[Doktorfuture]

Hiyall,

I've had my Big7 for about a month now. Loudspeakers are Acapella High Violoncello II Mk II (whew a monthful). Pre is VAC Signature Mk IIa. Various power amps (trying to find the best fit). All OCC Silver wire. Speaker cables 9awg.

I did a little tube rolling just to see.

Started with the supplied 45's, and it was quite wonderful.
Tried 2a3's. Like everyone says, the magic goes away. Sounds more 'solid state'. Tigher / edigier but no air.
So back to the 45's. They are really microphonic!

I bought some 101D's at a local show yesterday and will try them out soon.

Anyone in Toronto?

[wisnon]

Did you try the 6A3?

[bonzo75]

I love the Acapella Violincellos midrange. how many hours have you done with the Plasma tweeter, do they give any problems later? How do you find the bass integration, especially with symphonies.

I have the Hytron VT52s and the Lafayette/Tung Sol 6A3 on my B7. But I will leave you in the hands of Wisnon

[wisnon]

No Bonzo, go right ahead. Some good tubes you have there.
I hear that certain 300bs are great too.

[Doktorfuture]

I haven't tried the 6A3 or 300B yet.

Would they be on the 45 setting or the 2a3 setting?

I have some Gold Lion 300B's I was going to use in an audio note kit amp. Would they work?

Did you try the 6A3?

[Doktorfuture]

I've a few hundred hours on the tweeter. I put on a Blue Circle 'power thingie' and it improved both tweeters sound a lot.

The tweeters do eat dust. They make crackle noises when dust enters the chamber. I really notice it when music isn't playing. The tweeters shut-down if there is no signal, and when they turn back on there is a relay click and they go into a sort of 'burn mode' for a few seconds where they try and burn whatever has entered the chamber. I am convinced I've never heard a better tweeter tho.

It is hard to balance the tweeters though. They have a small knob, smooth, with no markings. I did it mainly by ear but I glued toothpicks to the knob as indicators to get better control when adjusting.

The bass integration is always hard with Acapellas it seems. I have a really big open-concept room and there really wasn't enough bass at all. Strangely I found the parallel 300B amp gave a good sound. It had less controll of the bass but it was more musical and filled in. I tried other amps with less success. Right now I've got them bass supported with two open-baffle subwoofers (GR research drivers / Rythmik) that work great. You can't tell the subs are there.  Hermann Winters, who is Mr. Acapella, was at the Toronto TAVES show, shook his head at me when I told him about the subwoofers

At the Toronto Taves show last weekend a lower model, the Violons, were playing and they had great bass driven by a too-expensive Acapella amp.  I think they have great bass if you have a good partnering amp and the right room. My room is too big so I had to augment with the open-baffle subs.

I love the Acapella Violincellos midrange. how many hours have you done with the Plasma tweeter, do they give any problems later? How do you find the bass integration, especially with symphonies.

I have the Hytron VT52s and the Lafayette/Tung Sol 6A3 on my B7. But I will leave you in the hands of Wisnon

Some pics:

[Doktorfuture]

I put in the Psvane 101D's this morning.

Just listening to them now. They are very good but I think the 45's are my favorite overall.
The 101D's have very good (but not excellent) midrange an excellent air. But they seem to be missing some body that I had with the 45's.  In some ways it could be a bit more realistic but it's also leaner sound.

We'll see how impressions change as the tubes form over the next week.

No Bonzo, go right ahead. Some good tubes you have there.
I hear that certain 300bs are great too.

[bonzo75]

Awesome. Listen to the Cessaro Liszts or Tune Audio Animas if you ever get a chance, and let me know your impressions

[bonzo75]

I heard the VT52s are super 45s, so they are like the EML 45s but with a bit more power, which is why I bought them

[Doktorfuture]

I spent some time with PSVANE 101D's and Golden Lion 300B's in the Big 7.

I felt the 101D's started 'small' but ended up close to the 45's. I prefer the 101D's to the 2a3's. They were quieter than the 2a3's, but picked up a good amount of ambiance and sounded pretty realistic, but I think not as realistic as the 45's. I'll switch soon back to the EM 45's and see how things go.

The Golden Lion 300B's, fresh out of the box, sounded way louder, way better bass than 101D, much more dynamic. Soundstage is smaller, but perhaps more realistic in size. Not as show-offy.

The problem is the 300B's timber isn't as realistic and it is definitely more strident. It's a lot better with drums, but not as good with cymbals.  The 300B doesn't seem to pick up micro-details as well as the 101D's and certainly not like the 45's. Perhaps they are similar in detail recovery as the 2A3's.  But then again, these are new. They may change as I burn them in.

So far, for my preferences, with the 300B's still being 'new' I'd say:

EM 45's - Best space/decay, most realistic sounding, largest sound stage, amazing detail; not as dynamic as some others, okay bass

PSVANE 101D - Very good sense of space/decay. Most things sound realistic. Sound stage is good, detail very good; Okay dynamics, okay bass

Shuguang 2a3 - So so space/decay, hi-fi sounding (not as realistic). Sound stage is okay. Detail okay. Dynamics too forward. Okay bass.

Gold Lion 300B - Sense of space lost. Not realistic sounding. Sound stage is smallest. Loudest.  Very dynamic. Strongest bass.

[Geardaddy]

that's good to hear as all I have used to date are the $500+ "stock" EML 45s.   

[DEV]

Curious have you tube rolled your Vac because this will change things. Have you tried placing different isolation under the pre, I notice your have the two pces just being stacked and placed on your HRS stand.

What is that you like and would like to improve in your current set-up.

I see you appear to have allot of different gear in general.

[Doktorfuture]

I'd like to tube-roll the VAC to see what changes but I need some advice. I have not researched likely choices. Everything is stock with the VAC so far.

One thing I'm going to try (unless everyone says to not) is one of those copper solid state replacements for tube rectifiers. See what that does on the Big7.

Could you suggest a good choice for VAC tube rolling?

Re: HRS stand, yes, both are stacked right now. I bought an Einstein "Light in Dark" amp on audiogon and will swap out the two Ref 250's to see how it goes. When I do that I'll split the VAC on two shelves.

I've also got two devialets (D800), which I think are very good (excellent on some speakers) -- but they really don't work well with the Acapellas.

The best sound I've had so far on the Acapella's is with an ANK Audio Kits (the parallel 300B interstage) with the Big7, but I'm having rectifier issues with it (they keep blowing) so hopefully they will come back. The parallel 300B doesn't have all the power it needs, but it's fine for most listening.

Right now I think I've hit 4/10 on quality for this new system.

I am going to try that Einstein amp, and am in touch with Lukasz via email on some ideas for lowering noise floor with the Big7.

Apart from that I'm going to spend some months on room treatment / acoustics. I just got some sound absorbing blinds that will help. My RT60 is over 1s for most frequencies in my room which is really terrible IMO.  If I can fix it up a bit it will improve things a lot.

I'm also a bit stupid in my rear surrounds - MBL 116F's which are not yet hooked up

Curious have you tube rolled your Vac because this will change things. Have you tried placing different isolation under the pre, I notice your have the two pces just being stacked and placed on your HRS stand.

What is that you like and would like to improve in your current set-up.

I see you appear to have allot of different gear in general.

[Geardaddy]

what noise issue are you having with your 7?

[wisnon]

I haven't tried the 6A3 or 300B yet.

Would they be on the 45 setting or the 2a3 setting?

I have some Gold Lion 300B's I was going to use in an audio note kit amp. Would they work?

Sorry I missed this before:
Try them on the 2A3 setting and if they dont work, then go to 45 setting. Technically 2a3 is the correct setting, but some guys wityh otlder L7s say they work better for them on the 45 setting My Dac is newer (Sept) and I detect no SQ difference for the 6A3 tube, so I use in 2A3 setting. Have not tried a 300b. The very latest dacs will possibly have 3 circuit settings, ie 2a3/45 and optimized 300b, ie 5v.

Let me repeat again, several people have stated clearly that the "cheap" 6A3s beat the WE Replica metal base Psvane 101d tube, saying the 101d is more thin. The 6A3 seems to be the best value for money play in B7 land. The overall champ from at least one person is the Sophia Electric Carbon Princess 300b 2.5v (a 2A3 replacement tube, retailing for $525 with a month guarantee). Many are waiting to use the new Elrog 300b tube and the holy grail WE vintage 101d (tennis ball globe). SFox has the ST shape vintage WE 101d with the WE 422a recti and is most impressed by that combo. Other great BIG bottle rectis are reportedly, the Phillips metal base GZ34, Mullard fat bottle GZ37, GEC U52 and of course the WE274b/422a. The stock Shu Guang 274b is great value for money as its a very solid/capable performer. http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?32378-Lampizator-Level-7/page9

Dokt, as you have the B7 with twin 6x5 rectis, you may want to roll those for the Sylvania, RCA or "holy grail" TungSol metal base 6X5.

[wisnon]

that's good to hear as all I have used to date are the $500+ "stock" EML 45s.   

Classic 300b tube is 5v, so would stress the circuit and be seriously underheated...thus untill there is a switch for the 300b, the best bet would be the Sophia carbon Princess 300b 2.5v

He has not tried the 6A3, and that is the consenus value play. it would be the FIRST tube that I as a big 7 owner would seek to roll. the 6A3 is the standard to beat....though the NU ST 45s have gotten favourable mentions from Shawbros and Silverlight!!!! Another value play there...
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?32378-Lampizator-Level-7/page9

[sfox7076]

I have one correction.  I have a 274b WE rectifier, not the 422a WE.

[wisnon]

My bad, I thought you had the 422a….

Thanks for disabusing me of that false notion.

[shawbros3]

I wasn't able to try the 6a3, 300b, or 101D in my Big 7 because I had no idea that I could at the time!  Now that my Big 7 is gone I have to live through all these positively painful reports.  Such a pity, because I had some top shelf 300b's I could have tried.

For what I was able to sample, my favorite tubes were:

EML 45 Globes
Cunningham 345
NU 45

I'm quite surprised the NU 45 isn't mentioned more by others.  To my ears it has incredible speed, weight, sweetness, and crazy texture.  Bass is a bit soft, but it's quite the tube and it's super cheap!

My Big 7 used 6x5GT rectifiers so I couldn't try the big bottles like you guys.  But in my preamp and amp, the best ones by far were the GEC/Brimar U52's, WE 422a's, and the Mullard Fat CV378/GZ37.  The skinny Mullard CV378/GZ37 is also a very musical tube, but is slow and murky in comparison to its fatter cousin.

I miss my Big 7!

[wisnon]

Shawbros, what Dac do you have now?

Also, did you know that the Big7 HeadDac with 3 tube circuit optimised setting is about to be released shortly? I hear that the Dac and amp section can work independently and as a operational combo, so its very versatile. Makes you go mmmh? LoL