The first time I did some tube rolling in the Aesthetix IO Sig, was when I started to hear a tube or so making some noise. I isolated the culprit or culprits, the V1 and V2 stages. At the time I tried various tubes in all three gain stages. I finanlly settled on some Mullards and then going back to some new Sovtek 12AX7LPS for the V1 stages, they seem to make magic in that position. I believe a full tube replacement from Aesthetix for the IO is about $800, however, if you pick and choose replacement tubes yourself, the prices are considerably lower.
I am not sure why my original Aesthetix IO tubes started making noises, but the replacements have been in a couple of years now, with extensive weekend use, and no problems, just excellant musical reproduction.
One little note, once you do get the correct tubes in, their is a sheen of life in the vocal and musical reproduction. It just makes music sound hauntingly real.
Ciao,
Audioquest4life
I am not sure why my original Aesthetix IO tubes started making noises, but the replacements have been in a couple of years now, with extensive weekend use, and no problems, just excellant musical reproduction.
One little note, once you do get the correct tubes in, their is a sheen of life in the vocal and musical reproduction. It just makes music sound hauntingly real.
Ciao,
Audioquest4life