2. digital
  3. 152037-5396

Lampizator Amber 3

I expect to receive my new Amber 3 next week. It is unbalanced and without volume control.  It will have USB, SPIDF and Toslink digital inputs. Lampizator does not seem to offer upgraded tubes as an option so I am wondering what tubes, new or NOS, selected over the stock tubes might improve sound quality. Is it better to focus on the ECC99 or the ECC82? I find ECC82 equivalent code to be 12AU7 and ECC99 to be 6N6P and E182CC.

I will use Wywires Platinum USB cable and Wywires Digital Juice II Silver series power cord.          

I would greatly appreciate any other guidance people may have. 

Thanks


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Showing 2 responses by kalali

kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
Does anyone know if the circuit in the Amber benefits from (or requires) the output tubes with matched dual triodes? I'm assuming it does since it uses two different dual triode tubes for left and right channels.
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
My understanding is in Amber 3 the Ecc99 is used in the gain stage, Ecc82 in the buffer stage, and the third tube is a 6X5 used in the rectification stage. In my Amber 1, they use Ecc81 in the gain stage. Other tubes are the same.
In my unit they had affixed labels showing the date codes in two places on the chassis, over the cover and the bottom plate, so removing the cover would break the labels. You should check with them before attempting to remove the cover to access the tubes since breaking the labels might void the warranty.
As others said, you should listen to the DAC and let it settle in before even considering replacement tubes. You will most probably keep it as is. No harm in getting an aftermarket power cord, of course.
Let us know how you like it.
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