mwhouston

On rarerest of occasions I’ve had the double black.

My wife would be lucky to get Johnny Walker Red.

I’m lucky to share a Merlot with the wife. At least it’s cheap.

I have used the Psvane T series MKIIs in lots of builds. Always loved them. But something is fishy in Denmark with these babies. I’m yet to test them maybe that will tell me something.

I’m not going to sleep just thinking about it.

Golly.

I was using new 12AX7 Mullard re-issues. Too much gain. Those Mullards have gone into my EAR834p phono preamp which is quieter than the 12AX7s (Sovteks) which were in there. The phono preamp was quiet before now stupidly quiet. Go figure? Not or sure what is wrong with the top of the range Psvanes U7s but they were real bad for hiss. Again go figure. But all settled now and completely fixed one and made another a hell of a lot better. Win-win.

It has been a long hard road from may original build of a two stage 12AX7 preamp with a cathode follower stage to SRPP. First with 12AX7s and now JJ 12AU7s - “Lagoon 3”. I had tube rush (hiss, thermal noise) problems that just wouldn’t quite. Even after dropping the gain on three seperate component tweaks with the cathode follower design I still had noise issues. AND it wasn’t the PS of which I have built a dozen of them with never a noise issue. Before and after the SRPP convention I tried Psvane 12AU7s which were worse for hiss but lower gain I needed and I’ve always liked 12AU7s. I ordered some cheap JJ 12AU7s from Evatco which arrived today. Bingo! Finally I can enjoy this great looking preamp which always sounded good but now no hiss or anything. Just need 50hours to settle the tubes then I might get some Gold Lions to replace these cheapies. Listening to it now with a big fat smile on my face. Worth all the effort which has taken months.

That leaves me out. I only have a single blind in my listening room.

Not a pot plant more of a pot or a large urn at the back of my listening area resonates at exactly 50hZ, tested. Just a little room low frequency support.

The three LPs in my last two posts are part of the 200LP give away I received. Also this is the first time I have heard these LPs on the new DIY EAR834p tube phono stage. Never heard them better, quite stunning.

The Russian Ballet LP is 155gm WRC/HMV recording 1966. Really excellent and in perfect condition. The Cantatas, WRC/Erato, 110gm, as new condition, 1960. Part of 200LPs I was given.

Sounding better than ever on my re-tubed DIY EAR834p.

Gold! I’m lucky to afford red.

And which scotch?