Music Reference RM9 - user comments please

The Avatar and Avatar SE run EL-34 tubes only. I believe the Avatar Super runs KT-88s.

Autoformers are a bit more work to get into balanced mode. John is a bit of a perfectionest so I anticipate a good 6 months or so before something becomes available. Until then I'm sure my Jeff Rowland Capri with phono will do just fine.

I used the 6N23P tubes as well. Well worth it sound wise and very inexpensive. Otherwise the Siemens NOS worked for me too.

Pubul57,

I used my K&K Audio TVC with the RM9 and it was a great match. This was back when I lived in Santa Barbara and was able to visit Roger to have the RM9 upgraded to MkII and found he prefers it with a passive pre. He ran an RM200 with the pot in the box with his new electrostatic speakers (these are phenomenal for the price). A great system. I wouldn't be surprised if it gave the Joule a run for the money. I sold my LA-100MkIII when I got the K&K TVC.

I no longer have the RM9 as the guy I bought it from bought it back from me. However, I am considering a system reconfiguration and trying a set of new speakers that may be a very good match for the RM10. Rogers amps are excellent.

Interesting on the KT-88s. I myself have always preferred EL-34s. I thought both my Cary V12i and my RM-9 MkII sounded great with the Siemens. Right now I'm using a VAC Avatar SE with the National Electric EL-34s, but am getting a set of Auricle Musicblocs with the VAC (Chinese) KT-88s this week. The VAC guys like the KT-88s and feel the Musicblocs will present a larger soundstage and more frequency extension. Should be interesting to hear the differences.

Glad you like the Bent. I'm a going to be using balanced cables now so I'm waiting to see what John comes up with for a balanced design.

Well I bought another VAC amp a couple weeks ago that uses EL-34 tubes and still come to the same conclusion. In a recent conversation with Kevin Hayes he mentioned the VAC Auricle Musicblocs can be rewired to accept EL-34 tubes. I'm seriously considering having this done. Less power output, but with my speakers that should not be a problem.

I was very tempted to buy one of the RM-10 MKIIs that came up for sale recently. In hindsight I should have.

I bought the one that just got re-listed. Looking forward to hearing it.

I have some nice EL-84s to roll in that amp. I will listen to the RAM tubes first though. For 12AX7 I have some nice GE 5751s I'm going to try too.

I don't see why not. I'm definitely going to try it for the same reason you're considering it. I get my amp Thursday. I'll let you know if it blows up upon use of the 5751s.

FWIW - I have a Berning Micro ZOTL I'm using as a preamp right now. It comes with 12AT7 tubes, but I have been able to use 5751 and 12AU7 with no issues. The 12AU7 lowered the gain the most. I may even try 12AU7 tubes in the RM-10.

Patience grasshopper, there may be an option on the horizon.

Send it in to Roger and get the amp upgraded to MkII status. You already have a well designed amplifier to begin with and to better it you'd have to spend as much as an RM-200 MkII, maybe more if looking at other manufacturers as well. Upgrading to MkII status will give you the most bang for the buck. When I owned my RM-9 MkI it's exactly what I did so I speak from some experience.

When I owned the RM-9 I was using Spendor 1/2e speakers. The RM-9 was the only tube amp I tried in my system that I liked with the Spendor's. Normally I have used solid state with them. At the time I owned the RM-9 I lived just a few miles from Roger. So I took the amp over there and he bench tested it with me. Darn if it didn't operate nearly 100% to spec, and put out more watts than its rating.

The upgrade includes the addition of chokes, and new caps in critical places. I think he makes some other changes as well but forget what they are. Roger also does a thorough inspection of the amp and brings it to full spec in all areas. Upon picking up the amp the bench test indicated it was putting out nearly 125 watts/channel. Up about 20 watts from the previous test. As for the sound, I felt the MkI was a bit tubey in nature and with the MkII you will be getting a more transparent and neutral presentation. I myself liked that. I did end up selling the RM-9 and somewhat regretted it. Now I have both an RM-10 MkII and EM7-12v SET from Roger with much more efficient speakers and these sound wonderful.

Be patient with Roger on emails. He is hard to reach as he is quite busy. I suggest you try to reach him through Sal at Audio Summa. You might get a faster response and more information to help you make a decision on whether or not to upgrade.

I have had some people tell me they prefer the MkI versions of both the RM-9 and RM-10 because in their opinion they had more tube characteristics to their sound while the MkII versions sounded more like solid state. I think that is the knock on the RM-200 as well. It is pretty obvious that the MkII versions of the RM-9 and RM-10, as well as RM-200 sound characteristics will never be confused with classic CJ or Cary, but all three still sound like tube amps to me, and very good ones.