Upgrading Sonic Frontiers Line 3SE to ???

I think the polarity that you mention regarding the VK-51SE revolves around the 6H30 tube. Some people love it for it's dynamic's and power, certainly more dynamic than other tube designs. Others don't like it because of a sense that it sacrifices the midrange palability that make tubes popular. I owned a 51SE for awile, and I would not characterize it as dark, the warm side of neutral maybe, but not dark.

I believe the polarity is based solely on the 6H30 tube, which seems to be gaining popularity now that ARC and CJ are using in their top preamps too. For me, it is a very tough call. I did love the dynamics/transparency of the 6H30 tubes, but I did not enjoy the more sterile midrange presentation.

That's my take anyway. From those that I've talked to that hated the VK-51SE, most blamed the 6H30 tube itself. They laugh at the 'Supertube' reference and say give me my old 6DJ8/12AX7/6SN7 preamp and let me roll with NOS tubes. Since you won't find any Mullard/Telefunken/Amperex/Siemen's 6H30's, it's hard to say if it's the tube design itself or the lack of good NOS tubes.
If you had no choice but to run your Line 3SE with Sovtek 6922's, you would have some idea of the midrange sterility that I speak of. Of course the benefit of this is the price of NOS tubes is getting pretty outrageous, especially if you need 8-10 of them to fill your preamp....OUCH!!!

Just my $.02

John

From the discussions here regarding bass and what tubes are best in preamps, I really think you would be plesantly surprised if you were able to try one of the Atma-Sphere preamps, the MP-1 or MP-3 (6SN7 and 12AU7 in linestage), in your system - maybe if you have a friend with one to bring over. I also just thought of a couple of others you could consider - the VTL 6.5 (2x12AU7) or 7.5 (2x12AX7), which are both supposed to be quite good. I have heard the same things posted by others here about the 6H30 tubes (although never used them), and I know the 6922's in your Line 3 are getting expensive, for good NOS, and the Line 3 has a lot of them.

Reb1208,

Which sockets are the buffers in the SF Line 3? These are different than the front two gain tubes, right?