[kruppy]

Also, you can start the never ending adventure of rolling the tubes. I went with Black Treasures almost immediately along with an old Mullard 5AR4 and haven't looked back. Incredible soundstage along with smooth, musical presentation.

I haven't gotten to the point of rolling tubes yet, this is my first true high quality tubed audio piece and I've been extremely happy with the sound that I get.  I have a feeling that the money will start falling out of my pockets if fall down that rabbit hole and I need all the money I can get to buy a KWA150SE amp.

[jimbones]

OK so I have only about 125 hours on the unit and it is breaking in. Dan suggests anout 400 hours. I find it to be a the opposite side of the spectrum from the SP8. Now Audio Research was never considered to be "warm sounding" say as the CJ's, but the LS100 is very close to a SS sound. It isn't meant to be an unsult as there are some great SS units out there. It's just that I wanted to get a tube pre for that warmth. Now I would say this is a nuetral pre and very revealing. Some recordings sound excellent others not so much. I have the suggestions on the tubes and will purchase some. Communication with Dan has been excellent and I am hopeful I will fall in love with the unit when fully broken in and tubed properly. BTW, I thought the review by Larry Cox on Positive Feedback Online was very accurate.

PS My SP8 is a "super" SP8 in that it was a special version from the factory with Wonder Caps and polystyrene caps. I spoke to Calvin @ AR and he said they had so many versions they stopped keeping track but he said mine was one of the better flavors.

[Lizard84]

+1

I don't know the specific Audio Research (SP8) that jimbones has, but based on what I know of AR, it's definitely going to sound different from a ModWright.

Also, you can start the never ending adventure of rolling the tubes. I went with Black Treasures almost immediately along with an old Mullard 5AR4 and haven't looked back. Incredible soundstage along with smooth, musical presentation.

I'm interested in those Black Treasure's, could you give me the supplier and part numbers?

[thunderbrick]

I put Sophias in mine, but it'll be days at best before it goes into the system.  May hook a tuner to it for the next 10 days or so to burn in.

[SoCalWJS]

I'm interested in those Black Treasure's, could you give me the supplier and part numbers?

I found the box they came in which says  "Changsha Shuguang Dongsheng Electron LTD" and they are CV181-Z's.

Honestly can't remember who I bought them from. One of the on line Tube vendors - can't remember which. 

[kruppy]

OK so I have only about 125 hours on the unit and it is breaking in. Dan suggests anout 400 hours. I find it to be a the opposite side of the spectrum from the SP8. Now Audio Research was never considered to be "warm sounding" say as the CJ's, but the LS100 is very close to a SS sound.

Wow, this is just the opposite of what I'm hearing.  I have Martin Logan Ascents which can be just brutal to the source.  So far the mids have been much warmer than my previous SS preamp.

When I talked to Dan, he said the LS100 will have a more tubish sound compare to the LS 36.5, which is what swayed me from picking up a a used LS 36.5.

[maxboy00]

I have the MW LS-100 PA as well, with the original stock tubes, it's the only tube gear that I've owned.  As far as tube rolling is concerned  are all three tubes being replaced of just the two matched pair? And if using some of the tubes mentioned in this thread is the change in sound apparent as compared to the stock tubes? 

[jimbones]

Ok so I installed rca Grey glass 6sn7 and a mullard rectifier tube and there is a big difference. Highly recommended