Which NOS tubes on my ASL 1009 for more warmth?

The latest iteration Winged 'C' EL34's and some NOS 12AU7 Mullards should provide all the warmth you'll ever need. (http://www.upscaleaudio.com/view_category.asp?cat=44) (http://www.upscaleaudio.com/SED-Winged-C-EL-34_p_63.html) I agree that the NOS power tubes would be a waste of money. If you purchase from Upscale, you can rest assured the EL34's will be genuine St Petersburg plant tubes, and not seconds or counterfeits. No connection with them, outside of a very satisfied customer.

I think you will be quite satisfied with Mullard 12au7s. The boxplate variety is especially nice if you can get it for a good price. I've tried virtually all the top notch 12au7s, and I keep coming back to the Mullards. They have none of the irritating sound qualities of brightness, peakiness, thinness, coolness or stiffness. Ease, balance, musicality and naturalness are their trademarks.

Hi Jman

I've just bought a used 1009. Which tubes did you finally get? Can you share what you have tried, how they sounded in your system and why you settled on the current ones?

Winged Cs are awesome tubes. My $.02 is spending big $ for nos is idiotic.

SED is the brand name used by the original manufacturer of "Svetlana" tubes. The current SED's and old Svetlana's as essentially the same tube. They were made in St Petersberg. Around the year 2000+/- this manufacturer lost the use of its name (Svetlana) in North America and adopted the name SED. Its brand logo changed from an S to a winged C (=C=).

If you do some research for user comments here and on Audio Asylum's tube forums you will find that some fairly experienced users consider them amoungst the finest new production and some consider them as good as most NOS. I've been using them for about 15 years and have not been disappointed and have never had a premature failure. I find them tonally neutral. If anything a tad warm compared to some other popular tubes and they might be similar to Mullards, but I've never paid $400 to find out. :-)

Thanks for the info guys...what are SED's?.

Most of your sonic improvements should be with the 12AU7s. You can purchase Mullard EL34/6BQ5 New Production for $25 (matched pair)and save $350. Evaluate your system as Newbee suggested and determine the 12AU7 that best match your system. Plus, you have a lot more 12AU7s to choose from to refine sonic characteristics of your system.

FWIW, you can probably get a fair change/improvement with different 12AU7's compared to the stock Chinese tubes, but before I went there and before I would spend any big money for NOS EL34's you might buy some of the best new production EL34's, such as SED's, and see if that is a big enuf improvement for you. At least they are a great benchmark tube, sonically and ruggedness. Once you have those in place you can do some simple experiments with 12AU7's to find a good match.

I was planning to spend approximately $400 on a quad of Mullards and a bit less on a quad of 12au7's...but that depends on how much difference they make. Where would I see more noticable improvement? I bought the amp used I'm pretty sure the caps were upgraded by an ASL technician.

Glory I have both Isoclean and HiFi Tunning fuses.

The Isoclean fuses are in my McIntosh amps (yes it made a difference.) The HiFi tuning fuses are in my Emm Labs CDP and preamp. I could not find the exact replacement fuse for my preamp 1.24 in Isoclean so I had to use HiFi.

Lapierre,

Isoclean or HIFI Tuning fuses?

Why recommend the HiFi?

Have you thought about upgrading the caps?

Mullard are very warm, low noise, and detail. Make sure you get a matched pair.

What is your budget? The EL's are at least $100 per tube or while the 12type are $100 to $499 per matched per.

Mullard ECC82/12AU7
Mullard ECC82/12AU7/CV4003
BLACK SABLE SED™ EL34
EL34 Mullard XF1 - Big Brown

While your under the hood change those fuses (HiFi Tuning) for additional clarity for the ASL 1009's.

Just retubed (McIntosh amp/preamp with Mullards) using different 12types. Very smooth all over top and bottom with a live like feel on some recordings.

Spin the Yellowjackets after you retube.
Pierre