can someone answer me this.....

almarg speak English, my head started hurting, followed by flashbacks of science class.....lol.

The point I was making in my previous post was simply that while the impedance situation in the connection between the preamp and the power amp is not ideal, and does not conform to the recommendation stated in the manual for the preamp, I’m pretty certain that it is not what is causing the symptoms you have described. And I expressed agreement with Ralph (Atmasphere) that a tube is the most probable culprit.

The reason I went into further detail in that post is that you had referred in your initial post to "the impedance thing that Im just learning."

almarg, don’t know a thing about the imped factor. and do you still have that 17ls. or what preamp goes best with the dna 500....

It was another poster who referred to the 17ls, not me.

Regards,
-- Al

I have your amp and pre-amp.  Before getting the ET3SE, I contacted Steve McCormack and he said there should be no issues pairing the two.  I use  an Amperex 6992 from Andy's Vintage Tubes and have been very happy with the result.  As mentioned by others, be sure to account for phase inversion by reversing the positive/negative terminals either at the speaker or amp ends. The sound you describe could be a result of forgetting to do so.

If it's new with little hours of play time my thought is break in. My CJ took hundreds of hours but once those caps are broken in the sound was wonderful. Roll tubes once it's broken in.

If your pre takes a 6DJ8 / 6922 tube(s) you have limited alternatives.  The used tube market for vintage NOS Siemens 6922's, especially Cca and grey plates is like looking for unobtainium.  I've been using them for about 15 years, after testing maybe a dozen or more different brands and time periods and simply have no more nor are there any real ones out there.  What I have found which seems to be as good, or nearly as good as a Siemens and Halske Grey Plate early 60's Cca is the 75 vintage https://www.ebay.com/itm/6N23P-E88CC-6922-6DJ8-MatchedPAIR-REFLE-TOR-Single-Wire-Silver-Shield-1975-...I have no connection to this person other than I have purchased tubes from her 6 times.  Everything arrived very securely packed and was exactly as advertised and they perform exactly as they should.  It used to be $99 a pair now it's $219.  Siemens and Halske Cca grey plates used to be $40 a tube then they were $400 a pair, now there are no real ones.

I went through the tube rolling phase with my CJ Premier 11a and 14 in my main system and was able to arrive at considerably better sound by doing that.  I suggest that you make sure you have no polarity issues and then post your query on a tube board - other owners of your gear can offer specific suggestions on what worked for them.

You only have one tube (6922) IIRC so tube rolling won't be too expensive.

Take a look at this article - 17 different 6922s assessed.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/6922-tube-review-17-top-6922-6n23p-e88cc-cca-7308-e188cc-tubes.761078/