Jeff of Arabica
|
I really like these tubes... a lot! Of all of the tubes I have run through my ZMA, these have the most incredible mid-range purity I have yet to experience. It is lush, and captivating.
I am fine with the bass, both volume and quality, but it could be that my Hegeman Model 1's are to credit for this. The cabinet design reduces resonance through the use of quarter wave tubes and the mid-bass all the way down to low bass is incredible. When 2-channel listening, I have not engaged my bass drivers since I put these speakers in play. If they are fed a half-way decent bass signal, I am usually pretty pleased with the bass sound out of these speakers. Regardless of why, the bass is sufficient and of quality.
I am also not running direct to my ZMA. Everything is run through my Ultra pre-amp. I am not sure if this is in fact the case, but I am finding that these 6P3S-E's are very complimentary to my '75 Reflektor "Holy Grail" input tubes (In both my Ultra and ZMA). There seems to be a special synergy between these input tubes and the 6P3S-E output tubes.
I find the treble clarity and detail to be quite nice. I feel my Full Music KT88's have an edge in that department, but the difference is not profound. The balance of high's, mid's, an low's is what I feel these tubes thrive at. I have thrown a few genres at them and they have not balked. I have listened hours on hours with them, and they have not fatigued. They seem to be hitting on all 8 cylinders and not leaving me feeling deprived in any department. I am not yet ready to crown them the King of all output tubes as I still love my KT88's, but they sound awesome - especially for the price.
But as mentioned earlier, the mid's are simply dreamy! That is the difference maker with these tubes in my opinion. If you are running a ZMA and still have not quite reached the mid-range heaven that you lust over, you must give these tubes a try. And at $60 for a matched quad, it makes no sense not to try them out. Like with everything else, allied system components matter, but I am really pleased with what I am hearing with these tubes in my ZMA.
|