Phasemation EA-2000 tube rolling
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I'm not an owner of EA-2000, but I know that you can really improve the sound with tube rolling. I'd say go for it!
When going for NOS tubes (new old stock), I always recommend going with trusted vendors. They might charge you more than somebody from eBay, but they offer a warranty.
Tube rolling on the EA-2000 requires adjustments inside the phonostage with an oscilloscope. When proceeding with tube rolling please either be competent, use a good technician or even better your dealer. 
To my ears the EA-2000 is a well balanced and carefully voiced phonostage, what you can expect at this price point.
I do like tube rolling, when this is part of the component concept, like Lampizator DACs, but in regard to EA-2000 I stay with the original tubes to keep the Phasemation way of reproducing music.
Changing tubes to get a difference is mostly easy, to get the best compromise is very often a complex sound cooking, which is done for the EA-2000 by the manufacturer himself.
I do like tube rolling, when this is part of the component concept, like Lampizator DACs, but in regard to EA-2000 I stay with the original tubes to keep the Phasemation way of reproducing music.
Changing tubes to get a difference is mostly easy, to get the best compromise is very often a complex sound cooking, which is done for the EA-2000 by the manufacturer himself.
IMHO it’s always a good idea to replace new Chinese or Russian tubes with NOS ones. There are many variants of 12ax7 and 6922. So it’s not hard to find one that will sound better than stock tubes. BTW I wouldn’t mind replacing new ecc803s with an old ecc83 cause they have better build quality than new ones.
It was the first time I heard about using an oscilloscope for tube rolling. Why do you say it's required when we use the same tube type?Tube rolling on the EA-2000 requires adjustments inside the phonostage with an oscilloscope. When proceeding with tube rolling please either be competent, use a good technician or even better your dealer.
Actually, I asked my dealer to check with factory. Factory reply was that any other tubes other than the ones originally installled would need to adjust gain and L,R balance. Being the anal retentive person that I am, I can't help but to seek opnions from fellow users.
Okay, so I think their thinking is as follows:
Tubes have a parameter called gain, which can differ significantly from tube to tube. So it will influence the overall gain of the phono stage. Tube circuits either don't have feedback or have it in a limited capacity, so changing tube gain will influence the overall gain of the device slightly. Most users don't even notice that when rolling tubes.
The critical part is the matching of the tubes. ECC803S and other ECC83 tubes are dual triodes, there are two actual tubes in one glass envelope. They need to be similar to each other. Then we have matching tubes in the left and right channels. So if your device uses one ECC83 per channel, you would need 4 matched triodes, two per tube.
Long story short, it will be okay if you use closely matched tubes.
The target is to achieve better sound. While I have not taken delivery of the units yet, it is always good to plan ahead due to long lead times nowadays. If, there isno benefit to change to NOS tubes, then I would have saved some money. If there is a benefit, then it is money well spent. Prior to making a decision, it is perhaps good to seek advice from knowledgeble persons who share the same interests.
Mostly you can change the rectifier tube without a negative effect to the gain balance,
you may start to focus on that tube type.
I have not yet checked EA-2000 PSU, but I opened EA-1200.
the replacement rectifier needs to have the same outer dimension, as the PSU has a spring based anti vibration bracket installed And you cannot fit longer rectifiers.
you may start to focus on that tube type.
I have not yet checked EA-2000 PSU, but I opened EA-1200.
the replacement rectifier needs to have the same outer dimension, as the PSU has a spring based anti vibration bracket installed And you cannot fit longer rectifiers.
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