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Update No. 1 on my EL34 recommendations post below

I am very happy with my final choice, which are JJ EL34IIs. They sound lovely in the Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II. Without changing the overall character of the amp, which is quite neutral and big/bold, the sound is definitely a bit rounder in the bass, and generally warmer with sweetened treble. Subtle in all regards, which is great, but noticeable in a pleasing way.

Note that I run this amp with a Music Hall DAC with tubed buffer stage and Klipsch Heresy II speakers, and I'm sure different systems will react differently. I know, for example, of at least one inmate who didn't get good results with the original EL34 Cronus with his low impedance and less efficient speakers so, as always, YMMV.

As far as choosing JJ, I'm very happy, knock on wood. The tubes are silent and sound strong and big. They are exactly what I was hoping for and cost $125 for a matched quad with 24 hour burnin from the Tube Depot. The Russian options, and most of the Chinese options, were, naturally, a lot more expensive. So there's that too.

Separately, I just bought a Chris Keller-built ST-70 amp for my "main" system, which he is sending with JJ 6A7C power tubes, so I'll post a second update after comparing those tubes to the EL34IIs in both amps. And I'll post my impressions of his amp generally at some point.


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Topic - Update No. 1 on my EL34 recommendations post below - JoshT 07:19:19 02/21/23 (34)

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