Valhalla Integrated fully broke in! Wow! Since this post has not been up in quite awhile I'll remind everyone that in 20 years my wife never expressed an interest in selecting the music, and music was always off around 8pm. That all changed with the Valhalla in the system. Now when she comes up to the music room she grabs the iPad and she selects the music and we may listen till 10pm. Why? Because music is now richer, has far more texture and with serious grunt! The front to back and side to side imaging of musicians and vocals is uncanny. Depending on the recording it often seems as if the performers stage goes back 8 ft or more behind the X5s. I have only heard this type of 3D realism once before using the combination of Atma-Sphere M60 monos and the MP3 preamp with a different set of speakers. My opinion is that the Valhalla is better sounding than that vaunted combo, but then again, the Atma-Spheres were in a different room with different speakers so no way to directly compare. As Don notes, both the KT66 and Russian 6P3S-E power tubes sound great, with both producing prodigious bass through the X5s. I did note that the three 6SN7s up front on my Valhalla are not identical as shown on Don's Webpage and in some of the ads for Valhallas for sale. Don states that this unit has the e-6SN7 in the input slot, thought to be the best sounding 6SN7 available. The reason all 3 are not this tube is 1) price, they are fairly expensive, and 2) size, their unique shape does not allow for three to be placed next to each other. For Valhalla owners who might want to try this, Don suggests purchasing tube socket savers to either raise the input tube or the two driver tubes.
At his stage I am ordering extra Russian power tubes and an e-6SN7 as I feel the Valhalla Integrated will be my endgame amp for many years to come. Enjoy!
