I realize you were speaking to reliability. and I was speaking about my listening. but the Elrog's seem perfectly behaved so far after a week and 50-60 hours.
and the exceptional build quality of the Takatsuki 274b as a recti likely only helps keep things stable.
You didn't notice the two switches on my amps Bonzo?
One for filaments and one for B+. Filaments on 30s - 60s then apply B+, CL80 thermistor for slow ramp-up.
There should be a further switch to switch out the fuse and thermistor but haven't got around to implementing
this additional circuit.
Jac has some info on burn-in on his site that relates to 'forming' the filament. I understand new tubes shouldn't be run more than 5 hrs a day for a month until the filament becomes 'toughened'.
Interesting that folks are now using the best manufactured tubes in their GGs. Something I suggested many posts back but met with disinterest.
I'm interested in EML mesh globes. Remember the aubergine coloured globes? Now they would look fine against the gold of a GG.
Hi no, the best tubes were always on the radar, even with B7. Just that now big budget players entered the Lampi circle and can splurge on tubes. In fact, I think it was unfortunate you had, if I remember right, only one tube the EML 45 during your demo. The EML 45 (not mesh globe annivs), are the worst sounding of the Lampi lot to my ears. I was initially only for 101d replica, now KR 242 are way superior, as are good 300bs. All my Lampi comparisons with other digital were with 101ds on Big 7, so I can only imagine how much better it has got now with better valves, better PCM, and a higher model. I also have a better recti now, the KR 274b
No Blue58, you are "only" here, thats why it seems so. If you go to AudioCircle, all this stuff has been debated for more than a year. infact, ALRainbow was among the first to have Elrogs and EML Anniversary solid plate globes and vintage WE 101ds. These have always been champs, along with Sophia Royal Princess and WE 300Bs. even Audioshark has way more tube rolling info than here. Many of us here have been thru the rounds with this stuff.
I myself have 2 boxes of tubes, AL has 5 Boxes, SFox has uncountable amount of the BEST tubes, MikeB from Audio Shark has enough primo tubes to be worth the price of a decent car. Tube rolling can get crazy, but its sooo addictive. Good thing I stick to value for money vintage tubes...LoL
Thomas Mayer of VinylSavor in Germany stills recommends not to use Elrog 300B tubes with Lampi dacs. I contacted him after Mike shared his enthusiasm with us. I also informed Mike that I never dared to touch any of the Elrog tubed due to all the reliability issues. But I must say I am strongly tempted because apparently the initial reliability issues with the Elrog 300B tubes have (more or less?) been fixed. According to Thomas the Elrog 300B tube would be a perfect match with my Kondo amps though.
I can't say right now since once I installed the Elrog's last week I never looked back, and now with the Tak recti obviously I've not gone back and done any comparison.
at some point I will do some comparative A/B'ing to get my objective bearings. I'm in the honeymoon period with the Elrog's and the Tak. hard to see where i'll be using anything else. but it's early.
a local audio friend (who is a WBF member) did offer me the opportunity to try out some other 300b's and when I find the time I'm still planning on connecting and trying those. tube rolling is a whole new world for me. and with a dac it's really fun stuff since you don't need to move gear around or worry about speaker loads and such.
I ended up with 7 of the NU45's, and of course, I still have the KR242's, the Psvane 101d's and 300b's. they are all fine sounding tubes (excepting the KR242's are not GG 'gain compatable').
These are, according to Thomas Mayer of VinylSavor, the requirements that need to be met in order to use the Elrog 300B tube safely:
plate dissipation max 36W (preferably lower).
Filament voltage as close as possible to 5V (better lower than higher)
It is mandatory that the filament inrush current at turn on is limited to less than 2A
Does any of our technical members know if the Lampi GG dac meets these requirements?
BTW, Lukasz just informed me that the GG dac fulfills all technical requirements mentined in my previous post. So I will order one matched pair in order to find out how good these tubes will sound on my Lampi dac in my LA set up.
These are, according to Thomas Mayer of VinylSavor, the requirements that need to be met in order to use the Elrog 300B tube safely:
plate dissipation max 36W (preferably lower).
Filament voltage as close as possible to 5V (better lower than higher)
It is mandatory that the filament inrush current at turn on is limited to less than 2A
Does any of our technical members know if the Lampi GG dac meets these requirements?
I have found that people with technical knowledge of amps whip try to extrapolate the amp specs to lampi don't exactly get why sold tubes will work with the lampi, given how it uses a range of voltages and balances the wattage across.
BTW, Lukasz just informed me that the GG dac fulfills all technical requirements mentined in my previous post. So I will order one matched pair in order to find out how good these tubes will sound on my Lampi dac in my LA set up.
I recently acquired a Solid Tech Rack of Silence (1 tier) for my Golden Gate. To cut a long story short, the sound quality has improved a lot. I was using a wooden platform with the supplied rollerball feet until this point. Notably, the sound has lost a layer of grain that I never knew was there. Anyway - I wonder what fellow users are doing in the way isolation and has anyone gone as far as using a vibraplane or something similar?
I recently acquired a Solid Tech Rack of Silence (1 tier) for my Golden Gate. To cut a long story short, the sound quality has improved a lot. I was using a wooden platform with the supplied rollerball feet until this point. Notably, the sound has lost a layer of grain that I never knew was there. Anyway - I wonder what fellow users are doing in the way isolation and has anyone gone as far as using a vibraplane or something similar?
I have Shun Mook Ultras under my preamp and phono. I will be putting them under GG soon - I have a plinth for the rack of silence so that I can add them. That is my job this weekend
I have Shun Mook discs on the chassis and power tube resonators in place.
I recently acquired a Solid Tech Rack of Silence (1 tier) for my Golden Gate. To cut a long story short, the sound quality has improved a lot. I was using a wooden platform with the supplied rollerball feet until this point. Notably, the sound has lost a layer of grain that I never knew was there. Anyway - I wonder what fellow users are doing in the way isolation and has anyone gone as far as using a vibraplane or something similar?
I am using a wooden rack resting on Halcyonics/Accurion Vario 40 magnetic decouplers. The GG dac rests on three Shun Mook ultra feet and is connected through a Tripoint Thor se to the Tripoint Troy se. I like this combination a lot.
Btw, I will start with tuberolling in the near future as I have a ordered a matched pair of Elrog 300b tubes after Mike's positive experiences and Lukasz's confirmation that the technical specs of the GG dac should allow you to use these tubes safely. However I also learned that two GG dac users had failures with the Elrog 300B tubes so I do not quite know what to expect.
Hopes this give you some insight Bill.
Was wondering if any GG owner has tried the Takatsuki 300b tubes and how they compare to the Elrog 300b tubes.
my GG uses 4 Wave Kinetics A10 U8 decoupling footers, and is sitting on the top shelf of an Acoustic Dreams 2 shelf rack spiked into on my 6 inches of concrete floor.
it uses an Absolute Fidelity power cord (by Genesis Loudspeakers) into the Equi=tech 10WQ wall panel 10kva isolation transformer. it's connected with Tara Labs Grandmaster Evolution 2m RCA's to the new version of the battery powered darTZeel NHB-18NS preamp.
the driver tubes are anywhere from $30 to $900 each x2. (you can spend $5k each for the right Western Electric 300B's.....but that value is more rarity than performance according to many......I've not heard them myself so they may be worth it.).
$50 tubes (NU 45's) sound wonderful.
the rectifiers are about $50 to $900 x1. my $78 recti sounds great.
there is a wide selection of choices.
the particular tubes we are speaking about here; a pair of Elrog 300b's are approx. $1100, and the Takatsuki 274b recti is $965. both are brand new current production.
