How much sonic improvement, if any, do tube dampers offer? I've got a Rogue Tempest Magnum. I've seen various versions, (brass on Mapleshade) for instance.
Give a try from a Shun Mook products called valve resonators for any size of tubes. An incredible vibration control (tube microphonics) almost makes the sound crystal clear and quiet background with lively music.
Did you find it made a notable difference in the Audible illusions?? Im pondering buying 4 of them for my 3a, and was holding off waiting to find someone whom said they made a worthy difference.
Besides the tube damper rings, you want to add some weight to the top of each tube, some lead. There used to be a company that made hi hats I think that worked well but were expensive. You can make your own by going to a crafts store and buying some lead strips and make your own. These tweaks benefit the sound to make it more musical in every way if you system can provide enough details.
The Mapleshade Tube Anchors I used on the 12AX7s in my phono stage made it sound so good that I just installed four more (had to be custom-designed) on the 6GK5s in my Conrad Johnson Premier l4. I really like what they do and have had no overheating problems so far. The downside is that they are a bitch to install (a little too tight and you have cracked a tube - ask me how I know). And the thin copper foil grounding straps are no picnic to attach. But the pluses outweigh the minuses and the price is right, plus there is a 30-day moneyback to increase your comfort level.
The Halo dampers are most definitely effective and I use them about 75% up with ARC dampers about 25% up. I also have used the Mapleshade brass dampers with good sonic results, but also lost several tubes due to overheating. I finally had to return them. There was a promise from Mapleshade to replace a couple of the tubes, but it never happened. Patience and persistence can definitely raise the bar in a system.
I found Herbie's Hal-O tube dampers (Teflon I think) to make a very noticeable improvement when used on the tubes (NOS 6922 Sovteks, and apparently "micro-phonic) in My SF Line 2SE. The Hal-Os dampened a low treble "tizziness" that showed up as excess brightness and/or glare. These dampers are so effective that I could actually fine tune sound-- best music quality was at 1/2 way down the tube for me. I highly recommend these dampers, and Herbie advertizes here on A'Gon if you're interested. Cheers. Craig
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