Oh! For the love of tubes!

[admin]

Attn: Admin
These tubes are used in the Input gain stage of your ART monoblocks, as well as my amplifiers. So it's reassuring to know that Derrek is on the ball. These NOS M8080 Mullards are designed on the Box anodes, very robust, long lasting and highly musical. Fantastic sonics in the midrange. I've been using Watford for several years now, apart from the original spares of Mullards I had ordered from CJ directly. They're still going!

Good to hear. Having so much tube gear with a variety of tubes needed to keep everything functional is a concern and it's reassuring to hear that some supply chains are open.

I’m personally still leery. ARC and CJ both have all their eggs in the tube basket. So they’re forging ahead as though there’s no issue.

Again, a legitimate concern. It's been a full two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the tube production came into jeopardy. Although prices have increased and there has been scarcity of a few tube types, overall I'm trying to stay optimistic that tube gear has a future. CJ, ARC, and McIntosh are all betting on it.

[Paolo]

Supply and demand. The sky is not falling.

[AnotherJohnson]

CJ, ARC, and McIntosh are all betting on it.

McIntosh are definitely hedging their bets.

Much of their higher end involves parallel circuits where tube or SS can be customer switched. And they’ve banked a lot of tubes compared to their US based counterparts.

They’re well positioned. If tubes dry up today, they’ve still got plenty to sell. And some of their gear will continue to work even if tubes get used up. All of their current SS gear is unhindered by political issues in sourcing.

They’ve even got gear with digital only inputs.

Modern McIntosh is definitely a good bet. It’s priced right and well worth a listen.

[Big Dog RJ]

Ah... for the love of tooobs.

So just came after a well established set-up; helped another chap to get his system going again after nearly a year & half! His Premier 12's were constantly blowing fuses (large Bussman KTK series plate type), plus fitted with EL34's in XS version, also needed a few caps. My trusted CJ techie took these beautiful monoblocks for a looksie and it took him over a year to fully refurb ... and now perfect! My word, do they sound fantastico!

Partnered with the ACT-S2 (My second & last one, which he's now the proud owner of) driving ML Ren15a's, superb!!!
Initially, he was almost going for the ART150 but after close auditions at my place, he decided that was not the flavour. The ART150 is a top notch performer, without a doubt SOTA!
However, there's something about the KT150 that sounds forced, very close to SS like the KT90 and runs like a F1! Tremendous acceleration and power, it just takes off! Ready to launch to the moon anytime! Just press the button and she'll take off fast.. with a great force. Nothing subtle nothing soft.

I guess it all depends on musical tastes and listening habits. The LP series aren't easy to find here, they're quite rare simply because owners of LP series amplifiers hold onto them (like woof!)
So with the Prem12's, although vintage, these circuits are based on the classic tube circuit, being Class A circuits. They are of the simplest design, very easy to follow, diagnose and correct. Techie was wondering why on earth those other makes go into fancy complicated circuits, ending up with all sorts of issues down the line. Plus after a while parts aren't easy to come by either. In CJ's case, use the shortest signal paths, which are all based on this proven classic tube circuit, and utilises the highest quality parts.
**Acoording to him, keeping things simple with the highest quality parts, will result in a purer signal, just makes more sense.**

Anyway, now Humpty Dumpty is back together again, and the tunes are fine! Even for a set of vintage CJ monoblocks, fitted with 6550's now back to UL mode, driving those big hybrid Stats, just marvellous!

On another note, had this one big fella back again in my room last weekend... although it's a monster, it can't quite surpass the LP series amps, especially in Class A mode, no chance. It was in fact quite thick, veiled and sluggish. Didn't have that expansive depth and the ability to float the soundstage right in front of you. In terms of raw power and slam... had more of that driving my CLX's, mainly due to the KT150's capabilities. I guess that's part of their design, other than that, that's about it!

So cheers to CJ's Classic tube designs. Vintage or new, they're the finest tunes worth every penny! A mighty WOOF!
RJ

[admin]

Glad to hear that Premier 12 is back to service and better than new! Tubes pair so well with Martin Logan's ESL series. They are just amazing. Sometimes I miss my good old ML Vantages, they sounded so nice. I had the opportunity to audio the new ML series and had a lengthy listening session with the 13a's. Really amazing. A totally transparent sound, really just the room and the music. I could not hear the transition from the stats to the sub. They've just done an amazing job with the crossover on this series of speakers.

Glad to hear your friend is happy with the results. Waiting a full year to get gear can be hard, but when it comes back sounding "right", it makes it all worth it. Probably saved him a pretty penny over going to a new ART150, so a win win.

Some mighty fine gear at the dealer you took this picture. Very nice.

[Big Dog RJ]

Oh yes! The new ML Masterpiece series is truly tops! They've come quite a good margin from the earlier Reserve line, in several areas of further transparency, overall performance and the seamless integration between bass drivers and stat panels. Really well done and it gets easier with the Arc (Athem Room Correction) software. Every Masterpiece series (except the Classic 9) comes with a USB stick / thumb drive. It's usually preloaded with the matching software to integrate subs with panels, and can be further fine tuned according to room set-up.

When I got the ML BF210 sub, I realised my ML dealer had already preloaded software to match with CLX's, so that was a very easy installation, fine tuning was a breeze. Unlike with previous versions, constant fiddling with controls was the norm... such that it would get very annoying with every track! I guess ML's design team decided to do something about it, and they got it right!

The ART150 matched with my ACTS2, would have been nearly similar to the Prem350A. That was a remarkable combination, could handle anything and everything, nothing would flinch the Prem350 one bit. However, that was a completely different speaker system back then, driving Apogee's and Infinity's, they required this type of SS brute force. When matched with a Premier standard tube preamp, such as the ACT2, it was a very fine level indeed!

In this chap's case, having the Ren15a's, which are big stats but the bass drivers are powered. Plenty of LF heft and slam, excellent control with no overhang or excessive boom factor... very tight, well defined precise bass. So the stat panels just require some good tube power with control and finesse... and these refurbed Prem12's do a fine job! Really considering how well they perform... given all the mods and parts replaced upto spec, there's nothing more to add. At least we both felt that way including our trusted techie, so that's three of us.

In terms of upgrades, if the ART150 were to used, I'm thinking it would perform really well with a full range panel type speaker. Alsyvox, Clarisys, Diptyque, Apogee's or CLX's, that's where the ART150 or ART300's would be a radical change, a formidable force. In fact, I've heard this very combination on the Alsyvox and CLX's, it was on another dimension but much bigger rooms with multiple subs. Big...loud...and proud!!! One of those highly impressive moments on big speaker systems design, like Wilson, Rockport, Genesis, Dynaudio, Karma Reference and Magico's. All these big systems require much larger rooms with adequate amplification to bring the reproduction to life or within realistic scale. So totally different level. Also CJ's ART series amplifiers can deliver performance into this category with no issues, simply effortless. An absolute marvel to experience once in while, given the opportunity.

Until such time, sit back and enjoy those finest tunes.
Cheers Admin mate!
Woof! RJ

**forget to mention ** also the 6550's sound better on the Prem12's for whatever reason. Perhaps they were optimised for this tube type, and I do remember very well when we had the Prem12's, they performed flawlessly with the 6550C type, an outstanding result. Whereas, on the later LP series, the KT120's suit better. There's something more right in the Linear Pentode design circuit, perhaps a few mods & tweaks to optimise on the KT120... I don't know. Two different flavours quite interesting.