LampizatOr Horizon - Tube Rolling Paradise

[godofwealth]

A brief listen of the 112A didn’t do much for me: compared to the lush sounding JJ 300B tubes that are now installed in my Pacific, the 112As are coarser sounding. Also, the antique tubes don’t fit all the way in. But I need to listen to them over a longer period. Right now I’m thrilled that my Pacific is sounding like itself again. I’m hanging on to the Pacific for one reason only: it gives me the lush sound of 300B DHTs (and other numerous choices with different strengths). “Upgrading” to the Horizon would require me to lose all my good DHT companions and make new “pentode friends”. And we all know how hard it can be to make new friends while forsaking old ones!

Listening to a lovely Lyrita recording (SRCD 242) of British music (Bridge and Ireland) conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Lyrita made some of the finest orchestral records from the 1960s-80s. Harry Pearson was a huge fan of Lyrita. On the Pacific the strings on the remastered streamed version sounds almost as good as the original vinyl. Lush and full-bodied. Before getting the Pacific I used to despair whether digital would ever sound like analog vinyl. Now I don’t despair. No, a great turntable/arm/cartridge/phonostage still outperforms my Pacific but the gap is not as large as before.

 

[adamaley]

I can only agree with seatrope's assessment of Takasz & Pinter, their adapters and the EF802 tube. My experience is based on a Pacific 2.

The adapters are perfect and you don't have to worry about risking damage to the lampizator due to bad adapters. Orders are processed very quickly and with absolute confidence. I think the prices are absolutely reasonable for the manual work and the materials used and you also get a few hot tips for tubes (C3g, EF802, PT14, etc).

In place of the original 6n6, all derivatives of the 6DJ8/ECC88 family can be used without any problems and usually with a significant increase in sound quality in the Pacific.

When used in this position, the usual differences in sound from manufacturers such as Mullard, Siemens and Telefunken become very transparent and clear. The Super-Telefunken E88CC or CCA sound nearly perfect in my system and to my taste, but also a little bit sterile. The dynamics are certainly hard to beat.

If you now replace the two systems of the 6DJ8/ECC88 double triode with one EF802 each and a corresponding adapter (from Laszlo), you get the perfect solution in my opinion. The basic quality of the Super-Telefunken (e.g. linearity, dynamics) is retained and at the same time there is no sterility.

I have measured more than 120 of these Telefunken tubes in the past and have not had a single faulty one in the batch. All tubes are extremely low in noise and microphony. When looking for these tubes, please do not be confused by the sometimes absurd prices for "matched" pairs!

To get really matched pairs (or quartets) the seller probably needs at least 50 tubes, ideally from the same batch! Even if a seller could ensure this, unit prices for these tubes of up to €1000 are simply outrageous.

Any idea what differentiates the regular version of this tube from the diamond bottom version?

 

[steve williams]

Any idea what differentiates the regular version of this tube from the diamond bottom version?

Diamond bottom if available and authentic are the ones to have.The authentic ones have an "S" after it

I use ECC803S in my Lamm ML3 and ECC801S in my Doshi tape pre

military grade...they should haver gold pins....but many Chinese replicas that are fake

 

[adamaley]

Diamond bottom if available and authentic are the ones to have.The authentic ones have an "S" after it

I use ECC803S in my Lamm ML3 and ECC801S in my Doshi tape pre

military grade...they should haver gold pins....but many Chinese replicas that are fake

Good to know. Thanks

 

[Anyoldears]

Laszlo’s package arrived yesterday and I must say they look lovely! The ef802 are unused, so I immediately slapped them in for a week of burn in before any critical listening. The subminiature microphone tubes alongside look tiny yet exquisite. Based on what Laszlo tells me, they should be an interesting listening proposition and are great value. Since the tubes have flying leads, they are soldered directly into the base and avoid having another base / socket interface to navigate. Given our experiences of how different adapters can impact sound quality, this augers well.

View attachment 130362

@Sablon Audio Whats the verdict on the ef802 and minitures?

 

[Sampajanna]

I am using the 802s and they are great. A bit less power than the c3gs, which are also excellent, but more linear, clean and true. They make the vocals more “in the room.” The c3g is more dynamic but more bass bloat and less clarity. Of course, these differences are minute and both sets sound great and I’d be happy with either for rest of my life.

I also just switched out the RS1003 for the 551; still burning those in….

 

[Sampajanna]

I have some TP OS1 adapters. PM me

 

[plasmod3]

Hi,

How's the tube I sent you?

 

[Sampajanna]

Hi,

How's the tube I sent you?

just breaking in and doing some back n forth. so far so good

 

[plasmod3]

Very nice good to hear sound good?

 

[Sampajanna]

Very nice good to hear sound good?

Si, very nice. 2504 is also nice. they are close. Need to test more to find what works right here.

 

[plasmod3]

Sounds good the one I sent you with open plates is very very rare. Impossible to get now my friend

 

[2ndLiner]

just breaking in and doing some back n forth. so far so good

Hi Sampajanna! Did I miss something in a previous post? What is the unobtanium mystery tube that Ian sent you, pray tell

 

[Sampajanna]

Haha! It‘s a crazy little GZ32 rectifier. Sounds amazing so far. Doesnt need adapter.
Still running it in and doing back and forth with the reference 2504 plate w/ TP silver adapter….
I would be more than happy with either for the rest of my life to be clear.

So far I am experiencing a tighter bass with the 2504 but an much more open mid/upper with the little GZ32. Almost want one for electronic music and the other for anything with vocals. But the little one is hardly humming so we‘ll see.

Also rolled out the Rs1003s for the 551 from TP. These tubes are amazing. So clear, open and, well, perfect. They move the needle just a bit past the rs1003.

 

[steve williams]

Haha! It‘s a crazy little GZ32 rectifier. Sounds amazing so far. Doesnt need adapter.
Still running it in and doing back and forth with the reference 2504 plate w/ TP silver adapter….
I would be more than happy with either for the rest of my life to be clear.

IME it’s tough to beat the Valvo G2504

 

[Sampajanna]

IME it’s tough to beat the Valvo G2504

Can‘t go wrong with the 2504 for sure. My reference so far. Lets see how this little guy holds up. You have a GZ32?

 

[2ndLiner]

Haha! It‘s a crazy little GZ32 rectifier. Sounds amazing so far. Doesnt need adapter.
Still running it in and doing back and forth with the reference 2504 plate w/ TP silver adapter….
I would be more than happy with either for the rest of my life to be clear.

So far I am experiencing a tighter bass with the 2504 but an much more open mid/upper with the little GZ32. Almost want one for electronic music and the other for anything with vocals. But the little one is hardly humming so we‘ll see.

Also rolled out the Rs1003s for the 551 from TP. These tubes are amazing. So clear, open and, well, perfect. They move the needle just a bit past the rs1003.

Awesome to hear! Love the mighty Valvo G2504 solid plates but always curious What brand and year for the GZ32?

 

[Sampajanna]

Awesome to hear! Love the mighty Valvo G2504 solid plates but always curious What brand and year for the GZ32?

Ian will have to chime in for the date and brand

 

[takacs75]

Haha! It‘s a crazy little GZ32 rectifier. Sounds amazing so far. Doesnt need adapter.
Still running it in and doing back and forth with the reference 2504 plate w/ TP silver adapter….
I would be more than happy with either for the rest of my life to be clear.

So far I am experiencing a tighter bass with the 2504 but an much more open mid/upper with the little GZ32. Almost want one for electronic music and the other for anything with vocals. But the little one is hardly humming so we‘ll see.

Also rolled out the Rs1003s for the 551 from TP. These tubes are amazing. So clear, open and, well, perfect. They move the needle just a bit past the rs1003.

Do you mean the e55l?

 

[steve williams]

Can‘t go wrong with the 2504 for sure. My reference so far. Lets see how this little guy holds up. You have a GZ32?

No, I had a Shuguang GZ480