Cary SLP 03 Owners Tube Rolling Ideas

I want to express my experience: Changed the stock EH for 4 vintage Haltron's and it was a different preamplifier, the bass got ideal and detail was much better, a 35% upgrade just with the change of tubes.
So indeed try different tubes before upgrading to a different preamp. Hope this helps other Cary SLP 03 owners.

Since your tastes(like mine) are toward the more open, transparent and accurate: I'll suggest the Siemens or Telefunken ECC802S as the ultimate for your application. If the cost of those is too salty: The Siemens CV491/ECC82 isn't a slouch either. The 802S is a "specially selected for triode balance and low noise" tube, but any tubes should be carefully graded as very low noise for a pre-amp, phono or mic circuit. These tubes have been counterfeited in the past. If you shop for the Tele's: Be certain they have the diamond on the bottom. This site contains some good info on what flavors to expect from some of the other variants of the family: (http://www.audiotubes.com/12au7.htm)