For about 8 months, I have had a TRP3 with some a la carte GA3 upgrades that I added to it during the production build. It is basically the GA3 w/o the gold finish and flight case.
During those 8 months, I’ve gone through several tube rolling exercises, and thanks to this and other threads on WBF, I was able to shortcut many of the “less than ideal” tube pairings and relatively quickly settle on a Sophia Aqua II rectifier and a matched quad of Siemens F2A output tubes with TP adapters. I run XLR/Balanced to monoblocks, using the Volume Control in the TRP3 as a preamp.
I also swapped the standard fuse for a SR Purple, and then shortly after to a SR Master fuse. THAT was a noticeable sonic benefit as well, for those that are considering the Master upgrade.
Occasionally, and primarily to confirm my current tube choices, I would roll in other rectifiers (EML 274B Mesh, Sophia Princess 274B Mesh, Tungsram PV200/600, and a Svetlana 5C3S) as well as other output tubes (Tung-Sol KT120, Gold Lion KT88, and some cheap 6550 pairs). Without question, the pairing of the Aqua II with the F2As was hands down the best sounding pairing. Until last Friday…
I know that many have opined on the sonic merits of the Telefunken RGN2004 rectifier, but with a price point that outpaced my desired budget I assumed it was out of reach for now. And possibly that it might not be such a jump in sound quality since the Aqua II performed so well.
During conversations with a fellow WBF member, I was asked if I’d ever tried a 4V rectifier, and was followed by an offer to sell me one at a greatly reduced rate with an included TP adapter. Jumping at the opportunity, it was delivered within a week, arriving early Friday afternoon.
My wife has a fantastic ear, and is my constant listening companion. I employ her as my unbiased, blind listening tester, often swapping in new/different cables, fuses, tubes, isolation pieces, etc. without giving her any heads up just to see if she notices anything better or worse (or neutral) with the sound. Her track record has to be in the high 80-90% for detecting those changes. I trust her to detect any new ones, and I mention all that to set the background for what happened as soon as I played music with the RGN2004 rectifier.
My wife was upstairs working at her desk on Friday, which is slightly around the corner on the landing upstairs. It’s not a direct view of the speakers, and definitely not ideal for really noticing any audible changes. I had been playing music at moderate volume (about 35 on the Lampi volume), and simply pulled the Aqua II out while playing and dropped in the new RGN2004. Maybe a second of sound drop before the new rectifier caught up and music returned. Within 5 seconds my wife yelled down “OK, what did you just change!?” and wheeled her chair to the railing overlooking the stereo. That’s how profound the difference was.
We listened for many hours on Friday evening, and had music playing for most of Saturday. She said to me multiple times “you’re there, THIS is the sound I want in our home”, “wow, this is unreal”, “you did good”, etc. lol My 19yo son, also a music lover, said “it’s like a cloth has been taken off the speakers”.
So what does it sound like with the RGN2004 and the quad of F2As (all with TP adapters)? Glorious!! There is an entirely new level of clean and pure tone. New harmonics, texture, sparkle, and a luxurious, velvety analog sheen to everything. The most noticeable and immediate improvement was the bass. It went deeper, had more authority, and waaay more texture than before. Bass lines on many familiar songs now had boogie factor that didn’t exist prior to the swap.
On vocals there is a new richness and new levels of harmonics and micro details. Breaths, lip smacks, growls in the back of the throat, blending of vocals and background singers was superb, all of it was there.
But the high end was the star of the show. I have ribbon tweeters, and I don’t believe I’ve heard what they can truly do until this weekend. There is a purity in cymbal hits, triangles, crashes, and synth noises that is stunning. There is almost no other way to describe it other than PURE. Percussion and small jazz music is in the room. Big brass bands are spectacular. Alternative and rock albums are electrifying. And PURE. There are high frequency sounds in most songs that I’m hearing for the first time. It’s not etched or shrill or bright, just clean and PURE. It’s addicting.
I can’t believe how different music sounds with the RGN2004. It transformed my system to a level that was completely unexpected, and enthusiastically welcomed. Now I just need to ignore how much better the RGN2504 is supposed to be… lol
