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Tube Rolling - Any tips or caveats

I recently purchased an ARC SP-16 and have decided that I would like to upgrade the tubes, essentially I will begin tube-rolling.

I purchased some NOS tubes to replace the phone stage tubes, but before I do, I was wondering if anyone has any tips or caveats regarding tube rolling. Things such as:

- Should I A-B test different tubes, swapping in/out quickly?
- Can I mix & match brands, or NOS vs. New etc...?
- Should I start from source and move downstream (ph-stage, Line stage,... power amp) or vice versa?

In general any tips would be welcome.
nick_sr
nick_sr OP
263 posts
 
Thanks for the tips.

BRF, I know what I want, extended bass and more dynamics. I have already been lining up some reference recordings that I have been listening to for a while.

I have already purchased a pair of telefunken 12AX7's so that will be the starting point. I realized after purchasing them that the SP-16 has 3 tubes in the phono section. And I spoke with ARC and they suggested to leave in the stock tube at the input as it must be low noise. I also wasn't aware that there was a low-noise so I have no way of knowing if the telefunken are or not (other than trying them out).

Knowing the above, next time I will buy my tubes from someone sepcialized in tubes, as recommended.

As for the Mofi's Audioasylum link, it was very informative, but I am not sure I ready to switch to 5751's.
facten
2,762 posts
 
Other respectable tube suppierls are : tubemonegr; Tube depot & brent jesse - you can get good NOS tubes w/o spending a fortune
somec59
245 posts
 
Be careful pulling out and inserting tubes so you don't mash the tiny plug in the ceramic tube holder
nick_sr OP
263 posts
 
If I want to improve the dynamics of the system is the pre-amp the best place to start?

A while back I upgraded the output tubes of my Mid-monos to KT88s. This did wonders for dynamics, no doubt as a result of the increase in power.

Would upgrading the input tubes (12ax7) of the power amps provide a bigger improvement (in terms of dynamics) than upgrading the phono stage of the pre?
nick_sr OP
263 posts
 
My first experience with NOS tubes has not been great.

For simplicity reasons, I started out by swapping my input tubes on my power-amps (Quicksilver Mid-Monos) with the pair of Telefunken 12ax7s. It sounded great, it tighten the bass and added definition to the imaging of the individdual instruments within the sound stage.

During my second listening session, less than 4hours total I lost the left channel. I let things cool down for a few hours swapped back the old tubes and voila! We were back up and running. Clearly a faulty not so New NOS tube.

Luckily the audio shop agreed to exchange it.
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