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Tube rolling suggestions for Unison Unico

Hi folks,

I have a new Unico, which is wonderful, and I'd like to hear about your experiences rolling tubes. The stock Phillips JAN 12au7s are very dynamic and compelling, but I'd like a little bit less energy up top. I tried a pair of Siemens "Rohre" ECC82s, but while they do remove a bit of the top end brightness, they dull the dynamics and collapse the soundstage.

Is there anything out there that will give me the best of both worlds (a bit of shading on top, but with excellent dynamics and a good sense of air)? I'm looking to spend $100 absolute max for a matched pair, and I'd love to get away with much less.

The rest of my system:
Silverline SR15 monitors
Audio Refinement CD Alpha
Analysis Plus cabling
Kenwood KD-500 TT with Rega 300 arm

Many thanks!
lousyreeds1

Showing 2 responses by arni

arni
313 posts
 
Well, warming up overnight sounds appropriate, I think Tvad may have a point-maybe something is off with these particular tubes... although I would be hard to believe given that they are tested and all from Uscale Audio. But I think what you are looking for is probably the Mullards... given the description above...
Keep us posted on how this goes...
Good Luck
arni
313 posts
 
I have done some searches on old threads on Audio Asylum where Mullards come up most often as the tubes of choice, a tad relaxed on top and glorious midrange. Similar to your experiences, I still have the Phillips stock tubes in my Unico, and simply haven't been able to convince myself to do tube rolling yet, as it just sounds so good. In my case I'm not sure I would want more relaxed top end... it is just right. I have visited Upscale Audio's website to explore... and really been thinking about the Siemens... interesting that they did not work out for you. How long did you leave them in, and did you leave the Unico turned on all the time? For me the difference in sound was nothing short of breath taking after about 36 hours on... and I haven't turned my Unico off ever since.
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