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I just purchased a 6 month old Rogue Cronus Magnum on Audiogon with about 150 hours on the KT120 tubes. I plan on ordering a new set of the Tung Sol KT120 tubes and I am wondering about the other 5 small signal tubes? I don't know what brand of the 12AX7 & 12AU7 tubes Rogue puts in the amp so I am asking for suggestions.
"Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells."
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Congrats on the Cronus Magnum. It is a wonderful Integrated. The best tube if found for the front single 12au7 is a radiotechnique:
http://www.upscaleaudio.com/radiotechnique-12au7/
I got,the top grade radio technique--not cyod. Better extension and soundstage than the Mullard CV4003. For,the remaining 12ax7 and 12au7 I used electro harmonix. The single tube has the most effect on wound followed by the 12'ax7s then the12au7s.
Good luck and enjoy.
I've had a Cronus Magnum for a good while and have tried a lot of different tubes in it: JJ, Sovtek, Shuguang, EH, and Genalex, Mullard and Tung Sol reissues. I still prefer NOS in all of the positions.
For the drivers Mullard (CV4003) are my favorite but they're now expensive. Raytheon black plates are a good substitute and still reasonable.
For the phase splitters (12AX7), I prefer Raytheon/RCA black-plates which are, unfortunately, becoming expensive). I find the Genalex a good alternative.
The pre-amp slot requires some care as the tube here seems to be driven hard and can become very noisy. I've found the Radiotechnique to sound best here, with the Raytheon/RCA black plates and Genalex again being good alternatives.
The Shuguang, Sovtek and Mullard (short plate) re-issue are quiet but I didn't care for the sound of them so much. Too "tight" and forward for the most part.
Before you spend a lot of money on tubes I'd ask about the best cost effective models first. I live in Hong Kong and I purchased a Line Magnetic integrated - the dealer also sells Rogue and for 12AX7 he recommended relatively inexpensive Tung Sol 12AX7/ECC803-S Gold and I must say I'm quite excited by how rather massive the improvement has been over the stock Shuguangs. And they're sanely priced at $24 each. link below. The Tung Sol sound better in my amp than the 4 times the price Raytheon Blackplates I was using. Note: this may not happen in a different amp. A tube may win in one amp and not in another amp. But the Tung Sol seems to sound quite open clean and quiet (no noise) and have nice tone.
My DAC uses two 12AU7 tubes and he recommended the NOS RCA baldheads (The Chinese give tubes various names based on the looks). There is no metal plate on top just clear (hence bald) - they run about $60 each but has been quite worthwhile. https://tubedepot.com/products/12au7-rca-clear-top
Anyway - some not too pricey options.
The KT120 with only 150 hours are still infants -- barely burned in!I think recently Rogue has taken to often shipping the JJ frame-grid 12AX7 and late USA-made (60s-80s vintage) 12AU7 drivers. Since the Cronus has that 1 "more important" 12AU7 preamp slot, they'll usually do something different there; I think I saw an RCA clear-top in someone else's photos (decent tube, but plenty cheap and common). Once I got a sub for the 12AU7 (e.g. 5814 or 6189) in an Ares, but it was also late make USA. The good news is that while this stock complement isn't completely awful, it's easy to improve on, and there will be many options.
It may be wise to hear it stock first before deciding in which direction to venture. Again, you'll have a lot of choices for all kinds of sounds. One big decision will be whether you prefer 5751 vs. 12AX7 -- both have their fine points. And this slot makes a BIG difference in Rogue amps. Do most of your experimenting here, and in the preamp 12AU7. You can also consider 12BH7 as a slightly more exotic (and better sounding) drop-in sub for the 12AU7 drivers. Microphonics and noise are not a big deal in those driver slots, which is good because that can be the 12BH7's achilles heel (you'll need 12AX7/5715 that aren't too microphonic, though). Some gear can't facilitate the 12AU7 => 12BH7 sub beacuse of its extra filament draw, but all the Rogue gear I've asked about can (Ares, Cronus Magnum, Apollo).
Edits: 08/23/14 08/23/14 08/23/14
It may be wise to hear it stock first before deciding in which direction to venture.
Mine is fully stock and it sounds great. That's not say it can't be improved.
I'll have to post some photos of the small tubes that came with my Cronus Magnum for inmates to see. Perhaps someone can tell me what they are. The only ones I recognize are a couple JJ 12AX7. The others are NOS but probably nothing special.
My KT120 power tubes have at least a couple hundred hours on them and they're still going strong. I have full quad of spares but I doubt that I'll need them anytime soon.
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