I'd been nursing a glass of Coors Lite for the last sixty minutes and, to shake things up, I replaced it with a pint of Guinness. The presentation was more robust, rich, and flavorful. That's more like it! I actually had to turn the volume down, as the boost in SPL was quite noticeable. That was fun! But, now, I must get off to work. Cheers!
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Juan C. AyllonA writer, artist, educator and owner of Prairie Audio Man Cave, he lives with his wife, Isabel (AKA Belle), and their Goldendoodle, Liam, enjoys listening to high fidelity music and all things hi-fi at their home in the greater Chicagoland area.. Archives
March 2024
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