Question for tube aficionados


I have a vintage Conrad-Johnson PV 11 preamp.
 I’ve always re-tubed it  with the cheapest tubes from Tube Depot (e.g. Electro-Harmonix 12AU7 and 12AX7, Sovtek 5751 and the like.). I’ve been very happy with the sound.
 My question is:
 Would it be worthwhile to spend more money on more exotic tubes?
  Would there be any appreciable difference in the sound?
 I’m powering the system with NuForce Reference 9 V3 monoblocks.
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Showing 1 response by mbaudio

As a general note, please remember also that replacing a tube alone is not good enough. Compensating tube production variations, tube aging (and, especially, when using equivalent models) always demands a check and adjustment of bias voltage. I experienced surprisingly significant sound differences from the bias voltage differences of 5%. To make it more challenging, certain systems will benefit from setting a bias voltage that is different than the one recommended by the amp manufacturer. Additionally, my recent observation indicates that the replacing tubes and adjusting bias can also introduce embellishment and extension of trebles that can be easily taken for increased resolution while it only adds graininess.