I remember this Modwright LS36.5 I read some magazines, but another important thing is to know and pay attention I think to which valve pre that interfaces well with the 300 dr as electrical coupling
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Hi MrU,
I hope you are in a good shape.
I am wondering actually if I can put some Nos tubes into the Ear 534. The upgraditis disease is still thereā¦
I know you have not bothered with it. However, on the 912, changing for Nos Mullard gave very nice results.
The only information I found is from tubes doctor site. He sells TAD EL34. Have you heard about them, they are made by Psavane?
Hi @frenchrooster ,
I am in good shape thank you. Aided and assisted by a visit to your wonderful country last week. Spent a weekend in Paris.
Came over to meet some friends and visit the saved Notre Dame. I then dragged them round to Sainte Chappelle.
I bought my 534 from Kevin of Living Voice. His thoughts on great valve sound are different from Timās. So, as I was using Living Voice speakers at the time, I went with the NOS valves he suggested - and bought a second set; sorry, canāt remember what they were.
When I drove the 534 home for a service Tim was very interested. But, I had a set of Timās stock tubes fitted. I preferred them. Not a big difference, but I felt Timās were that bit clearer and more resolved.
I suspect this comes down to personal preferences. But, how do you know without trying, and how do you try without paying?
A couple of months ago a friend came over with a couple of boxes of valves and we did some rolling with the 834. This was in the context of: Chord 2go/2yu / Ferrum Hypsos > Chord TT > 834 > NAP250 > Grahams LS3/5a.
Had a VERY definite preference, which was some NOS valves. But, we went through five different pairs of matched valves.
Like you, I think the EAR pre-amps react well to some empiricism!
WRT specific valves: It is a whole dark art, and I suspect you canāt really know without trying.
M
Hi @ilbaroncin0 ,
Yes, such things as impedance matter. I have had no issues with either EAR or Modwright; which I feel come from the same mold in terms of sound, no overblown warmth.
In terms of the LS36.5 / 300DR I generally have the volume control at about 10am - I listen with a max of about 80DB on peaks.
M
Very thanks for your detailed response. I found not a single post on different discussions on the net about Nos valves for the 534.
I will try to ask the French Ear distributor. I am for now curious, any rush.
as for the 834, I found it not enough dynamic at that time. Have you tried the Ear 88pb ?
Thanks Underhill, now Iām negotiating for a Cat Legend, the only thing that worries me is that now I have a lot of prat and at low low volume I listen to all the low and high range, letās call it that (microdynamics), I donāt want to lose this detail with another pre-amp, not Naim.
Can you return it?
is a recent model ?
I agree, the 834 is a bit more relaxed. But works well with the LS3/5a.
Iām not sure that Tim would agree with us, I always got the feeling that he felt that his pre-amps just worked and that is was the phono stages that made the difference; I didnāt verbally disagree with him 
I havenāt tried the EAR88PB, great looking thing, and I did consider having a listen ā¦.but I thought it would be on a par with my 868; and, I ended up buying @Dunc Tron 7 G.T., which I think is first rate.
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Hi @ilbaroncin0 ,
What is the rest of your system?
Is there any particular reason your thinking of changing to a valve pre-amp?
M
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Are you referring to me?
I donāt know, heās in Sweden, I didnāt ask.
Yes, it was for you.
What I read on reviews, specially on High Fidelity Poland ( same review on 6 moons audio) is that the SL1 Legend from 2010 is a bit rounded on the edges. But very good however.
The reviewer preferred his Ayon Polaris.
I used Naim power amps with my Ear 912 during 15 years. I have a good luck, nothing exploded. If only I had read your post since the beginningā¦.
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Naim power amps have historically tended to work best matched with Naim pre-amps (they provide the amp with the correct impedance, gain and bandwidth), although Iām sure there are exceptions that work well. The pre-amps though can usually be used with a wide variety of power amps, with varying success. Whether this has changed with the New Classics I donāt know for sure.
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252/scdr
300dr
Speaker Tannoy Canterbury
All Morgana cables wha
Linn k400 speaker cables
Streaming Lumin T3
I do like Tannoy Dual Concentrics.
Interesting to partner them with 252/300DR.
I think I can see why youāre thinking of the valve pre-amp.
I hope you are able to listen to any pre-amp you are thinking of buying before you commit.
M
good exactly
Tannoy Canterbury : 96 db into 8 ohm. Why not a tube amp into 252? Isnāt the sound aggressive and shouting with a 300 dr on them?
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Hi @frenchrooster ,
A year ago or so I took my 300DR over to a friend who was thinking of buying one.
The source was a Mola Mola Tambaquie and the speakers Avalon PM1s.
The amps included a Class A Luxman integrated, the ARC Ref160s and an Audio Note.
The pre-amp was his Icon 4 passive.
When we slotted in my 300DR I looked at him and laughed. I said, āNow your system sounds like mineā. It sounded very good with the efficient PM1s.
What he liked were the PRAT qualities that werenāt as evident with the other amps. But, these things are subtleties.
He later bought a 250DR for his collection.
I donāt know if he tried his Ref5 with the 250DR, Iāll ask him.
M
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No absolutely not, on the contrary
The 252 and 300 sound fantastic, very analog, calm, and relaxing, but with nice rhythm and control. Theyāre not very open, and my Canterburys arenāt very analytical either, which is why I wanted to try a tube preamp.
Letās say Iām satisfied, especially at low volumes. It sounds so good that sometimes you donāt feel like turning it up; I donāt lose any musical information.
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