Ne Tubes 4 HiFi sp 9 tube pre amdp with phono section.

[guitarforlife]

Jun 9, 2016 13:07:15 GMT -5 novisnick said:

Jun 9, 2016 12:37:59 GMT -5 guitarforlife said:

thank you kind sir. I tried that but it never worked.

Very strange! Works for me every time!

Are you in the US?

Well, northern Wisconsin, But I still pay federal taxes....

I never posted it, Maybe it will not work until it is actually posted.

[KeithL]

Glad you're enjoying the hobby....

To answer your question...

Yes, tubes tend to be a bit noisier than the best solid state circuitry - for a few reasons.

1) The types of circuits used in solid state designs tend to be highly immune to power supply noise - like hum - while the types of circuits used in most tube equipment are much less so.

2) In general, tubes themselves have a higher level of noise than equivalent solid state components.

3) The sort of noise you get with tubes also tends to be somewhat different; sometimes you get "pure hiss" but sometimes it's more "patterned" - sort of like how water sounds coming from a faucet, with little chortling noises, and variations in the hiss. (Some solid state equipment is like this as well, and some tube equipment is not, but it's more typical of tubes. You will also notice that the "character" of the noise floor is one of those things that sometimes varies when you roll tubes. Different brands of tubes may have slightly different levels of noise, and a slightly different sound to the type of noise they produce. There used to be a whole branch of "tube science" dedicated to which shapes of grains on the coating of the cathode produced which exact types of noise character..... but the differences are really small.)   

Jun 9, 2016 8:16:11 GMT -5 bluemeanies said:

Jun 7, 2016 10:59:05 GMT -5 guitarforlife said:

Well, my pre amp arrived on Monday. Here are my impressions. First I do NOT consider myself a "Audiophile".
I do not believe a lot of money buys great sound.
I am a life long music lover and musician. So I do not know if I know the correct "terms" for my description.
I try to find the sound that is in my head. So here goes...................

First I replaced my beloved Marantz PM-8004 that I was using as a pre amp.

The Sp9 came very well packed. I had to take the cover off all the way in order to unpack the bubble wrap that was protecting the tubes.
From there I got a great view of the wiring and build quality. It is very very neat and professional.

I love the solid hand made look and vibe of the whole thing. Nothing mass produced here. You can see how Roy hand built this and it is great.

I have it hooked up to my Emo XPA-2 amp, Rega RP3 TT, Marantz CD-6004 cd player. through a pair of Maggie MMG's.

The first thing I played was the Traveling Wilburys then Al Stewart's Time passages. I will now to make a attempt to describe what I heard.

First thing I noticed is the separation of all the instruments is crazy. It is like going from Black and White to Color a veil was lifted off.

For some reason I'm a cymbal guy.

I could easily tell where the cymbals were hit and when they would move up to hit the bell of the cymbal. Guitars sound very real, acoustic as well as electrics. Drums are tight and crisp like a drum should be.

The stereo separation is crazy to the point I could hear it like I never did before. And yes I heard things that I never heard before in songs I have listen to for years.
Is it that I was paying more attention due to the fact I had a new toy in my system? Maybe, Maybe that is always the case when we get some thing new and we tell our brain it is better or different.

I was thinking about getting a pair of Maggie 1.7's but I have to say for ME this is the sound I hear in my head.   Would they be better ??
Would they be the same???

All in all I'm very happy with this tube pre amp. Now I have never had another to compare to. But where does it stop?
For me I say I'm done My system does what I want it to do and sounds the way I like.

Any way hope this helps with any one thinking of tubes. I'm sold on them. The tube pre and SS amp seams to be a good match.

Oh, one little thing I should mention. Now for me it is no big deal. I have had Tube guitar amps and own 8 at this time so to me this is no biggie.

When I had my Marantz pre amp it was dead silent at idle. The tube pre has a very slight noise at Idle. I cant say if it is a hum or hiss it is so faint but it is there. Guitar amps do the same thing and in no way turns me off on it.

Maybe some of our Tube guys will shed some light on this if they read this. Audio Bill, Keith , Boom, any of you with more tube stereo experience can explain.

guitarforlife good review..your interpretation. Great choice of music selection. Love Al Stewart and the Willburies.
I have the m125's which are amplifiers not a pre-amp...different animals but part of the same species.
IMO with this hobby changes, upgrades never end. Even the smallest change could make for better listening. You don't need a lot of money, however money does help. Buying reliable products from a solid company like tubes4hifi, American made, assembled in the USA is a small footnote with products developed by tubes4hifi.
Cymbals, piano, guitar, violin and the list can go on with the new life your pre is breathing into your system. I would wager that your vinyl experience will be newly founded.
I stream with TIDAL and at this point I am TT free. Part of that reasoning is storage, another is for now TIDAL is doing a super job, cd quality in hifi.
Thinking of new speakers? New Maggie's?
Take you time and if possible perhaps take the new Maggie's home and compare...you might just save yourself some money.
Did I follow my own advice....NO!
I went from the B&W804S speakers to the 803diamonds. The m125's do a great job with both speakers. Did I really need those diamonds...no...I had an opportunity to purchase them at a reasonable price and that guitarforlife was my albatross. I sold my 804S speakers for better than half the price I paid for them 8years ago.
The temptation was to strong not two not to upgrade.
At this point I am set....at least that's what I keep telling myself.
Congrats and enjoy.