It was great seeing how many people stopped by Justin’s booth to listen to his stuff!
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Justin loaned me a Nautilus and all I have to say now for the time being is WOW. Great pairing with the Expanse and planar in general.
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If I ever purchase an Abyss 1266 I’ll be buying an A&S. Have fun with the demo! Tung sol 6550’s give you a slammy heaven!
Can confirm - at least on the Phi TC, A&S stuff sounds fantastic.
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@SebastienChiu I saw this in the Expanse thread and was curious what tubes you’re using, because my Nautilus is not warm and gooey.
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Something new coming, posted on Justin’s Instagram.
“Black Pearl”
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Has anyone tried a mogwai family amp with the abyss 1266? Was it a good match?
Ive used a Mogwai and and a Bigger Ben with my 1266 2022 edition and enjoyed.
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Bought the Red October last month. Amazing so far. Can’t wait to hear it once I upgrade to WE 300b. Using it on TC1266. I’m not a professional reviewer by any means but I seem to enjoy it more than my WA33. Instrument and vocals are just addictive without loss of detail. Love it so far
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I need to get a new set of tubes for my Kenzie Ovation - would anyone have particular brand recommendations? Don’t want to spend a bloody fortune - something akin to the stock tubes that came with the unit. Thanks for any help!
So no Western Electric 
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<checks prices…>. 
Wow…
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Am I correct that the 12SL7 input tube on the Kenzie Ovation is compatible with 12AX7 tubes? More options with the latter than the former and some reviews I read suggested that 12AX7 tubes would work great.
Thanks!
Yep that’s correct. With an adapter you can run the 12A_7 family of tubes. I had an old Baldwin Organ 12au7 that I loved on my Ovation.
I’ve tried a few different 1626 brands and they all sounded the same more or less. Go with the cheapest you can find I’m sure they’ll sound great.
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I agree, those Baldwin tubes are bargains. You just have to know who made the tubes for Baldwin if you’re after a particular sound. From memory, yellow label Baldwins were made by Raytheon (a little warm of neutral) and green labels were made by Sylvania (more neutral).
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Hello folks. I’m totally new to the world of tubes. I absolutely adore my Focal Clear MG for its clarity, details, energy and addictive bass. It’s driven by the RME ADI-2. Recently I’ve seen a few trusted reviews extoling the virtues and unique sound that high quality Tube amps can bring. Words like “liquid” and “sweetness”, “spacious” and “energetic” got me intrigued. I was also happy to learn that good tube amps can do all of that but also retain detail retrieval and otherwise the qualities good SS amps. I’m trying to get even more listening joy out of the wonderful Clears. I’m reading great things about A&S’ Mogwai SE. I’m wondering if anyone out there, ideally with Clear or Utopia (of any vintage) or dynamic drivers in general, can share their insights and impressions of the Mogwai SE in this context and how well they pair. Especially after moving from good quality SS amp and the impact it had on their enjoyment from their headphones. Thanks in advance!
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I’m not a huge fan of the Clears on a tube amp. They don’t really sound bad, but the tube amps I tried had difficulty controlling the drivers, and the Bass tends to get exaggerated (might be a win for you) and loose. Having said that, that’s my preference, and I know other people who really like that sound.
I haven’t specifically heard the Mogwai SE, and that might play better with the Clears than some other amps.
The only real exception in the Focal line up with tubes for me is the Utopia (mines pre 2020), which sounds special on the DNA Stratus, and really good on my EC Studio T. The Stratus changes the way the Utopia presents, it makes it a much more open sounding headphone, together with taming the treble presentation, which can be problematic with some pairings.
Generally though tube amps tend to play better with Dynamic drivers, than planars, though like any other rule of thumb, it’s only mostly true.
I’m all in on tubes, I don’t have any SS amps at price points comparable to the rest of my gear.
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