@dougotte , Yes, I am Number 6! HA. Great reference Sir. I ordered some Rothwells. They should get here Thursday. I also dropped in 4 12au6s into the 12ax7 positions of my tube DAC, and I even put a 12au7 in the 12ax7 position on the Carver Crimson 275. Result? a smidge better. I suppose I could swap out nearly everything for 12au7 on my source and amp too. Wow. Vincent really needs a gain adjustment on this thing. It's soooo strong.
So I ordered some Mullard EF180s (2) and popped them in. Both the original 6*9P/6J9Ps and the Mullard EF180s sound great! These Mullards test well and appear to be never used or well taken care of--all that Mullard packaging is still in tact, including the cardboard roll, wrapping paper and tube pin protector/straightener. I'm only 5 hours into them so it might be too early to say how they will mature. The original 6*9Ps are hotter sounding--more air, more detail, and just a touch hot--think sparkly, lively, electric. The Mullard are composed and duller sounding, but not in a bad way. They are certainly less fatiguing at this point and more mellow. Still, the sound spectrum is very evenly balanced with them. I noticed something I haven't seen before-- the 6*9P/EF180 tube bases are mounted very uniquely. They seem to "float" and are movable, back and forth. The sockets have 2 screws holding them down to the chassis or a board underneath what I can see. They have plastic-like or rubberized grommet-like things where the screws go through. Yet, they can be rotated back and forth. It's as if they were placed this way to combat shock. However, only these two tubes are mounted this way in my unit. Very unique (in my limited experience, cracking open tube amps).
The purpose of those wobbly sockets is fighting microphonics, unfortunately both the 6j9p and 6j51p tubes are very susceptible to microphonic effect. It’s unusual that the your other pair (6Ж51П) has regular sockets. I’ve never seen that version. You described the Mullard sound quite accurately, I even tried all-Mullard set once for fun, but the result was awful. I’ll recommend some really great equivalents for both variants via private messaging. There is only one version of the Soviet 6j9p tube that could compete with the western counterparts, but it’s very hard to get.
Next I popped in an RCA branded6Ej7/EF184, marked Made in England. This is one of those industrial meshy-plate looking tubes. I got these in original boxes and if they aren't true NOS, man were they kept in a pampered environment! It's too soon to review them. Everything is at touch darker sounding, which is not a problem for me. I have Klipsch Cornwall IVs and, while they are not shouty or harsh ever, they are revealing horns. JazzFan58, thanks for all your help on and off line. I should mention that I made a mistake; I have wobbly sockets on everything BUT the 6S3P-EVs. I also noticed something else about the topology. My PCB has labeled four (4) other tube sockets that say Mod 1, Mod 2, and so on. Is this Blumbaum's modification of the circuit? Attached to those sockets are sealed discrete units that look kinda like mosfets and capacitors had a baby, but have tube pins and are fully sealed units. These devices really look like solid state rectifier tube replacement devices, yet there's not way we need four rectifiers and these are not near the power supply. What are these guys!? I have some decent DIY experience but I cannot make sense of exactly what is going here.
I am now running Amperex Holland made EF184s (2), Mullard E180F/CV6189(2), and Telefunken EC86s (4). The Amperex opened things up with some nice air on top. The Telefunken toned down the air a bit, but the signal is solid throughout the entire bandwidth and the clarity is creepy it's so revealing.
“like mosfets and capacitors had a baby” - lol, you cracked me up . German diyers told me, that among other things they’re resistor-based grid stoppers. Can’t verify or anything, it’s just an opinion of theirs. They’re too dying to know for sure.
Good to know you liked this particular TFs. The important part is you like the results, which is more important than anything. Try to find TFs for the ef184 position. They’re easy to identify, as they don’t have the mesh screen. After the Lorenz it’s my second favorite tube.
[QUOTE="I ordered some Rothwells. They should get here Thursday. I also dropped in 4 12au6s into the 12ax7 positions of my tube DAC, and I even put a 12au7 in the 12ax7 position on the Carver Crimson 275. Result? a smidge better. I suppose I could swap out nearly everything for 12au7 on my source and amp too. Wow. Vincent really needs a gain adjustment on this thing. It's soooo strong.[/QUOTE] I'm onto this thread after @LakeMountain posted his helpful experience with his Vincent SV 700 in another thread I had weighed in on. Very interested to hear about how the Rothwells worked out with your Carver. I have a pair of Cherry 180's and was thinking through whether I want to simplify my system with a Vincent integrated instead of my Carver / Sira preamp tube-fest (35 tubes), but then started thinking I hold onto the Carvers for a while and go with a T7, or maybe just use the T7 with a pair of older Kavent (Vincent) monoblocks I have. The 180's have about the same gain as your 275.
Hello All, I am new to this forum, as well as about to be new to a tube preamp. I have been reading about the SA-T7 for several weeks now, and I am about to buy a used one. I have JBL professional theater speakers in my living room and Parasound HCA-3500 & HCA-2205a bi-amping them. I cannot wait to get the Vincent added to my system. The SA-T7 that I am purchasing was manufactured in February 2018, so I do not know if it is an "Old" or "New" style unit, and supposedly has all original tubes. When it arrives I hope I can get help from you guys on suggestions of which tubes sound best, and possibly help on installing them. (Like I said, completely new to this!) Particularly Jazzfan58, since you have so much experience with this preamplifier. Thanks to all!
Looking to upgrade my Yamaha C4 pre-amp, currently paired with an AVA Vision SET 400 power amp. Wondering how the SA-T7 would pair with the AVA. I don't have experience with a lot of gear, but I think the Vision SET 400 s thought of being somewhat warm and tubey. So, it might be too much of a good thing.
Another plus for Rothwell and like the poster no connection by me apart from being a happy user of their attenuation
VINCENT SV-237 - remote control - replacement - $13.7 : REMOTE CONTROL WORLD [/QUOTE] I ordered one of these a few months ago after losing the remote for my SA-T7. They just program a cheap remote with the codes, but it works fine! I first tried to find a replacement for the original metal remote, because it's so cool (but a bit heavy). I haven't found one yet. I contacted Vincent and they referred me to their US distributor, Pangea Audio. They were very helpful, and ordered the new remote Vincent is now providing. It's much smaller and uses a CR2025 watch battery. Unfortunately, the compartment is slightly too big, preventing a good connection with the battery, so it didn't work most times. I returned it to Pangea. I felt bad because they had gone to the trouble to order it from EU and then mailed it to me. But, I didn't want to pay $100 for something that didn't work.
Strange that the battery should not fit properly. Is it a design flaw or just bad luck? Nice that there is a cheap replacement remote available on the open market. Does the replacement remote offer smaller increments in adjusting volume? I find that possible adjustment on my Vincent one is just a bit too large.
I don't know if it's a design flaw or it was a defective unit. But, I didn't feel like ordering another one and waiting to see. Edit: I do recall lightly shaking the remote and hearing the battery sliding around inside, so I assume it's a design flaw. I wonder if CR2025 batteries have different dimensions in NoAm vs. EU? Unfortunately, the new one triggers the volume in the same increments. I was hoping it would be more subtle. So, I guess the increments are coded into the preamp, not the remote.
Bumping this thread and hoping to keep communication going on the SA-T7. I just bought one, which will replace my venerable Yamaha C4.
Investigating how best to integrate the SA-T7 into my system while I await delivery. A couple of issues have come to my attention, mostly due to lack of due diligence on my part, and neither is likely to be insurmountable (I hope). 1. I'm currently using a Schitt Modi gen 1 DAC which has a USB input from the laptop I use to access my FLAC files. The SA-T7 only has coax and optical inputs. So I need some sort of USB > optical or coax cable. Alternatively, a way to attach an optical or coax cable to my laptop. I see Schitt made such a unit, the "Eitr" but that has been discontinued. So I will need to sort this somehow. 2. The SA-T7 does not have a headphone jack. I neglected to even check for this and didn't notice the lack of it on the front panel. So I'll need some way to listen to my sources via headphones. Never having owned a separate headphone amp, I'm not sure how that would work. Both of these issues are due to my retro understanding and approach to audio. I'm pretty old school!
I'm still enjoying mine, and recently reverted a few changes I made earlier (documented in this thread). I managed to avoid messing with things for quite a while, but after reading some posts in the Parasound Amps appreciation thread, I couldn't stop myself! I reduced the A23+ gains from about 75% to about 50%. This shifted more of the perceived sound characteristics back to the SA-T7. I also removed the attenuators going into the amp from the SA-T7. I was surprised at the change. For some reason, I thought the sound would become thicker and warmer. But instead, it became airier and with greater separation in the instruments/sounds. It took me a few days to get used to it, but I soon grew to love it better than the previous setup. There goes my (and others') misconception that SS is drier and tubes are warmer! I also became used to the bass from my speakers and in my room. I rarely use the Tone switch anymore. When I do, it's when playing something with very prominent bass in the mix/mastering, such as the YMO SACDs and while my wife is working upstairs. Her home office is located where the bass manages to leak through, and she's complained before.
I bought and returned the same preamp (Audio Advisor) as I didn't think it was all that great and the volume pad was horrible at low settings - far too crude and probably the worst volume pad I have ever used in any piece of equipment - ever. Sound was OK but nothing spectacular and I thought the Rogue sounded better. For the $$$$ I expected something better and I stuck with my Rogue Super 99 Magnum pre. Sorry to be a party-pooper but . . . it ain't my fault!
No worries. I've read many good things about Rogue, and had considered an RP-5 or similar model before I settled on the SA-T7. No product is perfect, nor is any product the best for everyone. I'm not sure what you mean by "volume pad". I've never come across that term. Are you referring to our previous comments about the remote volume increments being too large?
I can't help with your USB issue, but I've used an external headphone amp for a while, so it was not an issue that the SA-T7 lacks a jack. I use the Output Rec jacks on the back to send the signal to the headphone amp. Despite Vincent's manual, and despite what they told me via email, muting the SA-T7 does NOT mute the Output Rec signal.
Thank you dougotte, this is helpful! I was wondering where to plug an external headphone amp in so that I could listen to all my sources. Sounds like this is the solution.
I'll probably try THIS UNIT to convert USB to SPDIF. RE Mike in NYC findings, yeah perceptions and experiences in audio vary a lot. I paid $1150 for my unit, which is missing the remote (no big loss apparently); not a big deal to me. So, at that price I'm hoping for a decent upgrade from my Yamaha C4. Also, several people have expounded, including in this thread, that to extract all the SA-T7 has to offer, you need to swap out the stock tubes. I guess I will find out about all of this!
