Yes, Sylvania tends to be airy in most of their tubes. As my system is pretty neutral I believe, I like them. For instance, I like Best the Sylvania VT-99 smoked glass in the 6SN7 slots on my LM-508. With the brown base, the sound is incredibly transparent and holographic, but not aggresive if matched properly with the rest of the gear. This amp can get a little bright or harsh with the wrong tubes, but incredible with the right or good ones. Speakers and source are very important selecting the tubes for it.
@Chris Amott how do you like the acme 805 ? I am still running the stock 805 and thinking between the acme or the linlai (little difference in their pricing). any comparison between the acme and stock ?
LM enthusiasts, When I use the preamp input on the 508 (as often suggested in this forum) from my blue node 2i it seems that the max volume from the blue node 2i is still not loud enough to result in normal volume levels out of the 508. When I go from the blue node 2i to input 3 on the 508 the 508 puts out volume levels as expected. Please advise.
I have the ACMEs 805 and they are great. Much better than the Psvane 805A-TII, that were also noticeably better than stock 805 tubes. The only downside is that they are quite expensive. I've also tried an old Sylvania 7F7 recomended here, on the 6SL7 slot, but I prefered the Sylvania 6SL7 GTA Brown Base with Golden Letters on the glass. If you consider the cost of the adapter for the 7F7, both valves end up costing similar. The good news is that both are cheap to try. I would recomend the BB, even before spending $800 on the ACMEs. For the 6SN7 slots, you can try 6F8G/VT99 tubes with adapters. Some of them are still not to high in price and you can find few users impressions on Internet. I like very much the Sylvania VT99 smoked glass, even more than some other tubes recomended here and in other forums such as Shuguang Treasure CV-181 and National Union 6SN7 black glass. Maybe you can also try the russian Melz on the 6SN7 slots, but they are not reliable on quality control, you must be careful on the seller to choose and prices are getting higher. You can also try Mullard of course, but they are a pricey bet.
You need a very good preamp, with "balls" and resolution, to drive the LM-508 with grip and also get an improvement in sound quality. I use the Audio-GD Master 1 preamp, wich is a very good pre for the money, and the difference between the pre input with the M1 and the DAC directly on other inputs is not huge. I've got mostly a more refined sound. There's a difference, but I would invest the money somewhere else, like better valves, vibration control and Herbies tube dampers. It will be cheaper and you will get better or similar results. If you want to get better sound and you are using the bluesound as a DAC, maybe you have a week link in there. A good dedicated DAC could be a good upgrade to analize.
I know it takes a while to “burn in” but after 8 hours or so from being completely new with stock tubes the sound it’s making is making me nervous about my purchase. Yuck! LOL
Thanks, Pedro. I will check out the Audio-GD Master 1 out. The one that seems to come up in every audiophile discussion is Schiit Freya+.
I haven´t tried the Freya, but for me the preamp wouldn't be within the first upgrades to consider. It will be expensive and not a game changer.
It's a very good amp, but it needs good tubes to shine. With the wrong ones, it can sound harsh sometimes. A little bit agressive if you have a system (speakers ans source) that leans toward the bright side. Nevertheless, with good tubes it will sound superb. The downside is that good tubes are expensive, mostly 300B and 805. Also you need more burn in time for a more complete judgement. What you don't like about it for now?
Pedro, It’s hard to describe. The good thing is there is no hum and the bass is great. But their is a very faint noise between the notes. And another thing. To give an analogy if it was a painting, instead of the colors being vivid and saturated the colors are faded and muted. I am coming from 2 old Decware Zens that are bridged and I expected the big azz LM to immediately put the puny Zens on EBay. I think the sound is changing a bit.
Those sound like the symptoms of crappy tubes or not having enough burn in time. My wa5le headphone amp with the stock 300bs and 6sn7s was good, but nothing amazing. After getting it takatsuki 300bs, cv-181t driver tubes, and upgrading the coupling caps to vcap cutf it's like the veil has been lifted and it made me go "wow this sounds really freakin good"
As previously discussed on this thread, the pre-in attenuates the input by about 10db and requires an pre-amp with active gain in front of it. It only bypasses the volume pot. Using a DAC/streamer with digital volume control or a passive preamp won’t work.
Agreed that 6F8G’s seem to the best value proposition for the 6SN7’s. The ECC32’s are crazy expensive. You can get a pair of Tung Sol 6F8G’s for half the price.
Razakoz, A veil is a much better description of what I am experiencing than my descriptions. I have heard that in audiophile reviews but what you said brings it right home. What I’m hearing from you guys is its about the tubes. And from what I am seeing from people on this forum, the types of tube I need on eBay are like $2000 dollars worth or more and they don’t last forever. Which sucks big donkey balls.
Thanks, Chris, I thought my 508 might be broken. You confirmed what Pedro said. Preamp needs some diesel. That gives me peace of mind that my unit isn’t broken.
If you are willing to try, meaning spending time and money, you should start rolling some preamp tubes. We have told you here some good not too expensive alternatives. If you like the results, you can then try rolling some 300B or 805 ones, wich are considerably more expensive. I have my LM-508 with many tweaks and upgrades and all of them had their impact in sound quality. I agree with you on the money, it gets expensive, but it can turn into a great amp. It's like anything else on this crazy audiophile journey, time and money consuming, but rewarding!
I hear you, Pedro. Kind of feel like I bought a used Bentley. Care and feeding is more expensive than the product itself.
LM Enthusiasts, I am a social music listener and an in car listener so when I think about it...I have a few friends over for drinks and listen for a few hours 2-3 times a week. I might listen alone when refining my playlists for an hour a week or so..... I would guess I really only listen at home 10 hours. So about 10 hours/wk = 500 hours/yr. At low levels through efficient speakers. 6F8G/VT99/6sn7s = last 10,000 hrs @ $500= 20yrs = about $2/mo 300B = last 5,000 hrs @ $700 = 10yrs = about $6/mo 805 = last 2,500 hrs @ $700 = 5yrs = about $12/mo ————- —— $20/mo on tubes. I won’t feel it.
LM Enthusiasts, Please let me know if I’m on the right track before I put out all this money for tubes. 300B - 2 top dogs are EML 300B-XLS or Psvane ACME 300b around the same price. Don’t make a huge difference in sound quality. Can anyone speak to the difference in their tube life and the difference in their sound characteristics between the 2? 805 - Psvane Acme 805 and RCA 805 are the 2 best and they cost around same price. They cost the most, wear out the fastest and make the most sound difference. Can anyone speak to the difference in their tube life and the difference in their sound characteristics between the 2? 6F8G/VT99/6sn7s - Not much agreement on best sound quality and there are some top contenders but they last a long time and make a considerable sound difference so splurging is in order.
You just said it. I was about to mention something very similar. In my case, I listen two or three times a week (about 15 hs/week), so the expense on valves per year is not huge. I can afford it. Someone said something I agree with: "I prefer a good valve amp with very good tubes than the opposite". The thing is that some valves (the good ones) like 300B, 805, 845, etc are pretty expensive and if you use the amp many hours a day, may be a valve power amp is not for you. Perhaps, if you like the sound of valves, a good SS amp plus a valve preamp is a better choice as preamp valves last longer and are much cheaper. Please, post your impressions as soon as you try different valves on your LM.
So... the value to performance tube chase begins - I am done with the 3 little tubes for $240 dollars. 6sl7 =$30.83 Sylvania USA 6SL7WGT Short Grey Plate Top - Brown Base 6sn7s = $176.43 2piece TOP GOLD PLATED 6F8G 6C8G TO 6SN7 6SL7 TUBE CONVERTER ADAPTER -$37.70 NOS SYLVANIA VT99 6F8G MATCHED PAIR $138.73 Now time to find great value on the 300B and 805
Hey Jay Have you bought the 6SL7 already? There are several models and I don't know if all of them sound the same. I don't think so because they look different on the inside, but I can seek on Ebay to see wich ones look exactly the same on the internal parts. Let me know. I can help you with the search.
