Which Tube Integrated? Rogue v. Cary v. ARC

I have owned the Rogue Tempest Magnum for 7 months. It is matched with Von Schweikert DB100 speakers, a Nottingham Interspace Turntable and a Cary 308 CD player. Straight Wire cableing throughout.

I am very happy with the Rogue. No tube hum, but I tweaked it out with tube dampers and there was improvement (tighter sound).

It certainly is the right price and has increased my appreciation for sound tremendously.

I highly recommend setting the Rogue in triode (42 watts) and matching it with highly sensitive speakers, so you're not aching for more power. Triode sounds great.

I did blow my first tube (output) which also took out a resistor. Mark at Rogue is paying for the tube.

I changed out the input tubes to NOS and there was a large improvement. I also changed out the output tubes (NOS) but did not notice enough change so I went back to the originals.

I am a jazz fan and the Rogue is a great match for jazz. Rock, a little less so. Classical, terrific. Vocals, super.

Gthirteen,

I'm using RCA 12ax7's and 12au7's and really like them. I heard Tung Sol 6550's we're also really good. I bought two matched pairs and blew out a fuse in 10 seconds and shortly after blew a tube. I did not notice a significant change.

Also, I heard that Rogue is going back to KT-88's for its Magnum series. The 6550's have been blowing out too frequently. Hmmmmm.

My power cord is a Custom LLC that I saw advertised on Audiogon. It is top of the line for them and reasonably priced $160. Good cord.

My dampers are Herbie's. I have them on each tube as well as on a couple interconnects. As I said, they have tightened things up.

One of my best purchases was a used Bright Star Audio Rack of Gibralter and I made my own sandbox for the TT. Super vibration control.