I'm 95% confident that Cossor is made by PSVane. I have a pair of the Cossor 845s.

I had an Aqua II go bad... really makes me want to get the STR for the amp!

I have been following this topic for a while and find these initial Space Tech rectifier reports exciting. Unless I have missed it, I think I've yet to read a post from anyone with a Sarah who has installed the Space Lab Rectifier.   Being so new, Sarah might sound just right for the time being, but I was wondering if anyone out there has tried the SLR with the Sarah amp. If so, it would be great to hear from you. Thanks

Hearafter -

Once again, I have no idea. 872A tubes are mentioned on the STL site, but I just set an email to Al to be sure. Thanks for keeping me careful over here!

Bloodlemons, Glad that you double checked with Al and the 872’s  work in your 1002. Al told me the 872’s are not compatible with the 104.  Different sockets and too powerful. I will be using the type 83 and 866A’s mercury vapors.  The 866A sound excellent and I still have to try the 83.  It arrives tomorrow.👍

Finally got around to playing with the choke function tonight. Kind of a "magic" switch. Talk about holographic! Soundscape deepens, edges get a little blurry, and the music kind of ebbs away between the notes, but then rushes back toward you at all the right moments. It feels like being just a little bit high. I wouldn't have known that I even wanted something like this, or how to ask for it if I did. It's very pleasant.

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Cool, glad it is working out. I might get a couple 83s at some point.

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I went back and forth about whether to get the choke or not. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd normally listen to, but in the end I figured "why not." So we'll see in month or so.

I didn't notice this until today, and it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the STR manual, but there are slots in the back of the tube sockets on the STR where you are supposed to rotate the tube 90 degrees until the pin on the tube is all the way to the end of the slot. I've been using the 805A pair without doing this for about two weeks and it's been fine, but obviously it's a good idea to be doing things the right way...

In other news, my first pair of 872A mercury vapor tubes came today. I am running them for the first time right now, at the correct 5v. At first first listen, they are a bit less "magical" than the 866As I was running at the wrong voltage last week, lol. I'll have to wait for the adapters from Space Tech for the 866As before I can try them back-to-back for a true comparison. But things are sounding very nice right now, to be honest.

The funny thing is that I absolutely know what a bayonet mount is, but for some reason I assumed the pin on the back of the tube was just to orient it in the socket. So, yeah, I definitely lucked out that there were no consequences there.

Bloodlemons-  cool tubes…let us know how the 872a sound compared to the 866a’s.  

I ran two type 83’s and was very impressed how they sounded in my little str-104.  Liked them paired together over using one 83 and one 300b.  More 3d and holographic.  My favorite so far is a 866a with a 3b22.  Just something about that blue glow makes everything sound better

Good morning, James; it looks like you are expecting delivery of the Space Tech rectifier in late June or early July. I was wondering about your setup: Are you replacing both rectifiers in two UFO25s, or are you replacing the rectifier in your preamp? If it is with both UFO25s, is there a way to do that with one Space Tech rectifier, or are you adding two? Will you be trying out other tubes besides the 211s and 845s?

Dumb question. I'm looking to pick up a 1004. Does it ship with any tubes?

I thought you guys might appreciate my low-tech mercury vapor warm-up timer...

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Are they bigger? AL told me that tube size is a big factor in SQ, i.e. "size matters."

Interesting, I mostly ask because I think I saw pictures of 872As, and the Amperex was considerably smaller than some of the other tubes. But google is unable to find it for me, so maybe I am mis-remembering something.

Thanks, good to know I haven't lost my entire mind!

Hearafter, I scrolled back, found a couple pictures of your Str 104 without side panels, and I think the new look is great! An addition of real affection for this new component. Nice work!

Anyone else experiencing a very noticeable deep hum in the speakers when using the mercury vapor and xeon vapor tubes in your Str?  The hum is not present with regular rectifiers.  The vapor tubes also create a pop sound in the speaker when the Str power switch is turned on with no other components turned on.  

I have been trouble shooting with Al with no success. I am wondering that maybe these tubes need a choke to reduce interference..  They sound so good even with the hum I may have to just live with the hum.

CAJames yep kinda bummed.  The vapor tubes just sound so much better than the regular rectifiers to me on my system. Already thinking of several more questions for Al to keep him occupied on email🤣.  When did he say your STR  eta was?   Better add a week…🤪

Ok I think I figured out the Str hum problem. 🤞 Big sigh! After checking grounding, power cords, add metal shielding, umbilical cord iso, str internals… Apparently the 807 power tubes with adapter caps in my Torii Jr do not play well with vapor tubes.  They pick up  vapor tube interference.  Other tubes may run into this issue??? I installed a quad of Nos Mullard EL34 xf2 and the hum is indistinguishable and really gone now.  Interesting learning I thought that I would share if others experience a hum. Learn something new every day.

CAJames….no more questions from me to Al…you can sleep in peace now

NARRATOR: "It's definitely going to be an improvement."

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Here is my conjecture. I went from (a pair of) UFOs to UFO25s. And my experience is the difference was largely increased transparency, detail and dynamics. It made the quality of the front end even more evident and important. I don't want to say the difference was small, but it wasn't huge. My UFOs sounded really good and I can definitely hear a lot of the UFO sound in the UFO25s, there is just more of what I liked about them. Note that my UFOs had all the anniversary mods, if yours don't then I would run, not walk, to get them done before spending any more money on your system.

Based on my reading of the thread, and my expectations, I don't think adding a STR to your UFO would get you "closer" to UFO25. I think in absolute terms it will be a much bigger change (depending on model and tubes) and in a direction that I could quote but you should read in the posts earlier in the thread if you haven't already. Without actually hearing a STR I might be temped to say that a UFO + STR is a better use of 3.5K$ than a UFO25, but that would be a massive conjecture on my part.

Al just emailed me this pic of my new 845 to 866A adapter. On its way to me from Canada soon...


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Good eye. I wonder what's on heavy rotation in the Space Tech Lab?

Nice!