Mundorf M-Tube in Tube Amplifier Power Supply

Hi @cortez1t ,

Thank you for your advice .

Regards,
Alex

Here is continue of the power supply capacitors story.

CalrityCap capacitors sound really impressive, they have some WOW factor. But I always had feeling of something artificial, like sound was processed by some studio equipment. There are a lot of air, extended high frequencies, smooth sound but I can hear a little bit plastic colors in tone. Other important drawback of CalrityCap - it give a very deep but diffused bass and on some records that kills a rhythm of music.

I decided to try power supply capacitors solution suggested by @zipost st. He suggested me to try AN Kaisei capacitor after the rectifier and Jensen 4-pole capacitors in 300B B+.
As result, I ordered both Kaisei and Jensen capacitors. I received Kaisei first and put it after a rectifier tube instead of Mundorf M-tube. After a short and not full break-in (10 hours with Frybaby2 on input of my amp) I did some comparison.
With Kaisei the sound become even more airy, smooth, with beautiful mid-range, big sound-stage, less plastic coloration. But mid bass punch was weaker compared to Mundorf and it doesn’t worked together with CalrityCap that also has a similar issue.
I think AN Kaisei is very similar to CalrityCap T600. It has extended, clear and smooth high frequencies, big sound-stage. The advantage of Kaisei is more natural tone. The advantage of CalrityCap is deeper bass.
Than, I installed Jensen 4-pole capacitors instead of CalrityCaps. Bass become more defined and punchy, with very good sense of rhythm, more natural tonal balance. Focus of instrument become much better. Details and separation were as good as with CalrityCaps.
But, some good things that CalrityCaps gave were lost: a lot of air and high frequency extension, big sound-stage, very smooth high frequencies. OK, we have take into account, that Jensen 4-pole capacitors haven’t passed a full break-in.

But I didn’t wait, and after some chat with @zipost I changed cathode resistors of 300b from 50 Watt metal body Mills to Ohmite Gold and constant resistor in my L-pad volume control from Shinkoh 0.5 Watt Tantalum to 2 Watt Audio Note Tantalum Silver. @zipost strongly recommended me to rid of from metal body Mills resistors and go to Ohmite Gold, and now I understand why. The bass became strong, dynamic, fast with a lot of weight, slam, texture. The overall sound became more mature, real!
I never compared directly cathode (auto) bias to fixed bias in the same amplifier, but sound with Ohmite Gold cathode resistors has all qualities that people usually associate with "fixed bias" sound.
2 Watt Audio None Tantalum Silver in volume control gave me high frequencies smoothness and detail clean and clear from any noise. Cymbals sound is extremely clear without dirt and distortion and well focused. Mid-range is very clear with a lot of small musical details and noticeably better musical flow.
Yes, the sound is still changing and improving. All new parts has to path a full break in. But so far, I’m impressed by results.

I would like to thank @zipost and @grannyring for help.
It was a very interesting experience to try all this great parts ( CalrityCaps T600, Jensen 4-pole and Kaisei capacitors, Ohmite Gold and AN Silver Tantalum resistors ) in my amplifier.

Regards,
Alex.

How long did you break in the CC's before evaluating??

Hi @erik_squires ,
I run Clarity Cap about 20 hours of noise (Frybaby2 connected to my amplifier input).
Noise break in - is approximately 5-10 times faster than regular music playing break-in.
In addition to that I played about 20+ hours of music.
In comparison Jensen 4-pole had less break-in in my setup.
I don’t want to put tags - that this capacitor is good and that is bad. All these capacitors I used,
including Mundorf M-Tube, are very good. Just in each setup you need to find the right combination that will suite for your personal taste.

Regards,
Alex.