Psvane Acme Series (new flagship series)

[thomask]

I’ve been txting with a guy in Singapore who has just tried both the Acme 805s and Acme 300Bs on his Line Magnetic SET and horn setup. He has a lot of experience with valves and he seems really impressed.

His first impressions on the Acmes... that the tone was very right, they have a great expressive way of communicating the emotional content in music, the force of plucked instruments was easily discernible, vocals were vivid and expressive, bass was authoritative and controlled and the valves exhibited a low noise floor.

Very much looking forward to hearing about your experiences Kodomo with your new Acmes.

After driving both Acme 805 and 300B in Lm508 for 7 hours,

I concur with the quoted expression of Gentleman

tone was very right, they have a great expressive way of communicating the emotional content in music, the force of plucked instruments was easily discernible, vocals were vivid and expressive, bass was authoritative and controlled and the valves exhibited a low noise floor.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Very exciting stuff Thomas... great to hear.

 

[Lockeray]

Hello guys,

I have been following this thread with great interest. I was wondering if anyone here has done a comparison with the takatsuki 300bs vs the psvane acme 300bs. Could anyone share their impressions? I'm currently using a line magnetic 219 integrated and with the shuguang WE845 and 300b replicas. Im wondering what these new tubes might bring to the table.

 

[Nascimento]

I quite agree Thomas, the reissue WE300b was indeed disappointing and I preferred the carbon Sophia to it.

A local customer of mine has about 20 matched pairs of NOS original WE300b stashed away.

I currently have 300B, Takatsuki, Shuguang Black Treasures and EH Gold Grid, all working just fine!
I was going to buy a WE300B (2000 year reissue) but I listened for a few days and I did not like it, I gave up buying!

I'll wait a little longer before buying these ACME 300B

 

[thomask]

I currently have 300B, Takatsuki, Shuguang Black Treasures and EH Gold Grid, all working just fine!
I was going to buy a WE300B (2000 year reissue) but I listened for a few days and I did not like it, I gave up buying!

I'll wait a little longer before buying these ACME 300B

My impression so far with Acme 300B in Line Magenetic 508 after 150 hours is very positive with nice clean details and transparent soundstage.

But I will travel to Korea for two weeks to take care of some urgent matter.

Thus I will be able to compare between Acme 300B and WE NOS 300b in Silbatone 300B SET amplifier only after April 2nd.

My impression so far is that WE 300B has tighter bass but Acme 300B has more forgiving but beautiful details.

Sometimes WE NOS 300B could sound hot with too much details in the treble, thus it need good cable matching.


"Kingrex" who listened to " I am so lonesome tonight" by Elvis in my listening room through Lansche 4.1 driven by LM 508 fitted with Acme 805 and 300B on March 16th, mentioned as follows.

It was the best voice of "Elvis"that he had ever heard with nuanced details and spooky presence.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Thanks Thomas for forging into these new tubes. I’m still so pleased even with the stock valves in the LM I’m excited to start exploring these as well.

Would you advise starting with the 805s or the 300Bs.
Cheers
Tao

 

[thomask]

Thanks Thomas for forging into these new tubes. I’m still so pleased even with the stock valves in the LM I’m excited to start exploring these as well.

Would you advise starting with the 805s or the 300Bs.
Cheers
Tao

I recommend you to try Acme 805 first.

Acme 805 will have more pronounced effect.

best

Thomas

 

[the sound of Tao]

Thanks Thomas

 

[Nascimento]

Thomas, your report made me very curious about ACME 300B, thanks for participating!

 

[2 channel fan]

New to the forum.... I picked up a used LM 219ia pretty cheap (relatively speaking) last year and it seems to have impressed me less than my expectations. After much anguish I decided to order new tubes. I went with matched pairs of the Psvane ACME Supreme 300B, Psvane ACME Supreme 845 and SG 12AX7 LS Treasure Black. If that does not help I will get rid of the Klipsch horns. I know nobody is a fan of Klipsch, but I heard them afew years ago and was either feeling the booze, they sounded real good or both. At any rate I have the Cornie III's and will let you guys know my opinion as soon as I get these new ACME tubes rolled in the 219ia. am trying to decide what to do about the 310A tubes. I read the stock ones are ok and see alot of WE310 NOS out there. Still undecided. Any comments would be welcome.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Hi 2 channel,
Welcome. What about the LM219ia wasn’t delivering for you? The valves you are rolling in should do much. I had one on loan for a few months a few years back (along with some Devore 0/96) and given the right speakers it was a beautifully beguiling amp. Rolled the 12ax7 in it and it responded really nicely to better valves so what your doing should revolutionise the sound. I preferred it paired with a preamp and used a shindo and eventually a microzotl (best pairing) to bring it into extra dimension and add some more dynamic gain structure.

 

[2 channel fan]

I setup the LM219ia powered cornwalls in an audio room that is 12x23. I then played around with the corner and wall speaker placement to get the best sound. I liked them best o the short wall with inside edge on the wall with the outside corners about 6 inches away. The listening couch is best about 7 feet out from the speakers. The sound stage is good as well as imaging. My issue was with the fullness of the mids, Or the fill in just seemed dull to me. I listen to Jazz and the trumpets and sax sound better than any SS system I have owned. It's really the mids and lack of punch. Best way to describe in non tech terms: It sounds like there is a sheet in from of the speakers and I want to remove that restriction. I really hope it's not the speakers I choose. lol.... I auditioned the LM 219ia with the Devore 0/96 and those speakers were way over my budget this year. I'm pretty sure this journey is far from over and thought the Klipsch would get me by for a while.

 

[the sound of Tao]

The amp is good but a microzotl in particular will lead it to uncover and bring out the verve and incisiveness in the music, make it feel more resolved (throughout) and largely take away the woolly blanket effect if the mids and mid bass are currently a bit cloying. That said rolling in a fleet of top end tubes should do plenty to pick things up a great deal in the first place.

 

[2 channel fan]

I appreciate your comments. I am hoping I can uncover some of the sound I was looking for with the tubes and will investigate pre-amps next if I don't have to focus on speakers. Does the microzotl match up well with tube amps compared to other pre-amps?

 

[the sound of Tao]

The microzotl is an ideal match for tube amps... the OTL like traits of a real and natural quicksilver clarity overlays beautifully with amps already filled with 2nd order riches... whereas the Shindo also works wonders with SS amps bringing some additional richness (not too much tho)... that said Ken Shindo may not have liked to have read that last comment so respectfully that’s just between you, me and otherwise only the world wide interweb.

 

[2 channel fan]

Excellent, I was staying away from the pre-amp for know because I wasn't sure what matched up well with a SET. I saw a cheap, mid and high end model. other that a tape out and additional inputs is the much difference in them or would the microZOTL MZ2 clean up the 219? I ask because I have had SS cheap attacks n the past that ended up costing me more in the long run.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Microzotl mz3 used as pre for the 219ia would be my pick... in fact that is possibly my next upgrade... has quite a bit of improvement overall in sq over the mz2 apparently with additional dynamics and additional resolution which means it must be fairly sensational because the Mz2 has these qualities in spades already. Same tubes essentially as the mz2 but a much improved external linear psu and improved circuit boards also with a better stepped attenuator.

 

[kodomo]

I had an LM-219ia with a modified Klipschorn system. Acme tubes are more than enough. I also had great results by changing the coupling caps to duelund casts and signal capacitors to Audio Note tantalums. Horns and 219ia is a good match. However, I do not recommend the preamp section of the 219ia, it takes away from the amp rather than add. If you have a better pre, you can get a much better sound.

 

[Sablon Audio]

Fwiw there is plenty of headroom in the MZ2 circuit for component upgrades and the following link might be of interest

www.head-fi.org/threads/microzotl2-upgrade-discovery-thread.818130/

 

[2 channel fan]

I'm looking forward to hearing the ACME tubes in the 219ia. I have to livewith the blue sound node2i, 219ia preamp and Cornwalls until the tubes are broken in and will decide which preamp makes the most sense. I'm leaning towards the MZ3 because buying an MZ2 and rebuilding is not something I am comfortable wit hat this point.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.