Somewhat of an update-
I’ve been listening with my DAC connected directly to my amps. Wanted to listen tonight with the Candela and was determined regardless of issues (Roon let’s you dial in some balance).
Since I had the Candela out of the loop, I had to shut off the amps to put it back in. Turned everything on and left the room to let things warm up while I had a beer in the TV room. I remembered that I had the original JJ tubes in it.
Came in, dialed up a song… no left channel… WTF! Took the Candela out, had both channels. Well, while I’m up I swapped tubes side to side, put the Candela back in, no right channel. So, one of the JJs is gone. It was noticeably warmer when I pulled it.
Put my Northern Electric tubes in, dialed in some balance in Roon (took the left down 3 db), and I’m listening again. Still don’t like that I have to balance it when listening to the Candela and want Klaus to take a look at it, but at least I’m listening. I bought a second hand cheap preamp to throw in the system for when I send it out. I don’t like controlling the volume digitally, and I need a pre-out for my subs.
It’s days like these that I wish I liked listening on headphones better!
