Calling All Tube Gurus, Poll:Capacitor Rolling vs Tube Rolling

Binding post rolling, amp case rolling, roll them feet...who can resist resister rolling? All are somewhat time consuming but hey...you do what you gotta do. I did stick some large Mundorf caps in my speakers (suggested by Pure Audio Project) which is the only cap roll I’ve done and they added something...or should I say "that certain something" and besides, they look cool (open baffles display everything). I have piles of tubes that lead to frequent rolling generally for no logical reason except hey...they're otherwise just stuck in their little boxes with nowhere to go.

With higher level equipment I wouldn't touch anything but tubes. And with lower level equipment - I don't want it, anyway.

There's a big difference between rolling and replacing.

Caps can make a significant difference. As with tubes the improvement heard is based as much on what was in the component before the change as any other factor. Tubes are very easy and thus make more sense. The best bang for the buck I have found are certain Jupiter caps. My least favorite caps of note and they came stock on my amps are the expensive teflon V-caps. They are still changing a bit after 300 to 350 hours. 

When voicing the Custom Designed and Built for myself Phonostage, all initial experiences was undertaken with a measured set of modern production tubes used as the constant.

Cap’s and Resistors were exchanged to see what was to be achieved for the voicing. After a selection of exchanges not cheap as tolerance across channels resulted in discards ( or more outlay to acquire components to test for closeness), the outcome was, a End Sound was developed that really was attractive to myself. The designer/builder also had a rethink on the component selection for their own model of the Phon’.

At a later time after a good few hours of usage, a tube rolling session occurred using a broad range of Valves from production era’s from the early 60’s to nearer the millennium year.

Valves used to roll were supplied with a near perfect matched A/B Half on each Valve and Paired Valves were almost measuring identical as well.

The learning had on the tube rolling occasions, was a substantial learning and a tube selected as a result of being loaned a broad valve range was a choice never considered to change. The prior to tube rolling voicing with components was equally beneficial to the End Sound that become available.