System Plateau - Ideas?

@three_easy_payments

Replacing the stock 805 tubes with NOS RCAs was an incredible upgrade. Just curious if you rolled the power and 300B tubes in your LM amp?

The 518is uses 845 tubes, couldn’t find reasonably priced NOS, settled on Psvane TII, the rest is NOS.

@bigkidz

DeHavilland preamp you have with the Dueland upgrades has the volume control been upgraded? AC filter choke? Resistors upgraded?

I’ll keep thinking about possible upgrades to the Ultraverve internals.

@jkevinoc

The Knight/Advent system is so much fun to listen to, involving, intimate, subtle. My advice to all: enjoy the music, forget the equipment.

I love this message. My take: when you find a sound you love, appreciate it and let it be.

@decooney

Thanks for all the feedback and ideas. Will be exploring. Would actually also love to chat more about your specific learnings. OK to DM you?

@arro222

I had a good exchange w Nelson about the Aleph J and dominant 2nd harmonics. One reason I purchased this amp is because it was built to mate with “ high efficiency loudspeakers and maybe a tube preamp”, and favors “naturalness and musicality”. It also comes with ~250k Ohm input impedance.

I did believe that mixing it with the DeHavilland would create the

"perfect balance" of "musical weight" to "crispness" of sound 

@soma70

It’s very hard to describe what you want from an upgrade when the margins are small.

Thanks for this, it was indeed hard, at least for me :) I’ll definitely keep considering cable upgrades, this seems like some of the most consistent advice in this thread.

@bigwave1

If the bass in the room has not been “managed” then everything else is a mere compromise

Room treatment is an admittedly neglected aspect of my system. I’m not in what I consider much of a permanent listening space so have been loath to invest too heavily in correcting a far less than ideal environment, and am suffering some consequence for sure.

@hshifi

I could not believe a surge protector could change the sound of my system so much.

I use all 3rd party power cables, and am employing a Furman PST-8 conditioner as my first step toward line treatment. Definitely higher gains to be made here.

@denverfred

Upgrade all of your AC cables, and don't be a cheapskate about it.

It seems this “hobby” accommodates all levels of investment – one person’s cheapskate is another person’s over-spending lunatic. Overall it seems that there’s a balance of investment at different levels of spending, and my take from your comment is that you feel the greatest current imbalance is in the cables between the specific equipment I've mentioned. Is that right?



Thanks all for the feedback. Lots for me to look into.