Hi Dsper,
Our systems are similar, I am driving Thiel CS6’s with Mcintosh 501’s that also have a 10K input inpedance. In the past I have used CJ Premier 14 that has a similar output impedance situation to your 17LS2. After switching to an ET5 the first thing I noticed was a significant increase in bass.
Also transparency and clairty which I attribute to the teflon caps, but the 14 is known for having a bit of the old CJ golden sound.
jahatl513 has good advice on tubes, the ET5 is a tube eater. I have been though several EH6922 which CJ supplies, also Philips ECC88 which CJ also supplies. The Philips lasted longer that the EH. I have a Seimens ECC88 I have not tried yet, it is supposed to be a tough tube. I have also heard great things about Amprex.
Frankly, I like the EH 6922, it just gets noisy after a couple hundred hours. Keep us posted on your journey.
Jerry
Our systems are similar, I am driving Thiel CS6’s with Mcintosh 501’s that also have a 10K input inpedance. In the past I have used CJ Premier 14 that has a similar output impedance situation to your 17LS2. After switching to an ET5 the first thing I noticed was a significant increase in bass.
Also transparency and clairty which I attribute to the teflon caps, but the 14 is known for having a bit of the old CJ golden sound.
jahatl513 has good advice on tubes, the ET5 is a tube eater. I have been though several EH6922 which CJ supplies, also Philips ECC88 which CJ also supplies. The Philips lasted longer that the EH. I have a Seimens ECC88 I have not tried yet, it is supposed to be a tough tube. I have also heard great things about Amprex.
Frankly, I like the EH 6922, it just gets noisy after a couple hundred hours. Keep us posted on your journey.
Jerry