Rolling vacuum tubes in tube equipment is a luxury that one does not have with solid state components. The ability to refine the musical presentation of your system is priceless. This factor in addition to a more organic, 3D sound, and a greater sense of where the recorded event takes place is why I prefer the glass. This Blog's objective is to give you a more profound insight to the ART of the roll and its affect on your system's resolution.
Resolution is what separates the musically involving systems from those systems that merely reproduce sounds. The ability to be drawn into the recorded performance and feel the intent of the musicians as well as the moment is what allows you to enhance the level of your enjoyment of the music.
Most music lovers equate resolution with accuracy. However, I define resolution as a function of the sum of musicality and accuracy. Accuracy in and of itself will never guarantee a musically engaging system. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines music as "the art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion" (Concise Oxford Dictionary 1992). Tonality, harmonic tapestry, and decay are the elements that when combined with an accurate signal, will provide the emotional connection that contributes to a heightened level of musical satisfaction.
My system consists of a VTL stereo 90 ultra linear power amp, a Citation 1 preamp, a Thorens 126 MKIII turntable with a Denon 103R cartridge, an Allnic AU 2000 Step Up Transformer, a Proceed CDD transport, a Monarchy NM24 Dac and a Monarchy AC Regenerator, and Sound Design Lab interconnects.
Both my power amp and pre use 12at7 tubes. In my Citation 1 pre my phono stages use 4 Telefunken 12ax7 tubes and the line stage uses 2 12at7 tubes for input and 2 for output. In my VTL power amp, I use 4 GE 6550 power tubes, 2 1964 Siemens e81cc 12at7 input tubes, and 2 Gec A-2900 12at7 phase inverter tubes. In my pre, I had been using 2 1959 Valvo blue label pinched waist 6201 for the output and 2 Mullard CV 4024 for the input. The upper frequency range of my Denon 103R too often came up short on smoothness and could sound somewhat shrill on some LPs with this tube combination. This prompted me to roll some tubes to see if I could ameliorate this deficit.
I removed the Mullard CV 4024 and replaced them with my Siemens e81cc. My Citation 1 was now filled with German tube accuracy. I now experimented with different pairs of British tubes to compliment my Gec A2900 tubes to sweeten and enhance the midrange in addition to smoothing my top end. After experimenting with some different Mullards in the input position of my amp, I still felt I could achieve a higher level of resolution. I found it in a pair of 1960 Brimar 4033 made in England tubes from Tubemonger Fine European and American NOS Audio and Guitar Tubes. Whoa! You know when it's Right. What a difference the Art of the roll can make in Resolution. Experiment with my theory in mind.