2. amps-preamps
  3. 190277-150037

McIntosh tube upgrade - worthwhile?

I'm wondering if anyone has ever experienced Sonic improvement when switching from the mediocre JJ stock tubes used by McIntosh?

They tell owners that their tube amps are designed to perform equally well regardless of tubes used.  On the surface this seems incredibly unbelievable.

Anyone notice any changes when they upgrade the tubes? And which tubes do you like to upgrade with. Mostly focused on smaller tubes versus the power tubes which I hear overall don't make much of a difference anyway. But could be wrong.

emergingsoul
immatthewj
1,766 posts
 

Deja Vu?

 

 

ricmci
219 posts
 

I swapped out the original mac tubes for Golden Lions and only saw a minimal improvement in sound. It was better but not by much. 

dinov's avatar
dinov
822 posts
 

Yes, I put in vintage medical grade Amprex 12ax7s in my c2300 and it makes a great improvement in lowering the noise floor. As for my vintage mc30 s, mx 110z and MC 240 I use vintage telefunkens in the signal tubes, and some rca black plates in the phono section of the mx110. 

Ag insider logo xs@2x
jallan
279 posts
 

http://www.audiotubes.com 

Brent Jessee

Incredible source of NOS tubes, very nice guy 

dougthebiker
197 posts
 

You might want to check out Wathen's Cryotone tubes.  Decware is now offering them as an upgrade in their best amps.  At least one reviewer (HiFi Cave on YouTube) preferred their 300B's over the new Western Electric 300B's (which I have in my amp.)

Brent Jesse is great on NOS, though.

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