Tekton Double Impacts

Teajay,
The tungsol round plates are very nice tubes, but aren't the only game in town. I have a big collection of 6sn7's.
 IMS, I think the 1952 Sylvania bad boys are better. They have a bottom getter and 3 holes in their plates. Give them a try, if you can find them. Big bass, dynamics, and beautiful tone. 
In my preamp they are much better maybe not in the LTA, but worth a try.
The tungsols are overrated and overpriced imho.

Joe

Hi Charles,
Everything is good, thanks! Hope all is well. Yes, I am still using the Hornings and Franks and the pairing is wonderful. Real music makers.

Sorry for going off topic. 

The LTA and DD sound like great bargains and really good performers. It's nice to see companies where you can still get great sound for not so much money.

Audio prices have been getting crazy in the last several years. I applaud these companies for keeping prices reasonable for people with tighter budgets.

Joe

Sorry meant DI.  Charles, me too! lol

mac48025,
I have Hornings Eufrodite Ellipse's and alternate between Frankenstein 300b mono blocks and Pass Labs XA-30.8 amps

Joe

They really take control of the 16 woofers in the Hornings!

Thanks lancelock, the 30.8 are wonderful sounding amps especially with high efficienct speakers.

Yes, it's all about synergy and personal preferences!

Sorry if I'm going off topic.  
 
I have been following this thread for quite awhile now and see that the Mtz2s gets high praise here used as a preamp.

When I read Teajay's highly regarded review I purchased one. I compared it to my highly modded Supratek Sauvignon. 

I let it break in for a couple hundred hours before I did any critical listening and used NOS tubes that Teajay recommended.

I'm probably going to piss off a few people but in IMS it wasn't the giant killer that a lot of people are saying it is.

It is a nice preamp for the money. With all the hype that it's getting I was expecting it to blow away my preamp, which wasn't the case not even close.

It is very fast and has nice transparency, but doesn't come close in tone, texture, and realism that my preamp has. 
It lacks the emotional involvement that I crave when listening to music.

Sorry, if I went against the grain here, but want people to know you should really compare it to other highly regarded preamps before making a purchase.

Joe

Charles, 
 Looking forward to your thoughts.
I'm pretty sure your preamp isn't going anywhere! 
 
I don't know what happened, I wrote a long comparison of the 2 amps and pressed your response and lost the whole page.

I'll rewrite home on my mac later
 

Thanks everyone for your kind words and being civil about different opinions!
Charles, you are to kind and seem like a true gentleman. Your insights are highly regarded on this forum, my friend.

Here's my take between the amps, IMS.

The Franks are all about tone, texture, and timbre. They are wonderfully open and very natural sounding (organic) with nice extension and dynamics. No soft, syrupy, highly colored sound here. Very powerful sounding for only 8 watts. Excellent with Jazz, (about 80% of my listening) vocals, and acoustic music. Very good with just about everything else. They are wonderful amps especially with good 300b tubes. My favorite are Takatsuki TA-300b's very refined and well balanced. Just a wonderful amp!

The Pass XA-30.8 is a brute in silk gloves. They are 30 watts of pure class A, but really are rated very conservatively. It weights about 85lbs.
The Pass goes lower and is more dynamic. The soundstage actually is a little bigger with very nice layering and separation. Its not as open and emotionally engaging as the Franks, but comes pretty close. That is high praise for it being a SS amp. Highly recommended for anyone who doesn't want the hassle with tubes. My speakers have 16 woofers altogether and the Pass really take control of those woofers, which the Frank's can't quite do. They are very smooth and grainless. If you enjoy rock, pop, and amplified music they do that very well. it also sounds wonderful with Jazz, vocals, and acoustic music just not as good the Franks.

It's nice to be able to enjoy both and I very much do, my 2 cents.

Joe   

baranyi, yes I tried the ones teajay recommended and others. Improved the sound but still didn't mesh in my setup 

Charles and mac48025,
I figured that those would be the results. 
 You both described what differences I heard between my preamp and the mz2.  

Joe